Community Payback supervisor

Ministry of Justice; Mansfield; On-site; GBP 24,000 - 32,000; Full time

Job summary

Ministry of Justice is seeking a Community Payback Supervisor to lead small teams of offenders on probation, coordinating unpaid work hours and ensuring tasks are completed to standard. The role requires a full UK manual driving licence for minibuses and travel to project sites, plus the ability to supervise and motivate teams across diverse locations.

It offers a hands-on environment with opportunities to contribute to rehabilitation and community safety.

Qualifications

• Excellent people and communication skills.
• Full UK manual driving licence is mandatory.
• Experience or interest in practical trades is welcome.

Responsibilities

• Supervise work groups of offenders on probation on community payback projects.
• Drive community payback minibuses and transport equipment to sites.
• Ensure tasks are completed safely and to standard, supporting rehabilitation.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Driving Licence

Trade skills

Job description

Please note: Candidates must hold a full UK Manual Driving Licence when applying for this role, this is a mandatory technical requirement in order to carry out this role. We cannot accept candidates who hold an automatic Driving Licence only., The Community Payback supervisor role is accommodated to people on probation who work or have caring responsibilities. Community Payback projects run 7 days a week therefore you will: work frequent weekends, and you may be asked to cover some evenings. You will be paid a higher rate of 50% for weekend days you do work.In this role, the pace of our work means that rest breaks don't always happen in the standard way. When this happens, we make sure your wellbeing is looked after. Your wellbeing really matters to us, so we want to be open about this from the outset. If you're someone who enjoys a varied, active role where no two days are the same, this is a great environment to make a real difference while being fully supported. The Probation Service offers the opportunity for annual pay progression through a Competency Based Framework (CBF), which if eligible, will see your pay increase. CBF is designed to enable you to move up through the pay band range as your competence grows. New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band. Probation Service also increase their pay band ranges annually in line with Civil Service Pay guidance, which will also apply an increase to band pay ranges where applicable. Overview of the job This is an operational role directly supervising work groups of offenders serving a community sentence. This may include driving service vehicles to transport people or equipment. The post holder will be responsible for all work site supervision tasks and will work with service users to ensure that all tasks are carried out to the best of their ability. This will include working alongside people to demonstrate good practice as necessary. For further information on the summary, responsibilities, activities, duties of the role and the Civil Service Success Profile Criteria which will be used in the assessment process, please refer to the full Job Description Attachment. Right to work in the UK You must have the right to work in the UK and Civil Service (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules). Skilled Worker visa changes from 22 July 2025 In accordance with current immigration rules, this role is not eligible for a new Skilled Worker visa. From 22 July 2025, the Government introduced changes to the eligibility criteria for Skilled Worker visas. As a result: HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) cannot consider sponsoring you to work as a community payback supervisor unless you have held a Skilled Worker visa prior to the 22 July 2025 changes. If you have held a Skilled Worker visa continuously, please raise this during your pre‑employment checks and your eligibility will be assessed in accordance with the immigration rules and transitional provisions in place. If you apply to be a community payback supervisor and you have not held a Skilled Worker visa prior to 22 July 2025, you will need to consider your options for obtaining and/or maintaining your right to work in the UK in light of these changes. If your application is successful, you will need to ensure that you have and maintain the legal right to live and work in the Civil Service and in the United Kingdom. HMPPS will continue to comply with UK Immigration Rules applied in the UK and Civil Service. You can read more about Skilled Worker visas and the eligibility criteria here. Civil Service recruitment: nationality rules Civil Service This guide is intended to assist departments with managing their responsibilities on nationality rules related to Civil Service recruitment. You can read more about Skilled Worker visas and the eligibility criteria here (https://www.gov.uk/skilled-worker-visa), Your application will be sifted once the application deadline has closed. You will then receive further instruction on the progress and outcome of your application. Take a look at a short video about Community Payback Supervisor here: https://vimeo.com/663030374?fl=pl&fe=sh If we receive a high volume of applications, we may assess and progress candidates through the recruitment process in stages (tranches). Candidates who meet the required standard at sift may be held pending future assessment stages rather than progressing immediately. Interview invitations and subsequent offers will be managed in line with the tranche in which candidates are assessed and their position in merit order If you apply for multiple vacancies for the same role, only one of your applications will be progressed. Any assessment scores achieved will be applied consistently across all applications for that role, this will be valid for 6 months. Candidates who do not meet the minimum benchmark at either the Sift or Interview stage will not be eligible to reapply for the same role for six months from the date their assessment scores are progressed. There is also no guarantee that you will progress to the next stage of the recruitment process; however, we will keep you informed at each stage. About the role Community Payback Supervisors will work with a diverse mix of individuals, so it's important that you're empathetic, a good communicator and happy to take the lead. It's all about supporting offenders on their journey and making your community a better place. Whether that's building benches or cleaning the streets, you're there because you genuinely want to help people. As a Community Payback supervisor, you'll be at the heart of this work, leading small teams to complete their unpaid work hours. You'll supervise and motivate them to complete a range of manual tasks to pay back for the harm they've caused. These tasks could include clearing overgrowth to make public spaces safer, restoring community facilities such as sports halls and playgrounds, planting trees or laying flowerbeds, and litter picking and graffiti removal. About you To thrive in this role, you'll need: Excellent people and communication skills The confidence to lead, motivate and supervise groups A full UK manual driving licence to drive Community Payback minibuses, transport equipment and travel to project sites Got practical skills or a trade? Even better. We'd particularly welcome applicants with experience in areas such as painting and decorating, carpentry, gardening, grounds maintenance, construction, landscaping or general maintenance. This is a hands‑on role where you'll help people on probation make a positive contribution to their local communities while developing skills and work habits that support rehabilitation. You may draw on experience from any setting, including employment, the Armed Forces, voluntary work, education, community projects, construction, maintenance, landscaping or other relevant activities. Additional Information Where applicants provide multiple location preferences, reserve lists will be managed in accordance with location preference/s, as indicated in your application. We will appoint in merit list order for each location outlined in the vacancy and hold a separate locational reserve list for each of these locations. After appointments have been made using this locational appointment process, any remaining candidates who met the benchmark for the role will remain on a locational reserve list in accordance with their preferences for 12 months. Please only indicate preferences where you are prepared to work. If you are subsequently offered a role from the reserve list for a location preference indicated in your application and decline it, you will be removed from the reserve list for the vacancy, across all locational preferences. All offers of