Youth Justice Service Officer

At Coventry City Council, we are embarking on an incredible journey to create a brighter future for Coventry's children.

The Youth Justice Service (YJS) is a fast-paced multi-agency team consisting of staff from the Local Authority, Police, Probation, Health and Education. Coventry YJS has been judged as ‘Outstanding’ by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Probation (HMIP). We work with children and young people aged 10-18 who have offended, who are subject to court orders and out of court disposals or are being diverted from the criminal justice system, their families and the victims of youth crime.

We value diverse perspectives and experiences and are striving to create an inclusive workplace culture that is accepting of all and is free from discrimination and bias.

Our vision and priorities are aligned with the ‘Youth Justice Board’s ‘Child First, Offender Second’ approach in aspiring to create: ‘A youth justice system that sees children as children, treats them fairly and helps them build on their strengths so they can make a constructive contribution to society’.

In line with our One Coventry Values, we want to ensure that our communities are represented across our workforce. A vital part of this is ensuring we are a truly inclusive organisation that encourages diversity in all respects, including diversity of thinking. We particularly welcome applicants from minority ethnic, LGBT+, disabled and neurodiverse communities to make a real difference to our residents so that equity and respect remains at the heart of everything we do.

Our Values are:

• Open and fair: We are fair, open, and transparent.
• Nurture and develop: We help and encourage everyone to be their best and do their best.
• Engage and empower: We talk and listen to others, working together as one.
• Create and innovate: We embrace new ways of working to continuously improve.
• Own and be accountable: We work together to deliver the best services for our residents.
• Value and respect: We put diversity and inclusion at the heart of all we do.

We are recruiting for a Youth Justice Services Officer.

Your role will be to reduce offending by working directly with children, their families and victims within national and local guidance.

All candidates must have the Right to Work in the UK. We are currently not offering sponsorship for this role.

This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

We are looking for an experienced individual who wants to make a positive difference and has experience, including:

• Casework responsibility, undertaking of complex assessments, and analysing risk.
• Devising and delivering programmes of intervention with young people and their families/carers.
• Working in 1:1 and group settings with young people & families, and other professionals.
• Writing reports to deadlines and at a standard suitable for scrutiny by the Courts.

You will need to be educated to degree level and/or able to show relevant experience and ongoing development to a similar level.

You will be required to:

• Work flexibly to meet the needs of children/young people, families & victims; this will mean some evening working.
• Be on a rota undertaking approximately 9 Saturdays per year.
• Cover bank holidays (approximately two per year) in line with service requirements.

The children, families and young people we work with come from a variety of backgrounds and to deliver the best possible care it is vital that we have a workforce that represents and understands their unique experiences and perspectives.

Within our team, men and people from minority ethnic backgrounds are currently under-represented; as a result, we would like to encourage both men and people from minority ethnic backgrounds to apply for this post. This does not prevent individuals with other protected characteristics as set out within the Equality Act 2010 from applying for this post.

For an informal conversation about this challenging and rewarding role, please contact:

• Lesa Arms - Youth Justice Team Manager Lesa.arms@coventry.gov.uk
• Sabrina Sandhu – Youth Justice Senior Practitioner Sabrina.sandhu@coventry.gov.uk

When applying for this role, your Personal Statement must evidence how you meet all the points of the Person Specification.

If you need help or support to complete your application, please visit our accessibility page to see how we can assist you.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme - As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role and identify with one of the following criteria:

• Members of the Armed Forces and veterans
• Are currently in care or have previously been in care
• If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition

For full details of the application process, please read the attached document on our jobs page, labelled 'Coventry City Council Application Process'.

If there is any evidence that a candidate used AI to complete their application, the application will be rejected unless the candidate can provide a justification that the Council considers reasonable.

Interview date: 17th April 2026

Coventry has a proud, innovative and creative spirit that throughout its history has seen communities come together to tackle problems and bring about real social change.

We are cutting-edge, challenging, youthful, vibrant and diverse.

At Coventry we are committed to excellence in everything we do. With around 5100 staff from a range of different backgrounds, our aim is to recruit and develop talented people who will focus on our customers, take responsibility, work together and find better ways of doing things.

To deliver the best services to our residents, we need the best people working for us to make a difference to our communities.

If you join us, we will provide a fantastic rewards and benefits package - to find out more please visit https://www.coventry.gov.uk/council-vacancies