youth justice worker

Ministry of Justice; York and North Yorkshire; On-site; GBP 33,000 - 39,000; Full time

Job summary

A Government Department in the UK is seeking a Youth Justice Worker to support children and young people in custody. This role involves ensuring their safety, assessing their needs, and collaborating with families and other professionals. The position offers a salary ranging from £33,746 to £38,003 per year, with comprehensive training and development opportunities. Applicants should possess strong communication skills and a commitment to high standards of care, without the need for formal qualifications.

Benefits

25 days' annual holiday

Civil Service pension up to 20%

Cycle to work scheme

Qualifications

• Demonstrate strong communication and influencing skills.
• Commit to high standards of care and service.
• Exhibit effective decision-making abilities.
• Show empathy and understanding towards young people.

Responsibilities

• Support children and young people and their families.
• Identify and assess the complex needs of individuals.
• Collaborate on interventions that suit their needs.
• Handle interventions and manage behavioural issues.
• Work with other professionals to improve outcomes.

Skills

Strong communication and influencing skills

Commitment to high standards of care and service

Effective decision-making abilities

Empathy and understanding

Job description

Role Overview

This role is not eligible for new Skilled Worker visas in accordance with the current immigration rules. From 22 July 2025, the Government introduced changes to the Skilled Worker visa route. The department cannot consider sponsoring you for this role 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 vetting checks and eligibility will be assessed in accordance with the immigration rules and transitional provisions in place. If you are applying for this role and you have not held a Skilled Worker visa prior to the 22 July 2025 changes, you will need to consider your options for obtaining and/or maintaining your right to work in the UK in light of these changes. Successful applicants must ensure they have and maintain the legal right to live and work in the Civil Service and in the United Kingdom.

Someone like you: The Youth Custody Service is transforming its workforce, and we invite you to be part of this journey. The youth justice worker role is similar to that of a prison officer but specifically focused on supporting children and young people in custody. This role is vital in reshaping how young people are cared for in custodial environments. We are seeking individuals with a special ability to support and guide young people. In this role, you will be responsible for ensuring the security and safety of children while providing day‑to‑day support in a custodial setting.

Comprehensive training and development will equip you with the knowledge to understand the diverse backgrounds and individual circumstances of young people in custody, and how your responses in complex or dynamic situations can help these individuals build better futures. You will need a DBS check. The practical side of life for children in custody includes, but is not limited to, interventions when required, overseeing, and facilitating safe movement around the site, and providing supervision to ensure safety.

Key Responsibilities

• Show a passion for supporting children, young people, and families
• Be skilled in identifying and assessing the complex needs of the children and young people you work with
• Collaborate with young people, their families, or carers to agree on interventions or referrals that support their needs
• Handle interventions when necessary, including de‑escalating situations, managing behavioural issues, and applying conflict resolution techniques
• Approach your work with respectful curiosity, balancing challenge and support to help young people reach their potential and stay safe
• Work closely with other professionals and organisations to collectively improve outcomes

Each case will be unique, and you will need to exercise sound judgment, using evidence‑based approaches to inform your practice. You will continuously evaluate the effectiveness of your actions and methods. Regular supervision with an experienced practitioner will help you reflect on and improve your practice.

Learning & Development

By the end of your apprenticeship, the high standard of your work will be making a genuine difference to the lives of those you support.

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.

Reasonable Adjustment Support

As a Disability Confident employer, the MoJ is committed to ensuring that everyone can demonstrate their skills, talent, and abilities. Offering reasonable adjustment support to candidates when they apply for one of our jobs is just one way we do this. Before completing online tests or attending an online assessment centre, it is essential to arrange reasonable adjustment support. Due to practical and logistical constraints, our assessors cannot accommodate requests on the day of the assessment centre. Therefore, we kindly request that you let us know in plenty of time if adjustments are required. This will help ensure the right support is in place for you when you need it.

Veteran Support

The "Making the Civil Service a Great Place to work for veterans" initiative includes a guaranteed interview scheme to those who meet the minimum criteria to provide eligible former members of the Armed Forces with opportunities to secure rewarding jobs. Allowing veterans to continue to serve their country, and to bring highly skilled individuals with a broad range of experience into the Civil Service in an environment which recognises and values your previous service in the Armed Forces. For further details about the initiative and eligibility requirements visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/making-the-civil-service-a-great-place-to-work-for-veterans

Redeployment Interview Scheme

Redployment Interview Scheme: Civil Service departments are expected to explore redeployment opportunities before making an individual redundant. The MoJ are committed, as part of the Redeployment Interview Scheme, to providing opportunities to those who are 'at risk of redundancy'. MoJ are able to offer an interview to eligible candidates who meet the minimum selection criteria, except in a limited number of campaigns. Candidates will not be eligible for the Redeployment Interview Scheme if they are applying on promotion.

Prison Officer Insight

What it's really like to work as a prison officer? Our interactive online activity will give you an insight into some of the situations prison officers may experience day‑to‑day in their work. This is to help you decide whether the prison officer role is right for you, and your responses in the activity will not form part of your application.

Qualifications and Requirements

No formal qualifications are required to become a youth justice worker; personal qualities are what matter most. You should demonstrate:

• Strong communication and influencing skills
• Commitment to high standards of care and service
• Effective decision‑making abilities
• Empathy and understanding

To be a youth justice worker you must:

• Be at least 18 years old at the point you commence employment
• Meet the Civil Service nationality requirements (see nationality requirements section below)
• As this is a physically active job, you will need to pass a medical and fitness assessment as part of the application process
• Meet the required eyesight standard in both eyes (both with and without corrective lenses)
• For safety reasons, everyone training to be a prison officer needs a suitable standard of hearing (without the use of hearing aids)
• Whilst tattoos are permitted, including those that are visible, they must not be deemed as offensive, discriminatory, violent, or intimidating in any way. Facial tattoos are generally not acceptable, except where this is for cultural, religious, or medical reasons.

Travel and Facilities

Some prison establishments are situated in rural locations with limited public transport options; therefore, a driving licence and own transport is beneficial but is not an essential requirement of the role (unless specified). Please note that shift start, and finish times are fixed, and it is your responsibility to get to and from your place of work on time for the start of your shift. Please carefully consider the location of this vacancy and your transport options before applying.

Assessment Process

Your natural strengths are assessed to find out what motivates and energises you. We will also assess your numerical, written English and spoken English abilities. Online Tests: Once you have completed your initial application form, you will be invited to complete stage 1 of the online test, to see if you have the basic judgement and numerical skills expected of a prison officer. If you are successful, we will invite you to complete stage 2 of the online tests, where you will be invited to complete a task‑based assessment. On successful completion of the online tests, we will invite you to an online assessment centre where we test to see if you have the abilities, behaviours and strengths to be a youth justice worker.

The jobholder must be able to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence in English or (when specified in Wales) Welsh.

Assessment Process: These include:

• Communicating and influencing
• Managing a quality service
• Making effective decisions
• Working within youth custody; you will have a clear progression pathway. Following successful completion of your 12‑month probationary period, you will be offered the opportunity to undertake a Level 4 Qualification focussed on working with children and young people in custody. Full details regarding this course will be made available prior to the time of enrolment.
• Post‑qualification progression: Once you have successfully completed your qualification you have the opportunity to progress to a band 4 Youth Justice Worker Specialist role. Ongoing training and development for specialist skills such as child protection and safeguarding will be provided.

Benefits and Pay

• 37 hours a week = £33,746 a year
• 39 hours a week = £35,875 a year
• 41 hours a week = £38,003 a year
• 25 days' annual holiday (rising to 30 days after 10 years' service)
• Paid time off for public holidays and one extra privilege day
• Civil Service pension of up to 20% of your salary
• Cycle to work scheme, travel loans and other benefits

Read more about youth justice worker benefits.

Complaints and Support

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles. If you feel the recruitment process has breached the recruitment principles, you can raise a formal complaint in the following order.