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About this role - council member

We’re looking for people to join our national councils in Cymru (Wales), Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Cymraeg | English

Our National Councils help us reach further into the MS community in each nation of the UK. They act as ambassadors for our cause and help people affected by MS to share what matters most to them. Councils help deliver our strategy and national plans, and contribute to the Board’s understanding of nation-specific priorities and issues.

Most council members have a personal connection to MS. This can be because they’re living with MS themselves or someone they care about is. If you’re appointed, we’ll expect you to share our values and have – or be prepared to develop – an understanding of MS. The role of council member is voluntary, and unpaid.

Read our annual plans and reviews

Find out more about what’s going on where you are in our national councils’ 2023 annual plans.

Cymru/Wales Council Annual Plan (2023) (PDF, 148 KB)

England Council Annual Plan (2023) (PDF, 165 KB)

Northern Ireland Council Annual Plan (2023) (PDF, 167 KB)

Scotland Council Annual Plan (2023) (PDF, 260 KB)

Could this be the role for you?

We’d like to hear from you if:

  • you’re a team player
  • You're comfortable communicating with a wide variety of people and organisations
  • you share our commitment to understanding what matters most to people affected by MS in your nation

Our national councils are proud to lead by example. We do this by putting the lived experience of people with MS at the heart of everything we do. We actively encourage applications from people with a personal connection to MS.

Download our National Council Member role description(PDF, 34 KB)

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion

Everyone’s MS is different. And we all have different lived experiences depending on where we live, our gender, sexuality or our heritage. There is no one size fits all.

We want everyone to feel included, seen and heard. But there are groups of people in our MS community who are under-supported and underrepresented in our work. These include:

  • younger people with MS
  • LGBTQIA+ people
  • people with Black, Asian or minorised ethnic heritage
  • people with advanced MS and the people who care for them

We reach out to underrepresented groups to join our national councils. And we do this so we can build closer connections with all parts of the MS community in the UK.

Learning and development

We’ll provide a comprehensive induction programme and you’ll have regular check-ins to identify any ongoing support you could benefit from.

Expected time commitment

Council members are appointed to a three-year term, with the option to seek reappointment to a second three-year term.

As well as completing your induction and taking part in ongoing learning and development, being a council member will involve:

  • contributing to four informal national council meetings per year (these may be in person or online)
  • attending other events to represent us and hear from the MS community

We don’t want finances to be a barrier to anyone thinking of applying to join a national council. So we’ll book your travel and accommodation to attend events on our behalf, and reimburse other out-of-pocket expenses.

Read our expenses policy on our volunteer website

Council member recruitment timeline 

  • Application deadline: Sunday 29 October 2023 at 5pm
  • Candidate interviews (online): between Monday 13 and Friday 24 November
  • Start in role: Monday 1 January 2024

Find out how to apply