Advance into Justice – Youth Justice Worker (fast-track to Physical Education Instructor)

Youth Justice Worker – HMYOI Werrington, HMYOI Wetherby, HMYOI Cookham Wood, HMYOI Feltham

HMYOI Werrington – Ash Bank Rd, Werrington, Stoke-on-Trent ST9 0DX

HMYOI Wetherby – York Rd, Wetherby LS22 5ED

HMYOI Cookham Wood – Sir Evelyn Rd, Rochester ME1 3LU

HMYOI Feltham – Bedfont Rd, Feltham TW13 4NP

Starting salary: £30,702 (for a 39 hour week inc 20% unsocial)

City/Town:         Stoke-on-Trent, Wetherby, Rochester and Feltham

Region:              West Midlands, North East & Kent, Surrey and Sussex, London

Vacancy type:   Merit

One career, many roles

Advance into Justice is a recruitment scheme targeted at supporting those who have served in the Armed Forces and their families into employment within operational roles within HMPPS.  

Advance into Justice is open to Service Leavers, Veterans within 5 years of leaving the Armed Forces and their Spouses and Legal Partners.

Eligible applicants who pass our assessment processes will be offered a 2 year fixed-term appointment within the option to convert to permanency, subject to approval, after 12 months, under Exception 2 to the Civil Service recruitment principles.

Successful applicants will be offered either a home to work travel or resettlement package to support their transition within their first 2 years of employment.

All provisional offers will be held for a period of 12 months from the point of offer, to allow service leavers to plan for their exit from the Armed Forces.

Advance Into Justice , HM Prison & Probation Service

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 role is a based on the prison officer role, but specific to working in youth custody. It will be a driving force for changing the way children and young people are cared for in custody.

We are looking for people who have a special talent in helping young people.

You will be responsible for ensuring the security and safety of children and supporting them day-to-day in a custodial environment. You’ll get training and development 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 are key to ensuring these children are helped to build better lives.

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

You will need a DBS check.

Eligibility

To become a Youth Justice Worker, you will need to:

Be at least 18 years old

• have the right to work in the UK
• be reasonably fit and able to pass our fitness test
• have good eyesight in both eyes (both with and without corrective lenses)

For safety reasons, everyone training to be a prison officer needs a  suitable standard of hearing (without the use of hearing aids) 

To work in a high security prison (category A) you must have been a resident in the UK for the last three years

Visa sponsorship

Please note we are unable to sponsor any individuals via the Skilled Worker Sponsorship / Tier 2 (General) work visa.

If your application is unsuccessful at the sift/Interview stage, a six month waiting period will be applied during which time you will not be allowed to submit any further applications for prison officer positions

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
• be skilled in recognising and assessing the complex needs that children, young people and families often present
• agree with the child, young person or family any specific interventions or referrals
• take an approach that will be one of respectful curiosity that challenges and supports children, young people and families to achieve their potential and stay safe
• 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 you work with.

Find out more about being a youth justice worker.

Fast-Track Assessment Process

We’ve significantly reduced the length of time it takes to become a PEI compared to the standard process. This means that you will be able to start your training during your probationary year. The remaining training will be the same and consists of:

• A 4-day pre-selection process – This is to ensure prospective PEI’s have the key strengths and qualities needed to meet the demands of the full PE course. A high level of fitness, communication skills, basic hand-eye co-ordination, along with good core strength and flexibility are key elements that are needed to successfully complete this.
• A 13-week PE course – On successful completion of your Pre-Selection, you can apply for PEI vacancies and secure your place on your PE Course.  The full PE course involves gaining several sports based and teaching qualifications such as Gym Instructor Level 2, British Weight Lifting Level 3 and Education and Training Level 3.

PEI offer

• 2 year fixed term appointment with the opportunity to convert to permanency after 12 months in post, subject to approval.
• Offer of home to work or resettlement package, depending on the applicant’s circumstances
• Undertake the prison officer role, with fast-tracked access to the PEI pre-selection assessment.
• Starting pay will be the same as a Band 3 prison officer.

Eligibility

• You will need to be a qualified prison officer
• You will need to pass a higher PE level fitness test before your pre-selection course
• You will need to complete a pre-selection and full PE course
• You will need to pass a promotion assessment interview

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 the online tests, to see if you have the basic judgement and numerical skills expected of 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.

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.

 Read more about the application process.

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 Werrington and HMYOI Wetherby

• 37 hours a week = £28,880 a year
• 39 hours a week = £30,702 a year
• 41 hours a week = £32,523 a year

HMYOI Cookham Wood

• 37 hours a week = £30,880 a year
• 39 hours a week = £32,702 a year
• 41 hours a week = £34,523 a year

HMYOI Feltham

• 37 hours a week = £34,114 a year
• 39 hours a week = £36,140 a year
• 41 hours a week = £38,165 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.

You may also have opportunities to work additional paid hours.

Benefits

• 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

Read more about youth justice worker benefits.

Training and career progression

Working within youth custody, you’ll have a clear progression 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. If you feel the recruitment process has breached the recruitment principles, you can raise a formal complaint in the following order:

1. Shared Services Connected Ltd: call 0845 241 5358 (Monday to Friday 8am – 6pm) or email Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com
2. Ministry of Justice Resourcing: resourcing-services@justice.gov.uk
3. The Civil Service Commission.

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.

Disability support 

As a Disability Confident employer, the Ministry of Justice 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 email 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, job offers will be made to individuals 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.

The jobholder must be able to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence in English or (when specified in Wales) Welsh.

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. Please quote the job reference 76115

The jobholder must be able to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence in English or (when specified in Wales) Welsh.

Closing Date: 3rd August 2023

For more information about the recruitment process, benefits and allowances and answers to general queries, please click the below link which will direct you to our Candidate Information Page.

Link: https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

Job contact :

• Name : SSCL Recruitment Enquiries Team
• Email : Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com
• Telephone : 0845 241 5358

Recruitment team

• Email : Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com