SOS Caseworker ( Ref SOC-241)

Are you a proactive, compassionate and collaborative individual with a proven record of working and engaging positively with young people involved in or at risk of serious youth violence and exploitation? 

Do you have sound experience of providing support, advice and advocacy and have the ability to assess a client’s needs?

If so, St Giles is looking for Caseworkers to work on our pioneering SOS project where, as part of a high-performing team, you will work with both victims and perpetrators of serious youth violence, exploitation and other gang-related offences and help them to be safe, move away from offending and take positive choices.

About St Giles Trust

An ambitious, well-established charity that helps people facing adversity to find jobs, homes and the right support they need.  Central to our ethos is our belief that people with first-hand experience of successfully overcoming issues such as an offending background, homelessness, addictions and gang involvement, hold the key to positive change in others.

About SOS+

Working with young people in a variety of educational settings, St. Giles’ SOS+ Service delivers early intervention work, through one-to-one mentoring and preventative sessions on violence, vulnerability and exploitation.  The mission of SOS+ is to prevent children and young people becoming involved in gangs and youth violence by equipping them with tools, knowledge and support delivered by experts with lived experience.

About this key role

Our successful candidate will assess referred clients, with reference to St Giles Trust assessment practices, offering support to up to 20 young people per year, who are identified by local partners as most at need of support.  You will produce support and risk management plans based on these assessments, plus deliver a holistic support service, working independently or with colleagues as the situation dictates, which will involve providing practical guidance on areas such social and housing support, education, training and employment options, and benefits work.

We will count on you to develop and maintain strong relationships with referral and partner agencies, including police, Youth Offending Teams, Probation, local authorities and social services, while closing cases efficiently and positively, identifying a survival plan for the client that will identify agencies that can be used for on-going support is also a key aspect of this role.

What we are looking for

• To have worked on an offender-led support project, had personal experience of the criminal justice system, served a prison sentence, or still be serving a prison sentence in a prison within reach of Greater Manchester
• Experience in negotiation with partner agencies to establish links to further aims of the project
• Experience of engaging successfully with challenging people
• To have a relevant qualification to a good standard or be working towards one
• Knowledge of the local community, its projects and services available to young people
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, both verbal and written
• A flexible, collaborative and professional approach to your work.

Full Time / Fixed Term until 1 September 2025

Please note this role requires an Enhanced Children with the Child Barred list checks.

In return, you can expect a competitive salary, generous leave allowance, staff pension, flexible working, a mentoring programme, an advice and counselling service, season ticket loan and much more.

We are an equity and inclusion confident employer. We welcome all applications and we particularly encourage applications from people of the global majority (black, brown, multi- heritage) and those who identify as disabled, neuroexpansive, neurodiverse, with any protected characteristics and/or social barriers or challenges. We value the empowering and informative impact that all lived experiences and diversity of thought can offer the organisation.

St Giles will guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria set out in the Job Description for the vacancy.