Social Worker – Youth Justice Service

Permanent Position – Qualified Social worker full-time within the Amber Valley, NE Derbyshire, and Bolsover Youth Justice Team. To be located at either The Quad, Chesterfield or Bloomsgrove Road, Ilkeston and includes a mixture of working from the office and home working.

ONLY QUALIFIED REGISTERED SOCIAL WORKERS SHOULD APPLY.

An exciting opportunity has arisen within the Youth Justice Service to join us as a qualified social worker. Derbyshire Youth Justice Service works with young people aged 10-17 on both court orders and out of court disposals. We are a high performing service and welcome candidates who share our passion to help children and young people overcome barriers to achieve and succeed. You will need to have experience of working with children and young people.

Our culture is enshrined in our mission statement:

 “Child First in everything we say, do and write. We build on the strengths of children, families, and communities to achieve their potential and in turn, protect the public and victims. We never give up on our children and young people”.

We had a HMIP inspection in 2022 with an outcome of good and are continuing to build on the learning from this.

The successful candidate will be responsible for delivering high quality services to young people and their parents and carers in a supportive multi agency environment. You would be supported to develop and strengthen your knowledge and skills in trauma-informed practice and have access to a wide range of multi-disciplinary training as well as reflective supervision. This will include access to psychologists, speech and language therapist, substance misuse workers, education, training and employment workers and wellbeing workers to support you in your role.

A knowledge of evidence-based practice and relevant legislation would be advantageous together with good recording skills in addition to being able to take responsibility for planning and managing a caseload.

What will I be doing:

To achieve this, you will provide universal and targeted support for children and young people to include: –

• Completing holistic assessments to identify needs and contribute to the development and delivery of high quality and effective work with children, young people and their families to facilitate and maximise the opportunities for their personal, social and educational development.
• To ensure that all children and young people are supported so that they can aim to achieve stability, safety, and permanence to enable them to thrive within their community and achieve their full potential.
• To persuade, empower and motivate children and young people to engage and overcome barriers to change.
• To work with our partner agencies to ensure a co-ordinated approach so all support is provided to children and young people.
• Prepare pre-sentence reports and other reports for courts and other multi agency professional meetings.

What skills and experience do you need to have:

The successful candidate will be expected to work with minimal supervision and possess skills around engaging and motivating young people using a creative approach with initiative and the ability to develop effective partnerships with other agencies. Experience of working with young people is necessary including following intervention programmes.

The successful candidate should also be able to demonstrate administration and IT skills and have a flexible approach to work. Good communication skills and the ability to work to deadlines are essential.

What we offer you: 

• 25 days of annual leave which increases after accrued service
• Generous local government pension scheme
• Guaranteed incremental annual pay increases
• Cycle to work scheme
• Discounts at selected county leisure centres
• Derbyshire Rewards Scheme where you can access discounts for goods, days out etc.
• A vibrant service culture with an existing strong, skilled and passionate workforce.

For an informal discussion please contact Michelle Barr Team Manager on 07766991465

Provisional Interview Date : 04 September 2025