About the job

Job summary

Please refer to Job Description

Job description

We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.

NSM Additional Information

The reoffending rate has remained broadly static at around 29% since 2010. Reoffending is costing society approximately £18bn per year and almost half of all prisoners reoffend within 12 months of release.

The Prisons Strategy White Paper was published in December 2021. As part of the paper, MOJ and HMPPS committed to: 

"A new Prisoner Education Service, to make sure offenders can improve their basic literacy and numeracy, as well as acquire further vocational qualifications, like construction and computing, making them more employable when they leave prison."

To do this, we will give Governors the tools they need to deliver high-quality learning, training and skills, and we will hold prisons to account for the job opportunities and outcomes they achieve for prisoners.

We also know that people with neurodiversity needs in prison can be particularly vulnerable due to their social and communication difficulties, putting them at risk of not coping in a prison setting, being bullied, exploited or manipulated by fellow prisoners and impacting upon their ability to effectively engage with rehabilitation interventions. For some people with neurodivergence, this can also mean difficulties in maintaining employment or building relationships with others.

In her 2016 review of prison education, Dame Sally Coates reported that nearly one third of prisoners self-identified on initial assessment as having a learning difficulty and/or disability. Since the Dame Sally Coates review, an HMIP report suggests that it would be reasonable to assume that at least 50% of prisoners have some form of neurodivergence.

The Neurodiversity Support Manager (NSM) is a new role which has been piloted in four Accelerator prisons since June 2021. The role of the NSM is to raise awareness of neurodiversity in prison and help strengthen approaches for identifying and supporting those with neurodivergent needs. This includes supporting prisoners in accessing and engaging in education, skills and work programmes in the prison.

This is an exciting new role. Working as a Neurodiversity Support Manager is a unique and rewarding role within prisons. Working as advocate for neurodivergent prisoners, NSMs encourage prisoners to make positive changes and provide opportunities for them to engage in rehabilitation.

To learn more about the Neurodiversity Support Manager role please watch the link in the supporting document 2: Blurb for NSM.docx - This is located towards the end of the advert 

Overview of the job

This is a Management job in an establishment.

Summary

The post holder will be responsible for leading on supporting prisoners with needs arising from neurodivergence.

Developing and implementing, through close collaboration with stakeholders, a ‘whole system’ principle is of paramount importance, with the focus firmly on supporting individuals to achieve and progress through Education, Skills and Work pathways throughout their sentence. The Neurodiversity Support Manager (NSM) will liaise with the Head of Education Skills and Work (HoESW), Learning and Skills Manager (LSM), Industry Managers (IMs), Activity Managers (AM) and the education provider to ensure prisoners are supported to engage with education skills and work or not, and that they continue to be supported in the community, including by the probation teams.

The post holder will provide support and guidance to ensure that all staff and stakeholders share the same vision and ethos of neurodiversity.

The post holder will ensure that actions across education, skills and work (ESW) within their prison support a whole prison improvement approach which supports wider improvements across the estate.

This is a non-rotational, non-operational job with no line management responsibilities.

Responsibilities, Activities and Duties

The job holder will be required to carry out the following responsibilities, activities and duties:

• Focus on improving and ensuring that the quality of neurodiversity support and provision is at least good and moving towards outstanding. This is to include assessment of quality to inform the prison education, skills and work improvement plan which can be applied across various learning channels, e.g. classroom, industries, work areas, workshops, gym etc.
• Develop and maintain neurodiversity needs strategy for the prison, incorporating and working with key stakeholders. This should include as a minimum: Head of
Education Skills and Work (HoESW) LSM, Head of Reducing Reoffending (HoRR), Provider education and/or curriculum managers (including regional leads), Employment lead, New Futures Network (NFN) broker, Prison Work Coach, Head of Offender Management Unit, libraries, Careers Information Advice and Guidance (CIAG), activities, gym, industries manager, key worker.
• Develop and maintain the systems and structures to ensure that delivery of all Education, Skills and Work activity is appropriate to all cohorts. Recommend and test related solutions leading into an improvement plan. Working with Senior Management Team (SMT) to implement, maintain, invest and update it as necessary.
• Manage the collection and collating of data on neurodiversity at local level. Continually analyse and evaluate current practice for how neurodiversity provision is tailored to the needs of a wide range of prisoners, including those who are hard to reach, vulnerable prisoners, and those for whom English is not their first language.
• Track the progress of neurodivergent prisoners in education, learning and work (including kitchen, horticulture, waste management industries/ workshops, wing work and orderly/peer roles), analyse data and identify any participation and achievement gaps and address these.
• Case manage prisoners who require additional support to access education, skills and work opportunities within the prison to ensure it is both appropriate and helpful. Ensuring individual prisoners’ neurodiversity related information is shared, appropriately and lawfully, with relevant prison teams, e.g. PEF, CIAG, LSM, AM Health Care.
• Ensure that the needs of neurodivergent prisoners are considered in terms of availability of activities, appropriate adaptations and reasonable adjustment as required and sufficient places by working with the LSM, activities and industries managers.
• Raise awareness of Neurodiversity in the prison. Upskilling workforce to support a whole prison approach to supporting prisoners with neurodivergence using full staff briefings, internal communications and 1-2-1 processes but the list of opportunity is not exhaustive.
• Work with key stakeholders to ensure that neurodivergent prisoners receive the support and advice that they need to help them prepare for a release into the community.

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary. Significant adjustments may require re-examination under the Job Evaluation Scheme and shall be discussed in the first instance with the job holder.

An ability to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence through the medium of English or (where specified in Wales) Welsh.

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £34,862, HM Prison & Probation Service contributes £9,447 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.