About the job

Job summary

Please refer to Job Description

Job description

Would you like to be part of a service supporting probation staff who are managing service users with complex issues associated with attachment and trauma, and with managing relationships?

Would you like to work as a part of a supportive multidisciplinary team where your opinion counts, and your voice is valued and heard?

Do you want to have a part in making a real-life difference to service users who are complex and challenging, but where real life changes can be, and are, made?

This could be the job for you! Due to a member of our lovely team retiring we are looking to recruit a probation officer for 2.5 days per week.

We are a specialised community service jointly commissioned between NHS England (NHSE) and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). The service comprises of the Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) Pathway and Intensive Interventions and Risk Management (IIRMS) service lines. This is a psychologically led and informed specialised service.    

The HMAPS team is a multidisciplinary team providing psychological formulation, consultation, and training to the Probation Service within Hampshire, to support the probation staff with formulation-based psychological ways of working with people under probation supervision who have personality difficulties linked to their offending behaviour. We don’t case manage or hold cases, but we support COM’s and deliver interventions on their behalf.  

Interventions aim to expedite the care pathway of offenders in the community and prisons. The aim is to ensure that intervention and management is psychologically informed through both training and supervision. There is a strong focus on provision of training to enhance psychological understanding across the workforce.

This is a professional development opportunity for an existing Probation Officer (PO) or someone looking to return to the Probation Service after some time away.  You’ll work within the Offender Personality Disorder Pathway and the Integrated Intensive Risk Management Service (IIRMS) covering the Hampshire PDU’s.

The post is externally funded by HMPPS/NHS England and is currently for 0.5 Full time equivalent. Generic Job Description for the band 4 PO applies. The post-holder will be line managed by the OPD Band 5 SPO which is currently out for recruitment.

The post holder can be attached to a Hampshire location, although the post in principle covers the Hampshire area and some travel in the region may be required. Regular journeys to Ravenswood House (Fareham) where the health team are located will be expected

Overview of the job    

Post holders will undertake the full range of offender management tasks with people on probation under supervision including assessment, sentence implementation and producing reports; utilising service procedures and practice directions to underpin professional judgement.

Summary    

To assess and manage the risk posed by people on probation to protect victims of crime and the general the public by:

• Providing information and advice to criminal courts, other criminal justice agencies and partner organisations.
• Supervise people on probation subject to community orders and licences and during custodial sentences.
• Contribute to the management of risk.
• Work with other agencies and groups to prevent crime and meet the needs of victims and people on probation.

In line with PS policies and procedures, the job holder must at all times demonstrate a commitment to equality and inclusion and an understanding of their relevance to the work they undertake.

The post holder must adhere to all policies in respect of the sensitive/confidential nature of the information handled whilst working in this position.

Responsibilities, Activities & Duties    

Probation Officers may be required to undertake any combination, or all, of the duties and responsibilities set out below.

• To provide professional advice and assessment, including written reports to courts, the Parole Board, other criminal justice agencies and partner organisations.
• To undertake the full range of offender management tasks with people on probation assessed at all levels of risk of serious harm including high and very high.
• To use computer based systems to produce, update and maintain records and other documentation within agreed timescales.
• To ensure timely and effective referrals to, and relationships between, offender management, court teams, victim contact units, interventions, Approved Premises, prisons and external agencies to enhance positive outcomes, manage risk and reduce reoffending.
• To attend professional meetings and represent the PS at appropriate partnership forums e.g. MAPPA, MARAC.
• To work collaboratively with colleagues, maintain effective team relationships and provide professional guidance and support to Probation Services Officers (PSOs) and other staff as appropriate.
• To provide cover within your team and to other teams as required.
• To undertake prison, home or other alternate location visits as required.
• To deliver and co-lead accredited programmes commensurate with grade.
• To conduct mandatory alcohol and drug tests as required, and to follow prescribed medication procedures.
• Carry out safeguarding children duties in accordance with the PS statutory responsibilities and agency policies.
• Demonstrate pro-social modelling skills by consistently reinforcing pro-social behaviour and attitudes and challenging anti-social behaviour and attitudes.
• To work within the aims and values of PS and HMPPS.

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

• Access to learning and development
• A working environment that supports a range of flexible working options to enhance your work life balance
• A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
• Annual Leave
• Public Holidays
• Season Ticket Advance

For more information about the recruitment process, benefits and allowances and answers to general queries, please click the below link which will direct you to our Candidate Information Page.

Link: https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

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.