Senior Practitioner - Youth Offending Service

Oxfordshire Youth Justice Service is a dynamic and forward-thinking multi-agency partnership committed to preventing and reducing youth crime in the County of Oxfordshire. We are passionate about improving outcomes for justice-involved children, families and victims of crime and are driven in our practice by the Child First framework and our values. You would be joining a team of professionals who come to work each day to make things better for our children and those harmed by their behaviour.

We are proud of the service we provide in partnership for our children, and are fiercely motivated to address barriers and challenges in our systems including equity of access to services for vulnerable and minoritised communities and victims, disproportionate over-representation of Black and Mixed Heritage children in our justice system, and improving education outcomes for children with SEND along with other core priorities as outlined in our Youth Justice Annual Plan.

Oxfordshire Youth Justice Service is currently being re-located under an umbrella of teams as part of the development of a new 'adolescent offer' for Oxfordshire's children. This is an exciting time to join the service as we align with colleagues in Targeted Youth Work and Exploitation to enhance our responses across prevention, diversion and around harm outside the home.

The role of Senior Practitioner within the Youth Justice Service is dynamic and multi-faceted, with a 70/30 split of case-management alongside practice/team development work. Senior Practitioners hold the most complex and high-need children in our service, and will tend to work with children on higher-level community orders and those on remand/sentence in custody, including those subject to MAPPA.

This role involves additional responsibilities and opportunities such as delivering training/workshops internally and to partners, leading on projects and assisting the management team with audits and quality assurance activity. Senior Practitioners are also required to represent the management team and service in some multi-agency panels and forums. Senior Practitioners form part of the YJS Duty Management rota so the role does involve some occasional evening and weekend work.

Candidates applying for this Senior Practitioner role will need to have strong experience of youth justice practice and be highly conversant in youth justice knowledge, practice frameworks, legislation and guidance. We are looking for a practitioner able to pick up a complex and varied case-load, attend Magistrates and Crown Courts, write both community and custody-level Pre-Sentence Reports and work with children on remand or sentenced in the secure estate.

We are looking for a practitioner who has experience of leading on specific practice areas or projects and who is able to demonstrate positive role-modelling and leadership skills for the wider team. Our Senior Practitioners will often be the 'first port of call' for the team and for partners and so we are looking for candidates who embody our Child First values, have excellent communication and interpersonal skills, competence in dynamic problem-solving, confidence in making defensible decisions, and self-awareness in knowing what and when to escalate for further support.