Ambassadors

Join us to make your network, insight and voice count for children with long-term mental or physical illness, helping give back their education, their confidence, and their future.

• Location: London/UK Wide
• Salary: Reasonable expenses paid
• Closing date: Rolling applications

Who we are

A crisis for children with long-term illness

Every morning in the UK, thousands of children wake not to the bustle of a school day, but to the quiet of their bedrooms or hospital wards. For many, long-term illness has turned what should be years of learning, laughter and growth into years of absence and isolation. In 2024, nearly 279,000 young people missed more than 20% of their education due to long-term physical or mental illness – almost three times the number recorded just five years earlier. The impact in the classroom is stark: the vast majority of affected children go on to achieve lower-level GCSE qualifications. But the damage goes far beyond academic attainment. This isn’t just time away from lessons – it is a profound loss of childhood. These children are separated from friends, miss key milestones, and endure the loneliness of falling further behind.

The impact reverberates far beyond the classroom. Families lose, on average, £20,500 every year in income and out-of-pocket costs as parents step back from careers to provide care. The government spends £3,200 more per child annually, while society bears the long shadow of lost potential – every single year of missed education costs a young person around £223,000 in lifetime earnings.

State support stretched to breaking point

Our education system was not built for this scale of need. Support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is already under immense strain, with high-needs spending rising to £10.5 billion in 2024. This sharp increase has created unprecedented pressure on local authority budgets, stretching resources far beyond central government allocations. The Institute for Fiscal Studies warns that “spending on SEND is becoming unsustainable… without substantial reform, it will likely become unmanageable for local authorities.”

That financial strain translates directly into families’ everyday experiences. By law, local authorities must provide alternative education after 15 days of absence. In reality, families wait months for support. When it comes, it is rarely enough – six or seven hours of teaching a week, delivered by tutors often unprepared to handle the unique challenges of children living with illness. This is 25 fewer hours of learning per week than their peers. The gulf widens, confidence collapses, and children who were once thriving are left believing they may never catch up. Parents, exhausted and out of options, often feel they are battling a system designed to fail them.

Bright Futures UK – personalised programmes that work

Bright Futures UK exists to change this story. Founded in 2016 by Josh Pelled, whose own education was shattered by childhood cancer, we are the only UK charity dedicated to helping young people return to education during or after illness.

Through personalised programmes – tutoring, mentoring, befriending and workshops – we ensure that no child is left to struggle alone.

A teenager with leukaemia and autism, once written off by other organisations, found not just tailored learning with us but a genuine connection with tutors who understood him. A 17-year-old, fearful of ever stepping back into a classroom, regained her confidence and returned to school full-time after months of Bright Futures’ support.

These stories are not exceptions. They are what happens when young people are given the chance to be seen, supported, and believed in.

Delivered through a small team and more than 300 committed volunteers, our work is efficient, effective and deeply human.

At the Charity Time Awards 2025, Bright Futures UK won Charity of the Year with an income of less than £1 million, honouring their outstanding work and recognising their effective support to the sector.

The difference Bright Futures makes

The results speak clearly: 82% of young people feel more socially included after taking part in our programmes. 84% say they are more confident about returning to school. In 2024, 100% of students sitting exams after our support achieved their desired grades.Every pound invested in Bright Futures multiplies: £1 can protect up to £72 in lifetime earnings for a child. But behind the numbers are lives transformed – young people who go from isolation to inclusion, from hopelessness to ambition, from being patients to being pupils once again.

Why Ten Thousand Futures?

Despite our proven model, today we reach just 2,000 young people each year – less than 1% of those who urgently need our help. For every child we support, there are dozens waiting, unseen and unsupported. By 2029, we aim to change that by helping 10,000 children annually – around 3-4% of the national cohort. Our focus will be on those from disadvantaged backgrounds, for whom the barriers are highest and opportunities most limited. This ambition is not just about education. It is about relieving a pressure cooker system, reducing long-term costs for families and the government, and ensuring that illness does not define the course of a young life.

The Campaign

To deliver this vision, we are launching Ten Thousand Futures – a bold strategy for growth at our 10th anniversary. To succeed, we need to raise £4 million over the next four years. We have carefully modelled this planned growth. The investment will expand our network of skilled volunteers to meet demand, grow tutoring, mentoring and befriending into a national programme, strengthen our long-term impact measurement and secure sustainable growth so that every child who needs us can access our personalised support.

Join as an Ambassador

Bright Futures stand at a pivotal moment. The need has never been greater, and the opportunity to make a generational difference has never been clearer.With this campaign, we can ensure that no child facing illness is left behind. Together, we can build ten thousand brighter futures every year and give young people back their education, their confidence, and their future.

Josh Pelled, Founder and CEO of Bright Futures UK, will work closely with Ambassadors who will also be supported by the charity’s Board of Directors.

Josh’s role is rooted in both personal experience and passion. Having twice faced cancer as a child and teenager, he knows first-hand the challenges that come with missing long periods of school. Those experiences inspired him to build the support he wished had been available to him – and that vision became Bright Futures UK.

Since launching the charity in 2017, he’s been proud to see it grow into the UK’s only organisation dedicated to helping young people aged 5–24 continue their education during and after serious illness. From tutoring and mentoring to befriending and in-hospital workshops, the programmes are designed to meet each young person’s unique needs with care, flexibility and understanding.

Every day, he feels grateful to work alongside such a passionate team, incredible volunteers, and inspiring young people. Together, they prove that illness should never define a future – and that every young person deserves the chance to learn, thrive, and reach their potential.

To view the role description and person specification, please go to the ‘How to Apply’ tab above, fill in your details and download the candidate pack.

For further information about the role or to arrange a confidential discussion, please contact our advising consultant at Peridot Partners:

Todd Johnson | todd@peridotpartners.co.uk | 07535 423577