Youth Justice Worker - HMYOI Cookham Wood

Join us as youth justice worker – make a difference to children and young people

The Youth Custody Service is transforming its workforce and we want you to help us on this journey. The youth justice worker is a new and innovative adaption of the prison officer role specific for working within youth custody and will be a driving force for changing the way in which children and young people are cared for in custody. You will be responsible for ensuring the security and safety of children and supporting them day to day in the custodial environment. Training and development is provided to ensure you have a clear understanding of the individual circumstances for young people in custody, and how your reactions in complex or dynamic situations is key to ensuring these children are helped to build better lives. We are looking for people who have a special talent in helping young people.

You will support young people who may have committed serious crimes, grown up in difficult settings or have mental health concerns. They will test boundaries at every level, but also have a huge potential for change

DBS is Required

Eligibility

To be a youth justice worker you must:

Be at least 18 years old

Have the right to work in the UK

Be reasonably fit and have good eyesight in both eyes and a suitable standard of hearing (without the use of hearing aids) is required for safety reasons for all potential candidates for prison officer training.

Be able to speak with confidence in English or (when specified in Wales) Welsh

If you are not a UK or EU citizen, that you have approx. 30 months or more leave to remain in the UK entitlement at the point of application.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

UK nationals

nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK

nationals of the Republic of Ireland

nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)

relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service

relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service

certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals

Essential skills

You don’t need qualifications to become a youth justice worker. Personal qualities are more important. You need to show:

Good communication and influencing skills

Commitment to quality

Effective decision-making

Care and understanding

As a practitioner you will be working with children, young people and families, including carers, to achieve positive and sustainable change in their lives. You will demonstrate a passion to care for and about children, young people and families. You will be skilled in recognising and assessing the complex needs that children, young people and families often present. You will agree with the child, young person or family any specific interventions or referrals. Your approach will be one of respectful curiosity that challenges and supports children, young people and families, to achieve their potential and stay safe. You will work alongside other professionals and organisations to share the responsibility for improving outcomes. Each piece of work with a child or family will be different and you will exercise judgement on a range of evidence-based approaches to inform your practice. You will regularly evaluate the effectiveness of your methods and actions. Regular supervision with an experienced practitioner will encourage reflection on your practice. At the end of the apprenticeship the high quality of your practice will be making a real difference to those that you work with.

Read more about prison officer careers >> - https://prisonandprobationjobs.gov.uk/prison-officer/

How to apply

The online application begins with important details such as your National Insurance number and right to work in the UK.

You will then be invited to complete stage 1 of the online tests, to see if you have the basic judgement and numerical skills expected of a youth justice worker.

If you are successful, we will invite you to stage 2 of the online tests, to see if you have the right natural strengths and preferences to become a youth justice worker.

The online assessment centre:

If you pass the online tests, we will invite you to the online assessment centre. We test to see if you have the abilities, behaviours and strengths to be a youth justice worker.

Your online assessment centre will take place week commencing 7th April 2022.

We also carry out an eyesight test, hearing test and basic health screening, including blood pressure check along with a fitness test. This will take place after you have successfully passed your assessment and once we are in a position to offer you a role.

Find out about the application process >> - https://prisonandprobationjobs.gov.uk/prison-officer/tips-for-applying/

Job details

Pay

The initial training is 37 hours a week. After training, you can choose to work 37, 39 or 41 hours a week. Your annual salary will reflect your weekly hours.

HMYOI Cookham Wood

37 hours a week = £28,144 a year

39 hours a week = £29,427 a year

41 hours a week = £30,710 a year

All salary figures quoted include any additional allowances.

The standard working week of a Youth Justice worker is based on a 39 hours per week shift pattern consisting of days, evenings, nights, weekends and bank holidays.

You may also have opportunities to work additional paid hours.

Benefits

Working as a prison officer comes with a range of attractive benefits, including:

25 days’ annual holiday (rising to 30 days after 10 years’ service)

paid time off for public holidays and 1 extra privilege day

Civil Service pension of up to 20% of your salary

generous maternity cover

cycle to work scheme and travel loans

property rental deposit loans

access to keyworker housing schemes

employee assistance programmes

Training and career progression

Working within youth custody means you have a clear progression pathway. Youth justice workers starting in post from June 2021 will be enrolled onto the Practitioner in Children’s Residential Care apprenticeship upon completing the initial Prison Officer training pathway. Full details regarding the apprenticeship course will be made available prior to the time of enrolment.

Once you have successfully completed your qualification you will progress to a band 4 youth justice worker specialist role. Please note that if you are not successful on completion of the programme, you will be redeployed to a prison officer role in the adult estate.

Ongoing training and development for specialist skills such as child protection and safeguarding will be provided.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles. Should you feel that the recruitment process has breached the recruitment principles you are able to raise a formal complaint in the following order

1- To Shared Service Connected Ltd (0845 241 5358 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or email Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com);

2- To Ministry of Justice Resourcing (resourcing-services@justice.gov.uk);

3- To the Civil Service Commission (details available here)

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s recruitment principles.

We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity

Disability support

As a Disability Confident employer, MoJ are committed to providing everyone with the opportunity to demonstrate their skills, talent and abilities, by making adjustments throughout all elements of the recruitment process and in the workplace. You will be able to request reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process within the application form. We can offer reasonable adjustments to help with the online tests and online assessment centre.

If you require any assistance, please call 0345 241 5358 (Monday to Friday 8am-6pm) or e-mail MoJ-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com.

Merit campaign:

This is a ‘merit’ job vacancy. If you are successful at the online assessment centre, you will be added to a merit list based on your score.

When all applicants have completed the online assessment centre, the prison will make job offers to those with the highest scores first when positions become available.

You can stay on the merit list for 12 months. After this, you’ll need to apply again.

If you require any assistance, please call 0345 2415358 (Monday to Friday 8am-6pm) or e-mail MoJ-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com.