YJS Practice Manager

Job Introduction

Role Purpose

The Dorset Combined Youth Justice Service (YJS) is looking for a full time Practice Manager to join our stable and supportive management team.  We are open to considering candidates who want to work part time hours.

The ethos of the team is "child first" and all staff have been trained in trauma informed practice and working restoratively.

Main Responsibilities

The role of the Practice Manager is to provide operational management and supervision to the team, including oversight of risk and decision-making.  Our ideal candidate will be creative, resourceful, supportive, and will have a genuine desire to positively shape the futures of children. 

The Ideal Candidate

You will be a qualified Social Worker or have an equivalent professional qualification with an assessed level of practice.  You will bring a wealth of experience working with children and teenagers, and we would welcome candidates with Restorative Justice Expertise. You will have a clear idea of “what good looks like” for a Youth Justice Service. You will set high standards for your own work and have a clear interest in working in the justice system.  As Practice Manager you will assist the Team Manager and represent the team with external partners and support and develop practice in the team. As a Practice Manager you will be required to contribute to the annual team plan and to take a lead role in its delivery, including ownership of specific priority areas, for example Restorative Justice, Court Work etc.

We are a county wide service and cover the whole of Dorset. The post is based in Dorchester, although there will also be opportunities to work from our office in North Bournemouth. 

The Dorset Combined Youth Justice Service is a multi-agency team of skilled and motivated professionals. We are committed to diversifying our workforce and actively welcome a diverse range of applicants.

About BCP Council

Dorset is a county in southwest England. Dorset Combined Youth Justice Service (DCYJS) was formed in 2015 and works across two local authorities, Bournemouth, Christchurch, Poole (BCP) and Dorset., BCP Council provides services to a diverse community of 400,000 residents and employs more than 5,000 people.  BCP includes over 15 miles of beautiful world-renowned coastline while Dorset comprises a mainly rural area with market towns and a larger urban area in Weymouth and Portland. Dorset Council has a diverse population of about 380,000. By working with us, you can help deliver a vision of a thriving, world-class, prosperous and inclusive place for generations to come.

Our Benefits

We offer an excellent benefits package for further details see here

As a result of the creation of BCP Council in 2019, we are working on simplifying our terms and conditions of service and will be creating a single pay structure which is to be applicable for all employees. It is important to us that we offer benefits that our colleagues value as part of their total employment package and we are reviewing these to make sure we have it right. We have been in a process of collective bargaining since 2019 and have positively worked forward to reach an agreed position with the unions for the new contractual offer. This has taken longer than we hoped and therefore we are having to consider all alternative avenues available to enable us to remove inequality in the organisation as a result of bringing together 3 councils. 

We are in the process of establishing a timescale for implementation, and all colleagues joining us will be included in these changes. We want to reassure everyone that whichever route is taken to reach the new terms and conditions, we can honour continuous service and there will not be any job reduction as a result of the implementation of Pay and Reward.  If you have any questions at all about this process, please feel free to raise this with the hiring manager.

DBS

BCP Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the community and expects all staff and volunteers to share the same commitment.  Applicants to this post will be required to complete the appropriate level of Disclosure & Barring Service Check. Please refer to the Job Description or Role Profile for more details.