What is the youth justice service?
North Yorkshire youth justice service is a multi-disciplinary team and our key objectives are to reduce youth crime, to protect the public from serious harm, and to safeguard the welfare of young people. Our staff support preventative and diversionary services to help vulnerable young people stay out of trouble, and for those who are in the criminal justice system, we work closely with them and their families to help them stop offending and to get their lives back on track.
For those with the right skills and motivation, a career in Youth Justice is both interesting and very rewarding.
What kinds of jobs are available?
The youth justice service comprises of expert staff employed from a range of service partners, supported by committed and skilled volunteers. It is therefore quite unlike most services that have a single employer, a single career structure, a single route for getting on to the ladder, getting trained and so on.
It is a true multi-agency team, with all these staff physically co-located.
This makes it seem fairly complicated compared with most services, but it’s also a great strength to have seconded and partnership staff from such a variety of backgrounds in addition to the Council:
- police
- probation
- north yorkshire county council
- health
If you want to work with young people in trouble with the law, you might want to consider it as part of a career in social work, youth work, substance misuse work, police, probation, health and so on.
The largest single employer is North Yorkshire County Council, but even these staff come from a wide variety of backgrounds:
- youth Justice
- social work
- education
Of course each employer has its own career structure and, its own professional qualifications.
Seconded and partnership staff may be recruited specially through general advertisement, giving people a chance to come directly into the youth justice service or they may be recruited internally from existing staff.
North Yorkshire youth justice service employs youth justice staff through ourselves including administrative staff and managers.
Administrative staff are crucial to our success and are considered full members of the team. It is vital that they understand the business we are in and how they contribute. We take great pride in the fact that a number of administrative staff have worked as volunteers in their own time in face to face contact with young people and some have gone on to become youth justice workers.
Administrative staff contribute to all areas of the youth justice service’s work but also have particular areas of responsibility where they can make a distinct contribution to the successful and smooth running of services.
youth justice service staff of one kind or another are the largest single group of staff.
Everyone is a specialist:
- youth justice service officers (or ‘case managers’) have a caseload of young people. These young people will be on some form of formal supervision, as part of a sentence of the courts. There can be nothing casual about this work as national standards have to be met, detailed assessments and plans made, interventions recorded and delivered. Case management refers to the fact that each young person will need the services of the other specialists in the youth justice service or elsewhere, so keeping the whole plan going needs one principal worker. youth justice service Officers will sometimes have to work in youth and crown courts
- we have ‘qualified’ and ‘unqualified’ youth justice service officer posts. The difference is that some posts are expected to take on work with different levels of responsibility for different kinds or work. Broadly-speaking qualified youth justice service officers would take on a greater amount of higher risk cases, with more complex and demanding needs
- youth justice service officers are crucial in motivating and energising young people and their families, maintaining a balance between formal requirements and a style that engages youngsters and families. These are the staff that specialise in specific and detailed work about offending behaviour and positive alternative activities
- bail and remand officers do a lot of work in and around courts making sure that youngsters who are going through the courts get the direction and support they need to stay out of trouble
- youth justice service support workers fulfil a variety of roles: they may provide a particular kind of support, like helping young people find and keep employment; or they may work on particular projects, like group work or reparation activity. These posts do not require formal qualifications and do not case hold. These staff regularly work evenings and weekends to support young people when other services may not be available
Where are these jobs advertised?
Seconded and partnership posts may be advertised internally within existing staff first, and/or advertised in whatever local or national journals etc. that employer normally uses.
The posts may be part of a larger advertisement amongst other jobs offered by that employer, and will therefore use that employer’s logos, house styles and so on. The fact that it is a youth justice service post may not be highly prominent and the youth justice service logo may not appear.
What about qualifications?
It will be clearly stated in the application pack whether a post requires a specific qualification – for any particular post there may be a range of qualifications from different professions that can be treated as equivalents.
The benchmark is usually qualifications in either social work or probation.
Partnership employers use their own qualification requirements in negotiation with the youth justice service. Pay and grading, codes and conditions are determined by the employer and not the youth justice service.
Youth justice service staff can take advantage of the national youth justice qualifications framework.
Students
We have a number of trained practice educators and are able to offer work based placements, for example to social work students.
What about other requirements?
In all youth justice service posts you will need to demonstrate relevant experience and skills, from relevant paid and voluntary work.
For practitioner posts you will have to be able to work within a formal justice environment as well as have a sensitive understanding of the developmental needs of children and young people. You will need to be able to work within a specialised database as well as use standard software packages for producing letters, reports and so on. A good standard of formal English is needed for reports. You will need to work flexible hours.
You will need a satisfactory enhanced criminal records bureau check for most posts with the youth justice service and we apply the vetting and barring scheme. We can accept people with convictions. Generally we make individual judgements rather than having a rigid set of rules, considering whether someone is safe to work with children, whether they are likely to follow appropriate standards of conduct, etc.
You don’t have to have been a volunteer to get a job in the youth justice service – but it really can help you if you have been a consistent and committed volunteer who has started getting some real hands-on experience this way. We will take into account relevant experience from a range of settings, not just volunteering for the youth justice service.
How should I apply?
- we only accept applications in response to an advertisement – we never accept speculative CVs. Please don’t copy and paste a CV into your application form – experience tells us it does not work either for you or for us. We are looking for you to give us a personal and tailored account of why you are the person for this particular job. CVs rarely achieve this
- we want to know about your experiences, what you have learned from it and how it makes you the person for the job. It’s not enough just to tell us all about your last job! We want to know what you would be like in the job you are applying for
- make sure you use the information we supply (job description and so on), and do some background research – the youth justice board, ours and North Yorkshire youth justice service websites are good places to start
- follow the instructions that come with the form. If you don’t, your application is likely to get no further that first base
- references are always required. Employers’ references should give details of relevant head of service or department – and then the line manager who is likely to write a reference. Some employers insist on going through HR/personnel – always check first, to save time and effort. It isn’t always possible for you to discuss your application with referees first – but give it careful thought: surprise isn’t always the best policy
- make sure your application is well-organised and accurately written in good quality but straightforward English. These are skills needed for the job, so we’re looking for evidence of them in your application
- all selection processes involve a conventional interview but also usually a brief exercise or task, maybe a presentation. You may be expected to be interviewed by service users (e.g. parents, young offenders, or victims). The processes are designed to be relevant to the particular job – to give you the chance to be at your best, and to give us the chance to choose the best person available
What are the career entry jobs?
The main career entry jobs into youth justice service work tend to be:
- administration
- youth justice service support worker
- youth justice service officer (unqualified)
Most youth offending teams have a similar range of jobs, although the job titles vary.
How can I gain experience as a volunteer?
We offer a wide range of volunteering opportunities in the North Yorkshire youth justice service.
To volunteer for youth justice service work in city of York start visit the volunteering with youth justice service page on their website.
For general information about volunteering and working in youth justice see the youth justice board pages of the ministry of justice website.
Equal Opportunities in recruitment and employment of staff
North Yorkshire youth justice service believes that only by achieving equal opportunities employment practices can we:
- find and develop the best available staff to work with our young people,
- offer the best and fairest service to young people who offend, their families, victims and the communities of North Yorkshire,
- care for our staff fairly and well
North Yorkshire youth justice service works with the equal opportunities and diversity arrangements of North Yorkshire County Council but also works to the equivalent standards and expectations of our partner agencies. Applications are especially welcomed from men who are under-represented in our service.
Youth offending teams
Remember that north Yorkshire youth justice service is not the only one! north Yorkshire youth justice service covers the large geographical area of north Yorkshire. You might also want to think about York youth offending team, which covers the city of York area.
There are 15 youth offending teams altogether in the Yorkshire & Humber region.
Different youth offending teams do use slightly different titles and their structures are not identical, for all sorts of reasons. A full national list is available on the youth justice board pages of the ministry of justice website, with the relevant contact detail.
Most youth offending teams have websites that can be found using a search engine.