SCOPE: This regional contract is to provide grant support, tree growing expertise and training to inspire and enable local community groups and schools to setup their own community tree nursery, to grow and plant trees in some of the most disadvantaged communities in Scotland.
SERVICES: The anticipated level of services is circa 2 days per week with occasional weekend and evening work.
The services will ideally start in early September 2026, and finish in June 2027 covering a total of 40 weeks (excluding Christmas and Easter school holidays) over that period. There is potential for contract extension, subject to funding.
CONTRACT RATE: £199 per day to be invoiced monthly, plus travel expenses.
TERMS: The independent contractor will be responsible for their own tax, National Insurance and other liabilities.
REGION: Scotland – this work is best suited to a contractor located within the Central Belt, ideally in the Glasgow, Edinburgh or Stirling area, to enable regular travel to community organisations and other partners.
CLIENT CONTACT: The Tree Council Growing Together (GT) Project Manager
LIAISON WITH: The Tree Council: Growing Together project team, Communications team, National Tree Warden Scheme Co-ordinator, Science & Research team, Community planting and grants team
GT Partners: Programme partners, community tree nurseries, volunteer organisations, primary and secondary school teachers, PRUs, AP, SEND schools
APPLICATION Please submit your application by midnight on Wednesday 12 August 2026. Interviews will be conducted w/c 17 August. The contract will begin from early September (subject to availability and references).
Background
The Tree Council’s Growing Together programme, supported by M&G plc, is transforming communities and nature through locally grown trees. The programme sets out to double the number of tree nurseries in communities and schools across the UK by autumn 2028 to help shape a greener, more connected and resilient future.
In our pilot year, we successfully supported 81 community tree nurseries (CTNs) across the UK. This included helping 36 community organisations and schools to establish a new CTN, offering face-to-face visits, advice, training and the practical resources needed to grow local healthy trees.
The programme also supported existing community tree nurseries with capital grants, including for biosecurity equipment. Some well-established CTNs received additional funding to enable them to offer outreach support to community growers regionally in the form of training, resource development and online peer to peer learning.
New CTNs are supported on a day-to-day basis by three independent Regional Leads who work across Southern England, Northern England and Scotland, circa two days a week. The Tree Council’s wider Growing Together team offers overarching operations and delivery support to the Regional Leads and CTNs involved in the programme.
What we are looking for from our Growing Together Regional Leads
You will have experience of either setting up a community tree nursery or working in the horticulture, or tree sector. You will have experience of engaging and training adults and young people to develop their horticulture knowledge and the skills associated with tree growing and planting in a mix of different settings including schools.
You will be familiar with the complex and ever-changing demands faced by voluntary/ community organisations and schools - from the complexities of staff and volunteer capacity, with teams often juggling multiple jobs, to funding challenges and management pressures.
You will have excellent organisational skills and be a strong communicator, used to working collaboratively with many different organisations. You will demonstrate confidence and a positive approach to inspire others. Working independently, you will solve problems and provide specialist advice when needed (either your own or seek specialist advice) and find practical solutions to enable CTNs to develop their plans in a safe and cost-effective way.
Attention to detail, a positive outlook and tenacity will be key. This is a challenging time for schools, and community organisations, so your ability to problem-solve, inspire and support new and existing CTNs to achieve their goals will play an important role in the success of the programme. Above all, you should be passionate about the ecological and social transformation Growing Together can achieve in some of the most deprived communities in the UK.
You must be prepared to work closely with The Tree Council’s small dynamic team, in a fastpaced environment, travelling to visit CTNs across Scotland.
SERVICES REQUIRED OF CONTRACTORS
TTC will cover public liability and professional indemnity insurance associated with the Regional Lead contract.
SCOPE OF SERVICES: GROWING TOGETHER REGIONAL LEAD (Scotland)
Support the operations and development of The Tree Council’s Growing Together programme in Scotland. This includes but is not limited to:
Engage and support new and existing CTNs
Recruit 10-12 new CTNs, approximately two thirds being community organisations and one third schools, focusing on areas where a CTN will have the highest impacts for nature and the local community (e.g. areas of high deprivation, low tree equity or high climate risk).
Provide organisations with bespoke advice and guidance to support the planning and delivery of their CTN on topics such as site layout, growing methods, biosecurity, seed propagation, tree health, grafting, pruning and propagating cuttings.
Support CTNs to draft and cost their Growing Together grant application and project budget.
Continue to engage 10 CTNs in Scotland established in year one of Growing Together, providing advice and guidance to assist them with the further development of their tree growing ambitions.
Respond to regional CTN queries, concerns and requests for support in relation to tree growing and CTN establishment, drawing on wider expertise where necessary within The Tree Council team or beyond.
Encourage CTNs to sign up to the Community Tree Nursery Collaborative to benefit from peer-to-peer support and link up CTNs with others in the region to provide mutual support.
Engagement and face-to-face delivery
In the 26/27 programme year, visit every new CTN at least twice and existing CTNs established in Y1 at least once.
Deliver/ facilitate approximately 30 advice and training sessions to CTN leads and volunteers
Where appropriate, develop tailored resources and training sessions to aid the completion of the ‘Five Steps to developing a CTN’
On occasion, where necessary, support CTNs with constructing grow beds, installing rainwater harvesting/irrigation systems, biosecurity measures, composting systems etc.
Support TTC team to deliver M&G corporate volunteering days in Scotland, often based around Stirling and Edinburgh. This includes but is not limited to
Planning – equipment specifications, ordering and risk assessments
Delivery – managing activities on site, health and safety
Impact – recording key information in a timely manner
Engagement and communications
Be main point of contact with Growing Together CTNs in the region, providing timely and supportive responses
Contribute regional content to Growing Together e-bulletins, web pages and Tree Council social media channels
Encourage organisations to generate their own external communications about the establishment and progress of their CTN
Quality, impact and evaluation
Record agreed outputs and programme evaluation information in the systems provided in a timely and regular manner
Contribute to data measuring, recording and reporting on social and environmental impact of the Growing Together programme
Share feedback on programme quality and delivery as observed and experienced in delivery of the services.
Health and safety
Comply with all Tree Council health and safety policies, procedures and guidance, ensuring a risk assessment and safeguarding risk assessment is in place for every workshop or training event.
Systems and processes
Comply with all Growing Together established systems and processes, effectively managing each CTN as an individual project.
Attend and contribute to regular operations meetings, TTC wide working group meetings where required.
CONTRACTOR SPECIFICATION
| Contractor Specification (*) E= Essential | D=Desirable | Criteria * | |
| Qualifications | |||
| Teaching or education qualification • | D | ||
| Horticulture or Environmental science or related qualification • | D | ||
| Experience | |||
| ● | Facilitator and educator in communities and/or schools | E | |
| • | Trainer and educator in tree-related horticultural skils (seed propagation, ree care and management, fruit tree grafting, tree planting) | E | |
| ● | Communications, administration and co-ordination within a community organisation or school setting | D | |
| ● | Working with stakeholders and collaborating with external organisations | E | |
| • | Knowledge and experience of training in an outdoor setting (community tree nursery, school grounds, allotment, community centre, public open spaces), to range of abilities and backgrounds. | E | |
| ● | Knowledge and experience of health and safety within community organisations and the school environment | E | |
| • | Managing and processing grant applications | D | |
| ● | Content creation for website and social channels | D | |
| Skills | |||
| • | Excellent communicator, able to communicate and present at al levels | E | |
| • | Independent, pro-active, with lots of energy and resilience | E | |
| • | Strong, practical, organisational and prioritisation skills, able to work to deadlines. Calm and confident under pressure. | E | |
| • | Excellent attention to detail, with high professional standards | E |
| • Ability to work as an independent contractor yet remain well-connected to TTC | E |
| ● Highly proficient in office IT systems with good knowledge of all MS Officeprogrammes including Word, Excel, Outlook and Powerpoint. | E |
| • Driving license and access to car, able to work from home and in varioussettings as the role requires (school grounds, community hubs, cafés etc) | E |
| ● Passion for and understand of why trees, the environment, social and ecologicalinequalities/social justice, education, health & wellbeing are important topeople's lives and be able to 'champion' the cause and build on this knowledge | E |
| • Broad knowledge and interest in the biodiversity and climate changeemergencies and ways to take sustainable action. | E |
| Regional Lead client service qualities | |
| • Wilingness to be hands on with everyday tasks, can do attitude, able to adapt tochanging circumstances, able to engage with a wide range of audiences, | E |
THE TREE COUNCIL - WHO WE AREThe Tree Council is a national charity (charity no. 279000) and umbrella body bringing everyone together with a shared mission to care for trees and our planet’s future. We inspire and empower organisations, government, communities and individuals with the knowledge and tools to create positive, lasting change at a national and local level.
We inspire people to plant and care for trees – the trees in your city street, your local park or school playground, in orchards and hedgerows and rural pastures around the UK. (Other charities focus on forests and larger woodlands.) We celebrated our 50th anniversary in 2024.
Our work beyond Growing Together includes:
National Schools Programme, empowering and equipping schools to connect, learn, care and share the importance of trees to transform lives and life across the UK.
Tree warden volunteer network comprising thousands of volunteers who help plant and establish trees in communities across England, Scotland and Wales.
An annual community programme, which connects people with trees and the natural world, including ‘National Tree Week’ at the end of November
Science and social research programme in partnership with Defra, Forestry Commission, Fera Science and top UK universities.
An important relationship with Network Rail, with whom we are delivering a £2m community planting programme over five years.
Partnership with our 120 Member organisations including other charities, academic partners and our supporters (businesses, major donors, Trusts & Foundations).
CONTRACTOR APPLICATION
If you wish to apply to be a contractor and provide these services, please provide a CV (no more than 2 pages/4 sides) and cover letter outlining your experience and skills that demonstrate your competencies and ability to inspire communities to deliver Growing Together
Please submit your application by midnight on Wednesday 12 August 2026. Interviews will be conducted w/c 17 August. The contract will ideally begin from early September (subject to availability and references).