Casual Peer Advocate, Youth Justice Service

Here at Swindon Borough Council we are seeking to appoint 3 enthusiastic young people to work within the Youth Justice Service. This is an opportunity to be part of a multi-agency team who work with children and their families to help prevent offending and re-offending. These are exciting advocate posts for children and young people age 16-25 with lived experience to work within the Youth Justice Service and you will be key in assisting the development of the Peer Advocates programme.

Your next role

This is an exciting opportunity to work in Swindon Youth Justice Service. This role is for young people aged 16 – 25 who have previously used Swindon Services to make a difference to the young people of Swindon. This could be in the Children’s Services, Youth Services, Youth Council and Youth Justice Service (YJS).  If you have worked with YJS or Early Help, this should be at least 6 months ago.

As a Peer Advocate, you will work with young people from Swindon to help us improve how we run our Youth Justice Service.

Peer Advocates will work with staff to look at and improve the ways we work with children to help them stop offending.  You will suggest new ideas and positively contribute to the work of the Youth Justice Service. This will include talking with staff and Children to develop programmes that will prevent young people from entering the Criminal Justice System.

You will also be involved in the planning and facilitation of focus groups. You may be asked to speak at events attended by a range of professionals including senior leadership.

We will give you training, support and mentoring so you can do this work.  We expect you to work a maximum of 15 hours per month but we will be flexible around any education or other work commitments you have.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and will require an Enhanced DBS.

About you

To be considered for this exciting opportunity it is essential the successful candidate has:

• Have accessed Swindon Services for young people. For example, Children’s Services, Youth Services, Youth Participation Services, Youth Justice Service (YJS). If you have worked with YJS or Early Help, this should be at least 6 months ago.
• Be willing to complete an enhanced DBS check
• Be between 16-25 years old
• Be enthusiastic and keen to learn
• Be comfortable working with members of the community that you live within
• Have a positive attitude
• Be creative and open to different ideas.
• Be able to give a 12 months commitment to the role. Hours will be flexible to fit in with your needs i.e. college.
• Be able to commit to a maximum of 15 hours per month.
• Commitment to not be involved in offending behaviour

You must be fluent in the English language (as a requirement of Part 7 of the Immigration Act “for the effective performance of a customer-facing role”).

Your next package

Please see our Rewards and Benefits offer for more details.

As an employee, you will receive a diverse and exciting environment in which to work, encouraging creativity and innovation whilst recognising the need to support ongoing personal development and a flexible work life balance.

For Swindon to thrive in the future, we need to lay the foundations now. It’s why our regeneration and transformation programmes are already underway. So, you’ll be joining us at an exciting time on our journey. We’ll look to you to share your knowledge, influence decisions and drive real, positive change. With your contributions, we’ll achieve our vision of a prosperous, re-vitalised Swindon by 2030 together. And you’ll be proud to say it was made better with you.

Please see our Vision and Values page for more details.

Please see our new Swindon Plan

Your next steps

Read the role profile and select the Apply button where you will be redirected to the Swindon Borough Council website to complete our online application process. Clicking the ‘Apply’ button on this job website is not an application, you must register on the Swindon Borough Council website in order to be considered for the role.

Potential applicants are sometimes put off if they don’t meet 100% of the requirements. We think individual experience, skills and passion make all the difference, so if you meet the majority of the criteria, we’d love to hear from you.

For further information about the role please contact Annie Todd, Assistant Team Manager on 01793 464662.

If you are experiencing technical issues submitting your application please email resourcing@swindon.gov.uk