At Coventry City Council, we are embarking on an incredible journey to create a brighter future for Coventry's children.
The Youth Justice Service (YJS) is a fast-paced multi agency team consisting of staff from the Local Authority, Police, Probation, Health and Education. Coventry YJS has recently been judged as ‘Outstanding’ by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP). We work with children and young people aged 10-18 who have offended, who are subject to court orders and out of court disposals or being diverted from the criminal justice system, their families and the victims of youth crime.
We value diverse perspectives and experiences and are striving to create a workplace culture that is inclusive, is accepting of all and is free from discrimination and bias.
Our vision and priorities are aligned with the ‘Youth Justice Board’s ‘Child First, Offender Second’ approach in aspiring to create: ‘A youth justice system that sees children as children, treats them fairly and helps them build on their strengths so they can make a constructive contribution to society’.
We work to a set of professional standards that were created and agreed with children and young people open to the service: https://www.coventry.gov.uk/downloads/file/41904/young-person-s-cyjs-professional-standards-2024
Our ValuesIn line with our One Coventry Values we strive to have a workforce that reflects our local communities and welcome applicants from all sections of the community. We particularly welcome applicants from minority ethnic backgrounds, applicants who have a disability and applicants who are from the LGBTQ+ community to apply for our senior leadership roles.
Our Values are:
Open and fair: We are fair, open, and transparent.
Nurture and develop: We help and encourage everyone to be their best and do their best.
Engage and empower: We talk and listen to others, working together as one.
Create and innovate: We embrace new ways of working to continuously improve.
Own and be accountable: We work together to deliver the best services for our residents.
Value and respect: We put diversity and inclusion at the heart of all we do.
What is the job role?We are looking to recruit a Youth Justice Senior Practitioner to join the service to work with children, young people, their families, parents/carers and the victims of youth crime.
As a valued member of our management team, you will play a crucial role in ensuring our services are effective and efficient, creating a supportive and inclusive environment for all.
As Senior Practitioner your duties will include:
Managing a complex caseload with a degree of autonomy in carrying out effective intervention delivery.
Devising and delivering intervention
Contributing and leading practice audits
Service Development
Learning through quality assurance
Providing challenging and constructive feedback to colleagues and partners.
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 response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
Who are we looking for?We are looking for an individual who wants to make a positive difference and who has experience and skills/abilities that include:
Undertaking complex assessments of the needs of children, young people, families and victims.
Supporting service improvement & quality assurances processes
Implementing new policies, procedures and interventions within the service.
Managing, supporting, developing and motivating staff
Development of areas of practice on behalf of a service.
You will need to have a recognised professional Social Work qualification (MA/BA/BSc in Social Work, Diploma in Social Work or CQSW) with current Social Work England registration, a relevant Probation Officer Qualification or Youth Justice Degree.
You will be required to:
Work flexibly to meet the needs of children/young people, families & victims; this will mean some evening working.
Be on a rota undertaking approximately 9 Saturdays per year.
Cover bank holidays (approximately two per year) in line with service requirements.
The children, young people, families, parents/carers and the victims that we work with come from a variety of backgrounds and to deliver the best possible care it is vital that we have a workforce that represents and understand their unique experience and perspectives.
Our workforce data shows that men and people from minority ethnic backgrounds are under-represented at management level, and in line with our commitment to diversity & inclusion, we would like to encourage applications from these under-represented groups. This does not prevent individuals with or without any other protected characteristics as set out within the Equality Act 2010 from applying for this post.
When applying for this role your Personal Statement must evidence how you meet all the points of the Person Specification.
If you need help or support to complete your application, please visit our accessibility page to see how we can assist you.
Guaranteed Interview Scheme - As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role and identify with one of the below criteria:
Members of the Armed Forces and veterans
Are currently in care or have previously been in care
If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition
For full details on the application process please read the attached document on our jobs page labelled 'Coventry City Council Application Process'. If there is any evidence of a candidate using AI to complete their application, then the application will be rejected unless the candidate can provide a justification which the Council considers to be reasonable.
Interview date(s):
17 July 2024
About CoventryCoventry has a proud, innovative and creative spirit that throughout its history has seen communities come together to tackle problems and bring about real social change.
We are cutting-edge, challenging, youthful, vibrant and diverse.
At Coventry we are committed to excellence in everything we do. With around 5100 staff from a range of different backgrounds, our aim is to recruit and develop talented people who will focus on our customers, take responsibility, work together and find better ways of doing things.
To deliver the best services to our residents, we need the best people working for us to make a difference to our communities.
If you join us, we will provide a fantastic rewards and benefits package - to find out more please visit https://www.coventry.gov.uk/council-vacancies
