Probation Officer jobs in Manchester

Female Project Worker - Women's Turnaround service HMP Styal Recall
Salary: £22,332.97 per year (Full time equivalent £27,544)
Job Ref No: PWHMPS062026
Hours: 30 hours per week
Location: HMP Styal, Styal Road, Wilmslow SK9 4HR
Contract type: Fixed term until 31.03.29

PSS in a nutshell:

At PSS, we’ve got an important job to do; and that’s to help people make the most of their lives, no matter what life throws at them. Whether you’re working directly with the people who use our services, or behind the scenes in one of our offices, every day you’ll be helping to make other people feel happier, healthier and more supported.

We’re a social enterprise or, as we like to call it – a ‘business with a heart’. This means that all the money we make goes back into finding new ways to help people. Our aim is simple; we want to help people change their lives for the better – no matter what life throws at them. We’ve got offices across Merseyside, North Wales, Lincolnshire, Manchester, Norfolk and Suffolk and the Midlands, where we’re making our stamp.

Our Women’s Turnaround team have been supporting female offenders in Merseyside since 2010. Based on the success of the service in delivering positive outcomes, Women’s Turnaround has expanded into Cheshire and North Wales.

What’s our Women’s Turnaround service all about?

Our open-minded Women’s Turnaround team support women who are on remand/awaiting trial, those serving sentences, and those recalled into HMP Styal. Our team work alongside the probation, prison service, partner agencies and the women to address barriers and support their needs around accommodation, finance, benefits and debts, family support and social inclusion.

As an extension to working with women from Merseyside who are recalled back into prison, this role will be to offer them an intensive, personalised engagement plan of interventions. This will support their reintegration into the community successfully but also break down any barriers that have prevented the women from resettling in the community successfully previously. The work will help to understand the multiple reasons behind their offending behaviours and find ways to reduce their likelihood of reoffending in the future. Women accessing the support are given the opportunity to access a range of specialist support options from one-to-one support, group work to remote support through PSS services and partner agencies.

Meet Sarah

Sarah was referred to Women’s Turnaround by Probation. Sarah had been recalled back into HMP Styal for breach of her Licence conditions. She met with a Women’s Turnaround project worker who carried out an assessment with her and identified barriers for Sarah being unable to resettle back in the community. She had been placed in accommodation (as part of her licence conditions )in an area that caused her significant trauma and made the choice to sleep on the streets rather than reside at the given address. Sarah hadn't informed anyone of her whereabouts or reasons why she hadn't remained at the accommodation. She was breached and recalled back into prison. Sarah had mental health needs, and her anxiety was increasing due to where she was supposed to be going upon release.

An action was created alongside her project worker, and actions were put in place to help meet her immediate needs. She was referred to her local authority for housing, approved premises were requested, and housing providers were contacted for potential placements, stipulating unsafe areas for Sarah to reside in on her release. Staff liaised with the DWP team in HMP Styal around her benefits to enable them to be activated upon her release and liaised with services around her debts.

Upon release, Sarah was offered a room in shared accommodation and follow-up support in the community from her Turnaround worker to look for future housing options. Her benefits were sorted whilst in custody, and appointments were made to access the local Citizens Advise service in the community to help with debts. She accessed group support around her emotional wellbeing in the Women’s Centre in Liverpool and finished her probation order successfully in the community

What you’ll do as a Women’s Turnaround project worker

As a project worker you’ll support people to turn their lives around, totally offering person-shaped support based around the unique and complex needs of every woman you work with. You’ll consider the needs of the individual, the complexity of their situation, any barriers and associated risks and offence-related issues. A commitment to treating people with dignity and respect is essential as you support people to understand their offending behaviours and reduce their chances of reoffending in the future.

You’ll take your responsibilities very seriously, focusing on:

Being a people person

• Offering the people you support, support within a custodial setting and following up in community locations.
• Completing assessments with women, action plans alongside them that offer a range of interventions to reduce barriers to their resettlement in the community.
• Working directly with probation/prison staff and other agencies to facilitate resettlement planning and meetings.
• Referring and signposting the people who use out service to other support options upon their release.
• Offering the people you support a range of interventions to look at a wide range of pathway areas.

Keeping up a great standard

• Maintaining case records and other documentation using case management systems and contributing to the collation of data needed for quality monitoring purposes.
• Ensuring that both Local Authority and PSS Safeguarding policies, procedures and protocols are fully understood and put into practice.
• Making sure that activities and interventions follow all the relevant policies and procedures and comply with court orders and legal framework.

Supporting our service to shine

• Networking and liaising with colleagues within the probation service, the criminal justice system, prisons and elsewhere to establish and maintain strong partnership working.
• Empowering the people we support to shape our service through co-production.

What do I need for this role?

We need people who live up to our values of being: genuine, big-hearted, open-minded, determined and professional. You’ll need to be committed to supporting women and improving their life opportunities and have experience of working with women with multiple and complex needs as well as experience of working in the criminal justice system and / or social care sector. Experience of providing structured support to individuals is essential and a Level 2 Diploma in Social Care or a comparable qualification is desirable.

You will also need a full driver’s license and use of own vehicle.

Above all, we need someone who believes that every person should have the chance to improve their lives and will support people to achieve their hopes and dreams.

This post is exempt under schedule 9 part 1 of the Equality Act 2010.

In the event that you are offered the above position, an Enhanced Disclosure will be required, and the role will be subject to Enhanced Level 1 Prison Vetting

Pay: £27,544.00 per year

Work Location: In person