Restorative Justice Worker

Permanent, Full Time

From £21,057 to £27,391 Per Annum

Location: Chelmsford

Closing Date: 13th July 2021

Youth Offending Service

Our Youth Offending Service works with children and young people who have offended to help prevent reoffending. Their success comes from working together with young people and their parents or carers, the victims of crime, and other agencies and organisations in the local community.

Job Purpose

Children and Families is recognised as a service in which social work can develop and prosper, with a culture of collaboration, integrity and compassion; promoting the development and wellbeing of children, young people and their families; protecting them from neglect and abuse. Working together with partners delivering a range of early help, family support and effective social work interventions which build resilience, remove barriers and enable children and young people to look forward to a brighter future.

Essex Youth Offending Service works with young people aged 10-17 who have offended and are subject to both pre and post court disposals. The Restorative Justice (RJ) Worker will be responsible for statutory delivery of RJ interventions to victims and young people, this will include sensitive and complex cases, full victim/offender conferencing and the supervision of Direct Reparation to victims.

Service/Functional Accountabilities

• Responsible for facilitating and delivering all RJ interventions with young people and victims, ensuring adherence to the Victim Code of Conduct and within the principles of restorative justice, in line with the policies and protocols of Essex Youth Offending Service.
• Responsible for statutory Victim Contact to seek the views of victims of crime. Engage and facilitate a variety of interventions to enable victims to take part if they wish, to represent the voice of the victim throughout the work of the youth offending service, including sensitive and complex cases.
• Organise and deliver direct victim/offender conferences - both in the community and within young offender institutions where appropriate.
• Deliver victim awareness programmes to young people working with the service, to enable empathy and an understanding of the impact crime has on the community.
• Co-deliver Restorative Justice training, working collaboratively with partners and the wider community to achieve joint objectives, which reduce first time entrants and reoffending.
• Responsible for completing robust risk assessments on all restorative activities to ensure safe delivery, using skills, knowledge and professional experience.
• Responsible for the safeguarding of young people at all times, exercising an appropriate and commensurate duty of care that reflects the ages of young people being supervised.
• Responsibility for updating records accurately, ensuring they meet National standards and adhere to designed outcomes and agreed service levels.
• Responsible for highlighting and reporting issues as appropriate, to safeguard a child, with a good understanding of child protection policies and procedures.

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

• Educated to RQF Level 2 (GCSE) or equivalent by experience. Holds Accredited Practitioner status or is willing to work towards it.
• Evidence of continuing professional development, aligned to any relevant Professional Competency/Capability frameworks or Knowledge and Skills Statements
• Evidence a sound knowledge of Restorative Justice and its application within a justice environment. Demonstrates an understanding of anti-discriminatory practice and is imaginative and flexible
• Experience in direct work with children and young people, with the ability to evidence positively promoting children's welfare, with an understanding of Child Protection procedures and of the Criminal Justice System.
• Experience of acting as an advocate on behalf of the child within the extended family network and alongside colleagues within Social Care, with a readiness to challenge bureaucracy.
• Experience of successfully arranging and managing a victim/offender conference.
• Knowledge of a range of social services and wider agency resources, to provide advice, to positively promote children's safety and well-being within their family.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral, with evidence of accurate record keeping and a sound knowledge of data protection issues.

The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wider operational area including travelling around the county of Essex and beyond, transporting service users and their belongings and to be able to do so in an emergency. Driving licence and car or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means is essential.

Restorative Justice will be facilitated 7 days a week in line with victim wishes, there will be a potential requirement for working outside of normal office hours, both during the evening and at weekends and lone working in the community, including home visits.