Offender Release Victim Champion

Victim Support; Essex; Hybrid; GBP 26,000 - 37,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible Working Options

Generous Annual Leave

Birthday Leave

Pension Plan

Enhanced Allowances

Exclusive Discounts

Financial Wellbeing

Wellbeing Support

Inclusive Networks

Sustainable Travel

Career Development

Job summary

Victim Support is recruiting an Offender Release Victim Champion in Essex. The role focuses on keeping victim-survivors informed, supported and safe amid changes to offender release arrangements, with an emphasis on building local partnerships for access to victims' rights and services.

The role is fixed term to October 2028 with potential extension, offering flexible working options including hybrid arrangements and a comprehensive benefits package designed to support staff wellbeing and career

Job description

We’re recruiting an Offender Release Victim Champion to join our team in Essex.

The overall aim of the role is to ensure that victim-survivors affected by changes to prison release arrangements feel safe, informed, empowered and supported, while strengthening local partnership responses and enhancing access to victims' rights and support services.

Roles are fixed term, currently to October 2028, with the potential for extension based on local funding arrangements area to area.

What we offer

At Victim Support we believe in attracting & retaining the best people and offer a competitive rewards & benefits package including:

• Flexible Working Options: Including hybrid working.
• Generous Annual Leave: 28 days plus Bank Holidays, increasing to 33 days plus Bank Holidays, with options to buy or sell annual leave.
• Birthday Leave: An extra day off for your birthday.
• Pension Plan: 5% employer contribution.
• Enhanced Allowances: Enhanced sick pay, maternity, and paternity payments.
• Exclusive Discounts: High Street, retail, holiday, gym, entertainment, and leisure discounts.
• Financial Wellbeing: Access to our financial wellbeing hub and salary-deducted finance.
• Wellbeing Support: Employee assistance programme and wellbeing support.
• Inclusive Networks: Access to EDI networks and colleague cafes.
• Sustainable Travel: Cycle to work scheme and season ticket loans.
• Career Development: Ongoing training and support with opportunities for career progression.

About the Role

As an Offender Release Victim Champion you will support victims and survivors affected by the implementation of the Offender Release Scheme and changes to prison release arrangements. The role will ensure victim-survivors feel informed, reassured and supported whilst enabling them to make informed decisions about their safety and recovery. This includes helping individuals understand what these changes mean for them, the safeguards that remain in place and how they can access information and support through the Victim Contact Scheme and wider criminal justice partners.

As Victims’ Champion you will work provide specialist advocacy, information, emotional support, and practical assistance to victim-survivors affected by changes to prison release arrangements under the Early Release Scheme.

You will manage a caseload of victim-survivors whose sense of safety, wellbeing, or confidence may be impacted by changes to offender release arrangements. You will ensure individuals receive timely, accurate, trauma-informed information and support, enabling them to understand the criminal justice process, exercise their rights, and make informed decisions about their safety and wellbeing.

The role requires a highly trauma-informed, person-centred, and solution-focused approach. You will conduct holistic needs and risk assessments, develop comprehensive safety and support plans, coordinate practical interventions, and identify opportunities to strengthen protective measures, including target hardening, personal safety planning, civil and protective orders, and safeguarding interventions.

You will work collaboratively with local victim services to complement existing provision and ensure victim-survivors can access appropriate specialist support. This may include assistance with housing issues, family court processes, school liaison, domestic abuse safety planning, emotional support, security improvements, and advocacy where risks have escalated following changes in release arrangements.

About Us

Victim Support is an independent charity dedicated to supporting people affected by crime and traumatic incidents in England and Wales. We put them at the heart of our organisation and our support and camps are informed and shaped by them and their experiences.

Victim Support are committed to recruiting with care and to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Background checks and Disclosed Barring Service checks may be required.

At Victim Support, we’re proud to celebrate diversity and create a workplace where everyone feels they belong. We’re committed to being an antiracist organisation, and we actively welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, including those from Black and Asian and other minoritised communities.

As a Disability Confident Employer, we will offer an interview to disabled candidates who meet all essential criteria for a job where it is practicable to do so. We are also happy to make reasonable adjustments during the recruitment and selection process.