Restorative Justice Practitioner

Essex County Council; Harlow; In loco; GBP 26.000 - 33.000; Tempo pieno

Descrizione del lavoro

Essex County Council is seeking a Restorative Justice Practitioner to deliver RJ interventions for victims and young people aged 10-17 within the Essex Youth Justice Service. The role includes direct victim/offender conferencing, risk assessment, and safeguarding responsibilities, in line with national standards.

You will work across community and custodial settings, provide victim support, and collaborate with partners to reduce first-time entrants and reoffending while maintaining high

Competenze

• GCSE or equivalent by experience; willingness to work towards Registered Practitioner status
• Demonstrated continuing professional development aligned to relevant competency frameworks
• Solid knowledge of Restorative Justice and its use in a justice setting
• Understanding of anti-discriminatory practice; adaptable and creative
• Experience with direct work with children and young people and safeguarding procedures
• Experience advocating for victims with external partners and challenging bureaucracy
• Experience arranging and managing victim/offender conferences
• Knowledge of social services and agency resources to promote child safety
• Excellent written and verbal communication with strong records and data protection awareness

Mansioni

• Facilitate and deliver Restorative Justice interventions with young people and victims per Victim Code and RJ principles
• Conduct statutory Victim Contact to gather victims' views and facilitate participation
• Support victims and families and make appropriate external referrals
• Organise and run victim/offender conferences in community or custodial settings
• Deliver victim awareness programmes to young people to foster empathy
• Co-deliver Restorative Justice training with partners to reduce reoffending
• Complete robust risk assessments for safe delivery of restorative activities
• Ensure safety and duty of care for young people at all times
• Maintain accurate records in line with National standards
• Highlight and report safeguarding issues as appropriate
• Attend multi-agency meetings to represent victims' voice

Conoscenze

Communication skills

Mobility/Travel

Advocacy

Record keeping

Data protection awareness

Formazione

GCSE or equivalent (RQF Level 2)

Registered Practitioner status (or working towards it)

Descrizione del lavoro

Restorative Justice Practitioner

Permanent, Full Time

£26,284 to £33,256 Per Annum

Location: Epping

Closing Date: Wednesday 4th November 2026 at 11.59pm

Please note that visa sponsorship is not available for this role. Applicants must have a current, unrestricted right to work in the UK.

Here in Essex, we continue to raise the bar about practice and our investment in our workforce is second to none. It's an exciting time to join us having received our 2nd Outstanding Ofsted rating in a row.

Interview Date: Thursday 26th November 2026.

The Opportunity

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 Justice 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 Restorative Justice to victims.

Accountabilities

• Responsible for facilitating and delivering Restorative Justice 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 the Essex Youth Justice 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 Justice Service, including sensitive and complex cases.
• Provide support to victims of crime and their families, helping them to address challenges they face and facilitating appropriate referrals to external agencies and support services to meet their needs
• Organise and deliver direct victim/offender conferences - both in the community and within custodial/secure 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 safety 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.
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.
• Attendance at multi agency meetings to represent victims' voice.

The Experience You Will Bring

• Educated to RQF Level 2 (GCSE) or equivalent by experience. Holds Registered 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 and deep understanding of Child Protection procedures.
• Experience of acting as an advocate on behalf of the victim and their family alongside external partners with a readiness to challenge bureaucracy.
• Experience of successfully arranging and managing a victim/offender conference.
• Deep 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.