Job Description
Job Title: Senior Family Resettlement Worker - HMP Forest Bank
Salary: £23,000
Reports to: Family Resettlement Manager
Introduction
Pact is a highly respected independent charity. We work across England and Wales to develop and deliver a range of innovative services, providing practical and emotional support to prisoners’children and families, to prisoners and to ex-offenders. We enable active community engagement in criminal justice work through facilitating volunteering. Our work is founded on core values, the first of which is a belief in the innate dignity of every human being. Our focus is on human relationships, family and community. We are committed to achieving the high standards of quality in all that we do.
Pact has delivered a visits supports service to HMP Forest Bank since 2012. As part of the service’s continuous development, the service is being relaunched as ‘Family Time’from October 2015. The new service will have a stronger focus on providing one to one and group based support to prisoners to help them maintain and build relationships, as well as providing targeted support to families, particularly focusing on first time visitors and children accessing the play area within the Visits Hall.
Job purpose
As Pact’s senior practitioner within the HMP Forest Bank ‘Family Time’project, the post holder will play a key role in delivery of the service as well as helping to organise and coordinate delivery.
The role will work within both the prison and the visitorscentre, providing one to one specialist children and families support and delivering or co-facilitating delivery of Pact’s relationship courses.
The Senior Resettlement Worker will work with HMP Forest Bank and Pact’s nominated Project Manager to develop, refine and agree the service and support members of the team to deliver it.
They will report on individual and service performance targets on a weekly and monthly basis, working closely with managers to identify and implement improvement actions. The role will be first point of ‘on site’liaison for HMP Forest Bank staff and will support Pact managers in producing reports and contributing information required for service reviews.
Adopting a multi-agency approach, the worker will liaise with a range of statutory and non-statutory partner organisations within outside of the prison including HMP Forest Bank Staff, Community Rehabilitation Companies, National Probation Service, Local Authorities Social Care and Troubled Families Services and voluntary agencies in support of both referral pathways and effective service delivery.
The post holder will be responsible for recruitment vetting, training and management of volunteers, as well as providing advice and coaching to paid members of the Pact team.
Key Duties and Responsibilities
Development of Partnership Work
•To develop and maintain good, professional and pro-active working relationships with HMP Forest Bank staff; ensuring referral pathways are established, Pact is actively promoted, information appropriately is shared and a ‘one team’approach to delivery is taken.
•Under the guidance of the nominated Pact Project Manager, work closely with the HMP Forest Bank Children and Families manager to agree specifics of delivery and problem solve any operational challenges.
•To develop and maintain an awareness of relevant partner agencies and professionals in the community and within the prison, in order to be able to successfully liaise, advise, signpost and/or advocate for service users.
•To represent and promote Pact by attending and contributing to meetings (or other events) within or outside of the prison and to participate in delivering presentations to relevant parties as required.
•Contribute to case level meetings within the prison (e.g. discharge boards, case discussions with the Offender Management Unit) in order to share information to support release/sentence planning and risk management objectives.
•Proactively share appropriate information with HMP Forest Bank staff, including recording all contact with service users on PNOMIS, submitting intelligence reports or contacting specialist units such as Safer Custody.
Development and Delivery of the service and Programmes
•To develop appropriate referrals/self referrals in to the service. Including raising awareness of the service across prison departments and with potential service users directly.
•Promptly assess (and appropriately review) the children and family specific strengths and needs of each person/family referred and jointly agree actions and Pact services to be delivered, using Pact’s Relationship Radar tools.
•Provide one to one specialist family support to prisoners in order to support service users to achieve their agreed children and families goals. This may include but is not limited to providing: practical advice, information and guidance, emotional support, liaison with partner agencies and family members, signposting an referring to other partners, mediation with family and advocacy.
•Deliver and coordinate Pact relationship education group programmes. Including agreeing dates with HMP Forest Bank and securing staff cover, printing programme materials, ordering additional materials required, undertaking recruitment and liaising with prison security, facilitating programmes, ensuring participant and outcomes data is collected accurately and producing summative reports after each programme.
•Identifying areas of development for group programmes, or identifying scope for new programmes and liaising with Pact’s Interventions Quality and Development Manager to progress changes.
•Proactively identifying and contacting first time visitors and their families to explain the support available to them.
•Hosting regular drop-ins to the Visitor Centre to provide advice and support to families visiting the prison.
•Producing information material for service users including first time visitor packs, information boards and material to inform or upscale service users.
•To provide warm, safe and human support and to ensure that children, families and prisoners are treated with respect, dignity and courtesy;
•To ensure at all times that security, public protection, safeguarding or domestic abuse concerns and risks are carefully considered and managed, and that information is shared appropriately with professional colleagues within the prison and/or other partner agencies.
•To maintain professional boundaries, including appropriate levels of self-disclosure, and the confidence to challenge inappropriate or unacceptable behaviour or comments from participants, volunteers, colleagues or others.
•Ensuring all service delivery is compliant with Pact and agreed HMP Forest Bank policy and procedures including security and risk management, equal opportunities, health and safety, data protection, and information sharing.
•Promote and support the development of good practice, consistent with NOMS Prison, CRC and National Probation services Instructions, Commissioning Intentions and good practice guidance, whilst also securing core delivery requirements to support all offenders’families.
Management and Supervision of Paid and Voluntary Staff
•Under the guidance of the nominated Project Manager, lead on the service’s recruitment, training and supervision of volunteers. Including organising interview panels, providing training and supervising volunteer placements.
•As senior practitioner on site, provide advice and coaching to members of the Pact team regarding practice, quality and effective delivery.
•As agreed with the nominated project manager, support day to day supervision of staff and contribute to yearly appraisal and development planning for individual paid staff members.
Recording, Monitoring and Evaluating
•To record details of referrals and activity undertaken on Pact’s case management system, Ecins.
•Undertake Radar assessments with all service user families, ensuring records are kept and collated in paper and electronic formats.
•To collect and compile group programme and attendance and outcomes data as requested.
•To utilise PNOMIS to routinely share information with the prison about referrals received, attendance and progress.
•To ensure that all data collected is and stored in accordance with data security policies and procedures.
•To provide case studies which illustrate the nature of the work, and to report on learning, obstacles and outcomes to the project lead and steering group on a quarterly basis.
Targets
•To meet required performance targets as defined by the line manager and to keep accurate case records on Ecins to enable performance against individual targets to be evidenced.
•To utiliseEcins reporting functionality to monitor own achievement of targets, taking action to improve performance as required.
•To contribute to the team to ensure that targets are met, including providing targeted coaching to support performance improvements for individual team members.
Sharing, Learning and Good Practice
•To participate in staff meetings and training to ensure that learning is shared and promoted amongst the team.
General
•Work flexibly, supporting Pact colleagues and covering other areas of the Pact Forest Bank service to backfill at times of staff absence.•To behave at all times in a professional manner and to be a good role model to other staff, stakeholders and participants.
•To adhere to Pact and HMP Forest Bank policies and procedures, including safeguarding, confidentiality, safe working practices, equal opportunities, child protection, health and safety.
•To promote Equality of Opportunity and Diversity through own work.
•To attend relevant internal and external meetings.
•To maintain confidentiality and observe data protection guidelines.
•The post-holder is responsible for their own self-development on a continuous basis, which should be regularly reviewed with their line manager through supervision and appraisal.
•To undertake any other relevant duties as required by line management.
Pact Standards
Equal Opportunities: Pact has a strong commitment to achieving equality of opportunity and expects all employees to implement and promote its policy in their own work.
Health and Safety: Pact is committed to a healthy and safe working environment and expects all its employees to co-operate with pact to implement and promote its policy in all aspects of their work.
Service User Participation: People who use our services are at the heart of everything we do.We strive for a culture in which prisoners, ex-offenders and their families are listened to, their opinions are respected and they are actively involved in decision making which leads to change. This change can be in prisoners, ex-offenders and their families (skills, knowledge, development or attitude), the services they get and use and the wider society.
Conduct: All staff are required to conduct themselves in a lawful, professional, courteous and respectful manner, in accordance with the charity’s values and ethos. Our work within secure establishments, with ex-offenders in the community, and with children and adults with multiple and complex needs, requires all staff to operate at all times with due regard to security, safeguarding and protecting children, public protection, and professional boundaries. All staff are required to conform with policies and procedures detailed in the pact handbooks, and as required by the Ministry of Justice and National Offender Management Service, and local rules which may be in force at individual prisons. Staff are also required to comply with detailed policies and guidance regarding confidentiality, Data Security and use of ICT (Information and Communication Technology), and maintaining privacy of all its staff and service users. Staff are required to ensure that they maintain an up to date awareness of relevant policies and procedures, and to take a positive approach to their own learning and development.
Pact is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
PERSON SPECIFICATION: Senior Family Resettlement WorkerKnowledge, skills and abilities
/ SELECTION CRITERIA: / Essential / DesirableEducation, Training and knowledge / Literate and numerate, with excellent written and spoken English
PTLLS or relevant equivalent teaching qualification
Knowledge of the legislation affecting adults and young offenders, Children’s act and community care legislation.
Knowledge of Health and Safety and working practices, and the implications within the working environment.
An understanding of risk escalation. / ✓
✓
✓
✓ / ✓
Experience / Supporting individuals with multiple and complex needs to overcome barriers.
Diary management and prioritising conflicting demands.
Working in a third sector organisation, preferably in the criminal justice field and within a custodial environment.
Interagency work, building partnerships, promoting positive relationships between different agencies, and developing new approaches to service delivery.
Working coherently as part of a team.
Delivering staff and participant training.
Data inputting and collation, maintaining records, drafting letters and information gathering.
Experience and knowledge of safeguarding.
Ability to develop positive relationships with volunteers, clients and other stakeholders.
Experience recruiting, training and supervising paid or voluntary staff. / ✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓ / ✓
✓
✓
Beliefs, Attitudes & Behaviours / Commitment to the Vision, Mission, Values and Strategy of Pact.
Enthusiasm drive and passion to grow Pact’simpact andincome within a challenging funding environment.
Results orientated with a ‘can do’attitude.
Committed to continuous personal development and learning, and responsiveness to constructive feedback.
A methodical and disciplined approach combined with the initiative to thrive and succeed in a very competitive environment.
Commitment to the inclusive culture of pact and to the active promotion of equal opportunities.
Ability to work on one’s own initiative.
Ability to motivate others. / ✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
Other Requirements / Empathy with the children and families of prisoners
An understanding of the Criminal Justice system
A commitment to accepting the restrictions encountered within a prison and CRC environment or when dealing with prisoners working pre and post release, and to incorporate this knowledge into training to ensure the safety of volunteers and protect pact’s reputation as a professional provider of services.
Ability to travel and attend evening meetings and conferences as appropriate to the needs of the job –use of car will be a requirement of the post. / ✓
✓
✓
✓
Terms and Conditions:
Length of contract: Permanent
Salary: £23,000
Pension:1%
Hours of work:37.5 hours. Typically Monday to Friday 9-5, however some weekend and evening working is likely to be required based on operational need and to cover staff absence.
Place of Work: Based in HMP Forest Bank, with some travel to locations within and outside of the region
This post is subject to a 6 month probationary period.
The successful candidate must undergo an Enhanced DBS check, on the basis that the post involves contact with vulnerable adults, in accordance with the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (1974). Other relevant recruitment checks will also be carried out, including prison vetting and clearances.