Get paid or voluntary work with young offenders
Paid employment
- We advertise all permanent Council vacancies on our jobs portal
- We also advertise occasional short-term vacancies through Reed Specialist Recruitment
- We also advertise via the National Careers Service
Volunteering
The Youth Justice Service offers voluntary roles periodically in the following areas.
Intensive, Supervision and Surveillance sessional worker
Intensive, Supervision and Surveillance (ISS) is a community-based programme for young people who meet the custody threshold. The intensive part of the young person’s order will be for 91 days in which they are required to wear an electronic 24-hour monitored tag and follow a stringent timetable.
Young people on ISS have a dedicated Youth Justice Service Officer who directs and supports them throughout their order.
We would like the ISS sessional worker to support the Youth Justice Service Officer with the young person’s engagement within any of the five interventions.
- education, training and employment (minimum of 15 hours)
- restorative justice
- offending behaviour
- family support
- interpersonal skills
Examples of supporting young people could be taking them to the gym or helping them prepare for an interview.
You must be able to commit a minimum of one hour a week of your time over a six month period.
Community Panel Member
Community Panel Members (CPM) facilitate Youth Offender Panel meetings (YOP) between young people who have offended, Youth Justice Service and victims of crime.
Together they review the circumstances of the offence, consider the impact of the offence and agree a contract. The contract includes two core elements: reparation to the victim or community, and positive activities to support the young person not to reoffend. This contract forms the basis of a Referral Order.
The original members of the YOP will meet every three months to review the young person’s progress and compliance with the contract. If a young person stops engaging with the Youth Justice Service Officer or is otherwise non-compliant then an emergency panel is called. This is when the CPMs and the young person are called to come together and discuss the reasons for the young person’s non-compliance. It is then up to the CPMs to determine whether or not the order is workable. If it is decided that the order is not workable due to the level of non-compliance then the young person may be returned to court.
The role of the CPM includes attending:
- At least two Initial panel meetings per month (which last round one hour, arriving 15 minutes before the agreed meeting time for the panel.
- A post-meeting/debrief session (this can take up to 30 minutes).
- Three monthly Reviews for young people (which last around 30 minutes).
- Emergency meetings (which last around 45 minutes).Extension meetings (which last around one hour)
You will need to commit to at least two Initial panels per month, for at least 12 months.
Our recruitment for volunteers is currently closed due to a recent successful intake but we would still like to hear from you if you are interested in volunteering with the Youth Justice Service. If so, and you would like to be contacted once the recruitment process reopens, please email yosvolunteers@lewisham.gov.uk and state clearly which of the two positions above you are interested in. You will then be emailed an application form to complete and return.
Placements
Unfortunately, we are not able to take placements within the service at present.
Appropriate Adults
Lewisham now outsource their Appropriate Adults positions to The Appropriate Adult Service