Group Facilitator in Bristol

Location: HMP Ashfield, Shortwood Road, Somerset BS16 9QJ.

Salary: £28,410.00 per annum plus excellent benefits.

Schedule: 40 Hours per week, Monday – Friday 8am – 4.30pm (flexible within office hours).

As a TC Group Facilitator in our J&I team, you will support in delivering group-based psychological interventions within a custodial setting. This non-operational role involves facilitating assessment and therapeutic group programmes, supporting the Psychology/Interventions function, and contributing to the effective delivery of rehabilitative services. The post carries no line management responsibility.

What You’ll Do

• Deliver structured group-based interventions, including preparation of sessions, materials, and resources.
• Promote and explain interventions to prisoners and relevant staff.
• Contribute to participant assessments against suitability criteria, including administering standardised assessments where appropriate.
• Co-facilitate sessions and participate in post-session debriefs.
• Maintain accurate and timely participant records and session notes.
• Attend case conferences and provide feedback on progress and objectives.
• Comply with audit, supervision, and quality assurance requirements.
• Participate fully in the TC regime, including team meetings, community meetings, and group supervision.

Qualifications and Experience

• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to engage, motivate, and appropriately challenge resistant individuals.
• Effective teamwork, organisation, and workload management skills.
• Ability to reflect on practice and respond constructively to supervision and feedback.
• Resilience, emotional regulation, and the ability to maintain professional boundaries.
• Knowledge or understanding of psychological theory related to offending behaviour, “what works” approaches, motivational techniques, diversity and responsivity issues, and sexual offending theory is desirable. Training will be provided.

Essential Experience

• Experience facilitating group work and/or working with challenging client groups.

Desirable Experience

• Experience working in a forensic or custodial setting.
• Delivery of psychological interventions.
• Delivery of accredited offending behaviour programmes (e.g. Horizon, Kaizen, TSP) in custody or the community.

Vetting And Checks

This role requires Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) clearance, which involves verifying your identity, employment history, nationality, and criminal record to meet government security standards. In addition, depending on the nature of the role, you may need to obtain formal Security Clearance (such as CTC or SC), which includes more detailed background checks on employment, criminal record, and financial history to ensure suitability for working in secure environments. Please note that UK residency requirements may apply for certain levels of clearance. You will also complete an Occupational Health Questionnaire so we can identify and provide any support you may need to undertake the role effectively.

What We Offer

• Pension: Up to 6% contributory pension scheme.
• Training and development: Over 1,100 internal courses available, funding for qualifications and apprenticeships (including L3 Team Leader and L5 Operations Manager apprenticeships), mentoring opportunities, and a focus on internal progression.
• Health and wellbeing: Employee Assistance Programme, Bupa Anytime HealthLine, wellbeing app, 30% off at Serco-managed leisure centres, and 24/7 access to a virtual GP service.
• Discounts: Discounts across around 1,000 retailers, from food and clothing to days out, entertainment and travel.
• Charity: Paid volunteering day, tax-free charitable giving through Payroll Giving Scheme, donate your pennies from your monthly pay to the Serco People Fund Charity.
• Employee networks: Our networks support inclusion and connection by providing spaces for collaboration, learning, and belonging. They represent and empower all our colleagues including LGBTQIA+ employees, women, parents and carers, people with disabilities, veterans, and people from all cultural backgrounds.

Let’s impact a better future, together. Apply today.

Please click on the apply button to complete your application. Occasionally we receive a large volume of applications for our roles and when that happens we sometimes bring the closing date forward, so please apply promptly to avoid disappointment.

At Serco, we see people first and foremost for their performance and potential. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organisation that supports the needs of all. As such we will make reasonable adjustments at interview through to employment for our candidates and strongly encourage applications from a diverse candidate pool. We are open to discussions around flexibility and flexible working. We operate a hybrid work structure in many of our business areas. We are proudly Disability Confident Leader employers and holder of the Gold Inclusive Employer Standard. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job will be given the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities at an interview.

For help with your application please contact j&icareersUK@serco.com.

At Serco we support fair access to employment for those with unspent criminal convictions through the ‘Ban the Box’ pledge (some may be exempt due to the nature of the role and the security clearance required). Please contact our recruitment team directly on j&icareersUK@serco.com to discuss.

About Serco

At Serco, not only is the nature of the work we do important, everyone has an important role to play, from caring for vulnerable people to managing complex public services. We are a team of 50,000 people responsible for delivering essential public services around the world in areas including defence, transport, justice, immigration, healthcare and citizen services. We are innovators, committed to redesigning and improving public services for the benefit of everyone. By joining Serco you will have unlimited access to our Global Employee Networks – SercoInspire (Gender), SercoEmbrace (Multicultural), SercoUnlimited (Disability) and In@Serco (LGBT & Networks). Serco Employee Networks, led by colleagues who are passionate about diversity, inclusion and belonging.