Job Description

At Catch22, we are proud of our reputation as a modern and progressive employer. Our 1,300 colleagues and 300 volunteers work at every stage of the social welfare cycle, supporting over 60,000 individuals from cradle to career. Our work spans education, social justice and rehabilitation, children's social care, family support, social action and getting people into work.

Our St Helens Missing from Home & Child Exploitation Service Pan Merseyside Child Exploitation and Missing from Home | Catch22 has 1 PT post, 18.5 hours vacancy works alongside young people, their families and the police to find out what has caused them to run away and prevent them from running away again in the future.

Help is provided for young people who have run away who are at risk of:

• becoming involved in crime to survive, from stealing to criminal gang involvement
• drug and alcohol misuse
• mental and sexual health issues
• exclusion from school and failure to meet educational milestones.

Child exploitation (CE) is recognised in the UK and defined as; “a form of child abuse. It occurs where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, manipulate or deceive a child or young person.

• To undertake one to one work with young people vulnerable to child exploitation (CE) to inform a risk reduction plan.
• To educate targeted groups of young people around all aspects of CE, grooming, recognising risk and vulnerabilities.
• To work in partnership with Children’s Social Care to facilitate support where CE is highlighted as a risk.
• To work with Merseyside Police Missing from Home Co-ordinators and Local Authority Stakeholders to contribute towards the collation of soft intelligence / information on CE issues / trends.
• To offer Educational Awareness Raising within local authority Inc. placement providers, education, parents and young people and to co facilitate CE Awareness Training in partnership with LSCP.
• To work with the Local Authorities and their Local Safeguarding Children’s Partnerships to ensure positive media messages and marketing of the service to young people
• To work in association with and support the CE Pan Merseyside Protocol.
• Plan and deliver support interventions in accordance with Catch22 policies and procedures and local authority guidance, to ensure effective use of resources and targets are achieved.
• Identify and support access to additional or specialist services for young people and parents where necessary to ensure their needs are met and risks factors are reduced.
• Develop and sustain productive working relationships with referring agencies to ensure the regular and appropriate referrals are received.
• Record all intervention, contacts and multi-agency correspondence in accordance with the service specification within prescribed Management Information Systems
• Complete all required monitoring information by set timescales to assist the production of feedback reports to funders and stakeholders to track and monitor progress against outcome targets, KPIs etc.

Qualifications

Minimum 5 GCSE’s or equivalent, grade “C” or above

Full driving licence and access to own vehicle with business use.

Relevant professional qualification in Youth/community work, Social Care, Health or Education

Knowledge of the issues affecting young people at risk of CE.

Knowledge and understanding of Equality & Diversity issues

Experience of working directly with young people on level 2- 4 on the continuum of need presenting a variety of support needs

Experience of planning, delivering and evaluating support activities for and with young people and their carers

Experience and understanding of case management including assessment, action planning and reviews.

Experience and application of Health and Safety and risk management procedures.

Experience of working in partnership with a variety of agencies to achieve agreed outcomes.

Experience and understanding of Child Protection including Safeguarding processes and procedures.

Experience of working with people from a variety of ethnic groups, cultural and social backgrounds.

Experience of working with and supporting volunteers

Experience of working in a multi-agency team

Able to communicate effectively at all levels, orally and in writing.

Ability to engage young people their parents or carers within the community

Additional Information

Please see the & Person Specification for more information.

Salary: Pro Rated Salary £13,048.50 £26,096.73

Contract: Permanent, 37hours (approx 9months to a year cover)

You will need to be willing to work flexible hours and if required to work evenings, weekends and anti-social hours.

Driving is essential for this role.

This role is subject to an enhanced DBS check

See the benefits of working for Catch22 here

Unless otherwise stated, interviews will be arranged as suitable candidates are identified, so early application is strongly advised.

We aim to review applications as quickly as possible. However, due to the volume ofinterest we receive, we may not be able to contact all applicants individually. If you have not heard from us within two weeks of the closing date, please assume that your application has not been successful this time.

At Catch22 we value equality, diversity and inclusion. We are wholeheartedly committed to the principle of equality of opportunity, both as an employer and as a provider of services. Diversity and Inclusion is part of what we do every day, working to deliver our vision to build a strong society where everyone has good people around them, a purpose, and a good place to live.

Catch22 is committed to rigorous safeguarding and safer recruitment practices; ensuring that every individual within the organisation has been safely and appropriately checked.

Please note, we will conduct an online search as part of our due dilligence checks for successful candidate(s). This will involve a search of all publicly available information online and in social media.

Catch22’s Commitment to Ban the Box

Catch22 is proud to have “ Banned the Box”. This means that we do not ask for candidates to disclose criminal convictions at the application stage. Instead, we invite disclosures at interview stage, and encourage them at the offer stage. Please see our statement of commitment on hiring people with convictions for more information.