Restorative Justice Practitioner

Restorative Justice Practitioner

Permanent, Full Time

£26,284 up to £33,256 per annum

Location: Chelmsford

Closing Date:28th June 2026

Here in Essex, we continue to raise the bar about practice and our investment in our workforce is second to none. It’s an exciting time to join us having received our 2nd Outstanding Ofsted rating in a row.

To read more about our business area, please visit:

Children & Families

Please take a look at our ‘No Magic’ Children & Families video

The Opportunity

Children and Families is recognised as a service in which social work can develop and prosper, with a culture of collaboration, integrity and compassion; promoting the development and wellbeing of children, young people and their families; protecting them from neglect and abuse. Working together with partners delivering a range of early help, family support and effective social work interventions which build resilience, remove barriers and enable children and young people to look forward to a brighter future.

Essex Youth Justice Service works with young people aged 10-17 who have offended and are subject to both pre and post court disposals. The Restorative Justice (RJ) Worker will be responsible for statutory delivery of RJ interventions to victims and young people, this will include sensitive and complex cases, full victim/offender conferencing and the supervision of Direct Restorative Justice to victims.

Accountabilities

Responsible for facilitating and delivering Restorative Justice interventions with young people and victims, ensuring adherence to the Victim Code of Conduct and within the principles of restorative justice, in line with the policies and protocols of the Essex Youth Justice Service.
Responsible for statutory Victim Contact to seek the views of victims of crime. Engage and facilitate a variety of interventions to enable victims to take part if they wish, to represent the voice of the victim throughout the work of the Youth Justice Service, including sensitive and complex cases.
Provide support to victims of crime and their families, helping them to address challenges they face and facilitating appropriate referrals to external agencies and support services to meet their needs
Organise and deliver direct victim/offender conferences – both in the community and within custodial/secure institutions where appropriate.
Deliver victim awareness programmes to young people working with the service, to enable empathy and an understanding of the impact crime has on the community.
Co-deliver Restorative Justice training, working collaboratively with partners and the wider community to achieve joint objectives, which reduce first time entrants and reoffending.
Responsible for completing robust risk assessments on all restorative activities to ensure safe delivery, using skills, knowledge and professional experience.
Responsible for the safety of young people at all times, exercising an appropriate and commensurate duty of care that reflects the ages of young people being supervised.
Responsibility for updating records accurately, ensuring they meet National standards and adhere to designed outcomes and agreed service levels.
Responsible for highlighting and reporting issues as appropriate, to safeguard a child, with a good understanding of child protection policies and procedures.
Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.
Attendance at multi agency meetings to represent victims’ voice.

The Experience You Will Bring

Educated to RQF Level 2 (GCSE) or equivalent by experience. Holds Registered Practitioner status or is willing to work towards it.
Evidence of continuing professional development, aligned to any relevant Professional Competency/Capability frameworks or Knowledge and Skills Statements
Evidence a sound knowledge of Restorative Justice and its application within a justice environment. Demonstrates an understanding of anti-discriminatory practice and is imaginative and flexible
Experience in direct work with children and young people, with the ability to evidence positively promoting children’s welfare and deep understanding of Child Protection procedures.
Experience of acting as an advocate on behalf of the victim and their family alongside external partners with a readiness to challenge bureaucracy.
Experience of successfully arranging and managing a victim/offender conference.
Deep knowledge of a range of social services and wider agency resources, to provide advice, to positively promote children’s safety and well-being within their family.
Excellent communication skills, both written and oral, with evidence of accurate record keeping and a sound knowledge of data protection issues.

Why Essex?

As one of the largest and most dynamic UK local authorities, Essex offers a stimulating public service environment. Covering over 1,420 square miles and serving 1.8 million residents, we’re committed to transformational change and delivering better quality at lower cost. Recognised in the top three of the latest IMPOWER index for productivity, we ensure everyone matters in Everyone’s Essex. With flexible working options and a focus on innovation, whether you are looking to develop your career or contribute to the local community, Essex is the ideal place for you.

In March 2026, the Government announced that councils in Greater Essex will be reorganised into five new unitary authorities from April 2028. In addition to this, Greater Essex has been accepted on to the devolution priority programme, where we will work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority. You can read more about these changes, and what this may mean for this role, on our careers site.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process. We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

Once you’ve secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs.

At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.

The role requires you to be mobile throughout a wider operational area including travelling around the county of Essex and beyond, transporting service users and their belongings and to be able to do so in an emergency. Driving licence and car or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means is essential.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council, please join The Essex Talent Community

If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk

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