Reparation and Participation Lead

In this role you will lead on carrying out innovative and needs‑led reparation sessions for children on court orders. The role of this is to offer community payback within a restorative way incorporating victims wishing but also personalising to meet the strengths and needs of the child. You will work with community partners looking to put together projects to enhance what we already have set up within the service thinking creatively and innovatively about best practice.

As Participation Lead, you will be responsible for creating opportunities for service users to be involved in the shaping of the YJS service. The post‑holder will be responsible for the design of feedback resources for various cohorts of practice within the team. You will be responsible for involving young people, wherever possible, in decision‑making processes and work closely with them to ensure their views are listened to and their feedback is acted upon accordingly. You will also lead on collating feedback and sharing this with young people, the YJS team and management where appropriate; keeping the importance of feedback and evaluation on the agenda for the service. Further you will also lead on Social Media platforms for the YJS, and support with marketing for specific youth projects. This may include one‑to‑one feedback and group works. You will coordinate a timetable of reparation sessions across the week and support children with attending and writing up these sessions on our database.

You will have extensive experience of working with children and families with complex needs and be motivated to see children exceed and support them to engage in sessions. You will be passionate and enthusiastic to work with partners in the community to get projects off the ground and be able to risk‑assess activities. You will have excellent communication skills and be keen to work as part of a team to support children open to the service. The role will need you to be proactive and have an awareness of trauma‑informed work and restorative practice. You will be confident to work one‑to‑one with children as well as to lead group work sessions. Hold a recognised, relevant qualification and a minimum of two years experience working in children’s social care, education or youth work.

The Youth Justice Service sits within the adolescent team and the schools team and carries out vital work to support young people. You will be based at the quad in Carshalton as part of a vibrant, innovative and caring service which values its staff and strives to be an outstanding service for young people. You will benefit from flexible and hybrid working arrangements and a trusting environment with managers who understand the needs of the service as well as individuals. The service carries out statutory as well as preventative work for youth justice. The team is pro active and committed to supporting children and families using a trauma‑informed and restorative justice approach. Hearing the voice of the child is integral to what we do in being able to shape our service to meet the needs of children.

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

Benefits include:

• A generous annual leave entitlement of 26‑32 days plus bank holidays (pro‑rata if part‑time working hours apply) depending on service and grade
• Enhanced Maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption and dependents leave
• Two volunteering days per year
• Flexible Working – Smarter Working Scheme (dependent on the role)
• Adjustable and agile working arrangements using Google Chromebooks
• Learning and development portal offering a range of courses
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Electric vehicle leasing scheme
• Confidential health & wellbeing and counselling support

We are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough and we strive to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and instil a sense of belonging in our staff. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce, therefore we welcome applications from under‑represented groups. To support our workers and their families we offer a range of family‑friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda. We are also proud to be a disability‑confident employer and guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role. As an accredited London Living Wage Employer all our employees are guaranteed the London Living Wage regardless of their length or type of contract.

This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory result to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) helps employers make safer recruitment decisions and prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, including children.