Community Payback roles – National Probation Service
Category: Recruitment
Publish date: 01/02/2022
Community Payback roles
Are you looking for a rewarding career where you can both motivate and inspire others to change for the better, and build better and safer places to live? One where your personal attributes and transferable skills are more important than qualifications?
The Ministry of Justice has launched a recruitment campaign across England for 3 different roles within Community Payback delivery. Community Payback (CP), previously known as Community Service, is an alternative to a prison sentence for people who have committed a crime.
Community Payback Supervisor
As a Community Payback supervisor, you’ll be at the heart of this work, leading small teams to complete their unpaid work hours. You’ll supervise and motivate them to complete a range of manual tasks, such as: clearing overgrowth to make public spaces safer, restoring community facilities such as sports halls and playgrounds, planting trees or laying flowerbeds, litter picking and graffiti removal – to pay back for the harm they’ve caused.
You’ll be supporting people from different backgrounds to get the most out of their time on Community Payback. You’ll be helping them to make positive changes to local communities, access training and development to learn new skills, and improve their chances of employment as they make positive changes in their own lives.
Essential skills and experience
You don’t need any specific experience or qualifications to be a CP supervisor, and you’ll get all the training you need to help you work effectively and safely with people on probation. You will however need a driver’s licence; and a D1 licence is desirable but not essential.
Community Payback Placement Coordinators
As a CP Placement Coordinator, you’ll be responsible for establishing and maintaining working relationships with a range of stakeholders – including local authorities and charities – to make sure there are sufficient numbers of CP work placements. This will include exploring opportunities for people to access on-the-job training and education, to develop their skills and increase their chances of employment while they complete their unpaid work hours.
Essential skills and experience
Great logistics management, stakeholder management, negotiation, and communication skills are important. You’ll be a good multi-tasker with an eye for detail and excellent analytical skills.
Community Payback Operations Manager
As a CP Operations Manager you’ll have overall responsibility for managing the logistics of Community Payback delivery in your region.
Managing a team of Placement Coordinators and Supervisors, you’ll make sure CP is delivered effectively, efficiently and to a high standard in your region – monitoring performance at all times. You’ll oversee the development and assessment of suitable CP work placements, taking the lead on sourcing new large-scale projects with major community stakeholders such as local authorities and charities. Wherever possible, you’ll look to ensure work placements provide training and development and/or future employment opportunities.
Essential skills and experience
Great leadership, time management, negotiation and decision-making skills will all work to make your life easier in role.
What are the benefits?
The salaries for these roles are:
- CP Supervisor and CP Placement Coordinator - £23,174 to £28,200
- CP Operations Manager - £37,166 to £41,020
(Roles in London attract an additional London weighting of £3,889).
- 25 days’ annual leave, increasing to 30 days after five years’ service – plus eight public holidays and service days
- An attractive occupational pension (Local Government Pension Scheme)
- A wide range of other Civil Service benefits including childcare vouchers, a cycle to work scheme and travel loans.
- Plus a range of attractive Civil Service benefits, ongoing training, and career progression opportunities.
The process
Applicants will be required to complete an application form, and answer 3 behaviour based questions. Please follow this link to read our guidance on how to write your behaviour answers.
If you’re successful at the application stage, we will invite you to an interview weeks commencing 7th and 14th March. These will be held virtually via Microsoft Teams, and will look at your strengths and behaviours in detail.
Successful applicants will then go through pre-employment checks which can take between 6 and 8 weeks, after which we can discuss start dates.
How to apply
All vacancies are now live on CTP’s online job portal, RightJob. The closing date for applications is 23:55 on the 6th February 2022.