Probation Services Officer - Bowling Green Approved Premises, Carlisle

Please note the PSO role is Approved Premises based with no option for hybrid working. This is a part‑time role for 18.5 hours per week. If you are successful but no immediate vacancy is available, you may be placed on a merit list for up to 12 months. This means you could be considered for future Probation Services Officer vacancies at the Approved Premises, including opportunities for full‑time roles where they arise.

Helping to keep the public safe. Giving people the chance to turn their lives around. Building a rewarding professional career. There are many reasons to join the Probation Service. What will yours be? We’re looking for empathetic, patient, and organised people to join us in this varied role, which offers the chance to make a difference, gain new skills and build a rewarding career within the Probation Service. If this sounds like you, apply now.

If you are successful in the recruitment process to join the Probation Service, your starting salary will be £26,475 pro‑rata. The Probation Service offers the opportunity for annual pay progression through a Competency Based Framework (CBF), which if eligible, will see your pay increase. CBF is designed to enable you to move up through the pay band range as your competence grows. New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band. Probation Service also increase their pay band ranges annually in line with Civil Service Pay guidance, which will also apply an increase to band pay ranges where applicable.

The job holder will undertake the full range of work with people on probation before and after sentence. This will include assessment, sentence implementation, offender management and producing reports. The job holder will provide case management support to a full range of people on probation utilising service procedures and practice directions that underpin professional judgement.

By managing offenders in the community, the Probation Service protects the public from the effect of crime and gives offenders the chance to turn their lives around. Join us and you’ll be part of a supportive team that thrives on sharing knowledge and expertise. Successful applicants may be based at a wide variety of office, court, team, or prison locations within the Probation Service region. Allocations will be made according to business need.

Probation services officers can help make a real difference to peoples’ lives. It’s not always easy to help someone turn their life around, but it can be immensely rewarding. We’re looking for empathetic, patient and resilient people to join us as probation services officers. As well as making a difference to others, the role offers plenty of on-the-job training and a real chance to build a career in the Probation Service. As a PSO, you’ll have a similar job to a fully qualified probation officer. The main difference is you’ll work with medium and lower risk people on probation. That’s not to say it’ll be easy. There’s no doubt this is a challenging role. Day-to-day, you’ll manage a caseload of offenders before and after sentence. We’ll look to you to assess and manage risks, provide information to courts and work closely with agencies throughout the justice system. You’ll also do everything you can to support offenders. This could involve everything from providing practical advice about housing and employment to simply listening and empathising.

You don’t need a degree for this role. We’re much more interested in your personal qualities. Ideally with experience of working with people who have social or personal difficulties, you’ll be empathetic, patient and resilient. Good writing skills are also essential. You must be able to produce clear and accurate reports to tight deadlines.

Approved Premises (AP) provide critical community-based service to accommodate and closely supervise high-risk offenders on release from prison, for the purposes of public protection. AP are staffed 24 hours per day, with staff enforcing an overnight curfew, and other monitoring and reporting requirements. Probation Services Officers lead on the key interventions and rehabilitative activities with the resident group, working regular hours Monday to Friday but also covering at weekends as required. The provision of suitable accommodation on release is a key factor in reducing reoffending and supporting transition into the community.

All offers of employment will be made strictly in merit order, based on your performance throughout the recruitment process. Candidates at the top of the merit list will be offered vacancies as they arise in their chosen locations. The addresses listed in the job advertisement are not an exhaustive list of potential base locations; they give an indication of some of the potential locations you could be based at. We will therefore endeavour to offer you a vacancy within a 60-minute commute of your home location.