Programme Facilitator - Greater Manchester

Are you passionate about rehabilitation? Could you help people make meaningful and sustained changes in their lives? If so, then a career as a Programme Facilitator in the Probation Service is for you. Providing interventions to people who engage in harmful behaviour to help reduce their likelihood of reoffending is an important part of our work in HMPPS. Our Programme Facilitators deliver a range of Accredited Programmes and Structured Interventions. You will be delivering groupwork and individual work to people subject to Community Orders or on licence after release from prison. These programmes are designed to support people to desist from crime, help people build on their strengths and lead more fulfilling and pro-social lives. You will be working with people who have perpetrated domestic abuse, sexual abuse and/or committed other violent and acquisitive offences.

The majority of our Programmes are delivered in the evening and therefore evening work is essential in this role. You will also travel to different locations to your office base to deliver these programmes. Travel expenses can be claimed.

If you are successful in the recruitment process to join the Probation Service, your starting salary will be £28,064. In addition to the base salary, you will be entitled to unsocial hours payments for working in the evenings and/or a Saturday. Working on a Saturday attracts an additional premium of 50% and working evenings an additional 30%. The Probation Service offers the opportunity for annual pay progression through a Competency Based Framework (CBF), which if eligible, will see your pay increase.

The job holder will deliver a range of rehabilitation interventions aimed at changing the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviour of people on probation with a full range of offence types and a full range of levels of risks (including those convicted of sexual and domestic abuse offences), as determined by sentences of the Courts and on the recommendation of Probation Practitioners. The main objectives of this role are to reduce re-offending, protect the public, prevent future victims and rehabilitation to help people to build constructive and meaningful lives in the community, through the delivery of effective evidence based Accredited Programmes and Structured Interventions.

The post holder will be Regionally based and sit in the Interventions Team and report to the Programme Manager. They will deliver interventions across a large regional area where travel will be required. There will be no line management responsibility in this role. There will be a requirement to regularly work unsocial hours (including evenings and weekends).

The work is varied, challenging and meaningful and comes with job security, great benefits and career progression opportunities - not to mention the chance to make a real difference to people’s lives and our communities.

To apply to this role you will be required to complete a short application form and detail responses to two Civil Service Behaviour and one Experience based questions. Your application will be sifted once the application deadline has closed. You will then receive further instruction on the outcome of your application. If successful at sift you will be invited to an interview which will include a facilitation exercise.

Helping offenders turn their lives around isn’t without its challenges. But you’ll play a key role in supporting them through interventions that encourage positive change. As a programme facilitator, you’ll deliver group and one-to-one sessions, creating a safe and structured environment that meets different learning styles and needs. You’ll manage group dynamics, address challenging behaviour, and ensure sessions remain effective.

You’ll also:

• Monitor progress, risk, and wellbeing throughout the intervention
• Keep accurate records and share insights with relevant teams
• Work closely with courts and criminal justice agencies to support sentence management
• Provide workshops and briefings to probation staff and external stakeholders
• Use pro-social modelling to reinforce positive behaviours

Due to the nature of the role extensive training and support is provided to ensure that all Programme Facilitators are confident and competent to succeed. Through the training programme you will learn about all aspects of programme delivery, including the theory behind the interventions we deliver. It is a requirement to successfully complete a 6-month probationary period, including undertaking an assessment centre and passing assessed training.

Where applicants provide multiple location preferences, reserve lists will be managed in accordance with location preference/s, as indicated in your application. We will appoint in merit list order for each location outlined in the vacancy and hold a separate locational reserve list for each of these locations. After appointments have been made using this locational appointment process, any remaining candidates who met the benchmark for the role will remain on a locational reserve list in accordance with their preferences for 12 months.

The MoJ offers Hybrid Working arrangements where business need allows. This is an informal, non-contractual form of flexible working that blends working from your base location, different MoJ sites and / or from home (please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas). Some roles will not be suitable for Hybrid Working.

The MoJ offers a range of benefits: Annual leave is 25 days on appointment and will increase to 30 days after five years’ service, plus public holidays. Leave for part-time and job share posts will be calculated on a pro-rata basis.

The Ministry of Justice is committed to staff development and offers an extensive range of training and development opportunities.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles.