Company details

HEADCOUNT

100-499

ORG TYPE

Non-profit

SECTOR

Impact and NGOs

WEBSITE

http://www.clairehouse.org.uk/

About the company

Claire House Children’s Hospice is a UK charity providing specialist palliative and end-of-life care for babies, children and young adults, alongside support for families. The organisation runs hospice services and wider community-facing support, and also operates charity retail to fund services. Public documents show the charity investing in workforce growth, governance and quality improvement alongside expansion plans. Early-career entry is strongest in clinical pathways (newly qualified nurse support, apprenticeships) and in retail volunteering and paid shop roles.

Locations and presence

Claire House is based in Wirral (Bebington) and also lists a Liverpool site. The charity’s footprint covers Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales through care services and community support.

Palpable Score

69.8

/ 100

Claire House scores well because the charity publishes real support mechanisms like induction, ongoing training, apprenticeships, and a 12-month preceptorship for newly qualified nurses. The score is capped because early-career access is uneven outside healthcare and retail, and because the charity does not publish consistent early-career outcomes data like qualification completion rates, promotion timelines, or retention by cohort.

Pillar 1: Early-career access

Score

13.3

/ 20

The company offers clear entry points through volunteering, including retail shop roles open from age 16 and framed as skills-building work experience.
Claire House states in the Quality Account that the charity committed to recruiting newly qualified nurses and supporting them through a 12-month preceptorship programme.
The company also reports internal staff completing apprenticeship routes into Registered Nurse Associate roles, which is a tangible early-career pathway.

Pillar 2: Hiring fairness and transparency

Score

14.0

/ 20

The company’s job pages include practical basics such as hours, rota expectations (including weekends and bank holidays where relevant), and pay for specific roles like Assistant Shop Manager.
Claire House provides downloadable documents (job description and application form) and requests an Equality and Diversity form, which signals a structured and trackable process rather than informal hiring.
The company says only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and references safeguarding-focused recruitment, but the careers hub does not set out typical timelines, interview stages, or feedback practice across roles.

Pillar 3: Learning and support

Score

15.5

/ 20

The company describes a “thorough and effective induction and onboarding process” and links this to making “the best start possible” in role.
Claire House lists multiple development channels, including a calendar of internal training events, online learning, and access to external training and apprenticeships.
The company sets expectations for regular one-to-ones and an annual appraisal cycle, though role-by-role ramp plans are not consistently published in job packs.

Pillar 4: Pay fairness and stability

Score

14.0

/ 20

The company publishes pay for at least some frontline roles (for example, Assistant Shop Manager roles listed at £24,700 per year) rather than relying only on “competitive” wording.
Claire House lists a substantial stability package for employees, including pension, life assurance, enhanced holiday allowance, enhanced parental pay, and an Employee Assistance Programme with wellbeing, legal and financial support.
The company does not publish salary ranges consistently across all functions on the central jobs hub, which limits early-career pay comparability between departments.

Pillar 5: Early-career outcomes

Score

13.0

/ 20

The company reports in the Quality Account that three internal staff completed an apprenticeship route into Registered Nurse Associate roles, which is a measurable progression outcome.
Claire House’s 2024–2029 strategy includes staff survey results (including a baseline where 82% of staff said they love working for the organisation) and sets improvement targets, but does not break this down by early-career segment.
The company has mixed small-sample external sentiment (positive themes on Glassdoor, and some pay and workload complaints on Indeed), and the charity does not publish early-career retention or promotion rates to resolve that uncertainty.

Useful links & resources

Our Jobs (live vacancies hub)Benefits of Working at Claire House (training, onboarding, benefits)Volunteering (retail roles from age 16+)