Do you want to join an organisation committed to addressing low literacy and numeracy?
Volunteers are essential to Shannon Trust and bring their energy, ideas and skills to train mentors in prisons, support learners in the community and enhance our business support team.
We are looking for volunteers to provide training and support to our mentors in prison in the North East area. This could include visiting any of the following prisons: HMP Frankland, HMP Holme House, HMP Durham, HMP Northumberland, HMP Low Newton, HMP Deerbolt. There may be some additional preparation and/ or administrative tasks in between volunteering days at the prison.
Our prison volunteers nurture the growth of the Shannon Trust in their prison. They help unlock the power of reading by delivering training sessions for prison mentors and offering ongoing advice, guidance and support through mentor meetings.
Volunteer recruitment dates
The closing date for applications to attend our next round of training is 6 September 2026. In some circumstances, volunteer vacancies may close early. Successful applicants will be sent interview questions in advance with notice to prepare. We will respond to all applications. Successful applicants will be invited to an interview between 7 and 18 September 2026. This is an opportunity for you to meet our regional team, to find out more about you and for us to share more information about the volunteering role.
Training:
You’ll be given high quality training to prepare you for volunteering with Shannon Trust. This takes place over 4 training sessions and via our online training portal. We ask that volunteers aim to complete the training in one course as this means that you will be ready to start actively volunteering. The next training sessions for volunteering for people applying to be a prison based volunteer will take place as follows.
Please check that you can attend all of the training the dates prior to applying:
You’ll also receive the opportunity to attend ongoing training sessions and peer support meetings during your time as a volunteer to build your skills and experience.
Shannon Trust is a charity that transforms lives by supporting people to learn to read and improve other basic skills. We believe nobody should be left out of learning. We operate in most prisons across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. We also work with a number of partner organisations in the community, supporting their service users to learn to read.
Over 70% of people in prison, and 15% in the community, have a literacy level below that of an 11 year old. Many cannot read at all. This means they have reduced access to education, training and rehabilitation programmes which could transform their lives, and give them hope for a better future outside of the criminal justice system.
Many of our team work remotely, with colleagues currently based in all parts of the country, from the North East to the South West and all points in between. We also have prison based colleagues who do a fantastic job of growing our programmes in their prisons.
Our volunteer friendly benefits include support and supervision, all volunteering out-of-pocket expenses reimbursed and ongoing training to support your role.
Key information: Prison Volunteer
Location: Prison and remote/homebased – In most circumstances we would require volunteers to live within 1 hour of the prison they are applying to volunteer at.
Reporting to: Shannon Trust Programme Manager or Regional Manager
Hours: Approx. 7-14 hours, over 2-4 days per month, Monday to Friday 8am-4pm
Role summary
Shannon Trust’s vision is of a future where everyone can experience the positive impact of learning. As a prison volunteer your role will be at the heart of our organisation as you support our mentors in prisons. This will include delivering training to new mentors and supporting existing mentors to develop and deliver our Turning Pages and Count Me In programmes. You will be volunteering alongside frontline prison staff to empower mentors and ensure no one is left out of learning.
Volunteer role description – Key tasks and activities
Key skills/ attributes
We don’t need you to have any formal qualifications to become a Shannon Trust volunteer.
We’re looking for people who
Location and volunteering hours
The prison volunteer role is available Monday to Friday during working hours and in line with the prison regime. You will be linked to a specific prison or prisons to support as a representative of Shannon Trust. Typically you will visit your prison 2-4 times a month and you will also attend quarterly area meetings.
We ask volunteers to commit approximately 7 to 14 hours a month to the prison volunteer role, spread over 2 to 4 days to fit in with staff availability and the prison regime. This isn’t a role where your activities can take place on a set day or time each week and prison visits can’t take place at weekends.
You’ll need to be flexible and be able to visit your prison at an agreed time with staff, during the daytime Monday to Friday. Prisons often ask you to start your visit at 08.00 or 13.30.
Volunteers are also subject to security clearance and without this will not be able to undertake the role.
More details and How to apply
You can find out more about us at our website. https://www.shannontrust.org.uk/
To apply, you need to complete our application form on our website, via our volunteering platform, Assemble. You will find more information to download and read there, too. https://shannontrust.goassemble.com/opportunities/119306-prison-volunteer-prison-volunteer-north-east-2026-07-07
Sadly we cannot accept applications in any other way.
In some circumstances, volunteer vacancies may close early. Successful applicants will be sent interview questions in advance with notice to prepare.