Youth Justice Early Help Practitioner

Permanent, Full Time

£38,487 to £51,834 per annum

Location: Colchester

Closing Date: 25th May 2026

This is a fantastic opportunity for a qualified Social Worker or an alternatively qualified worker to join an award-winning emotional wellbeing and youth justice project making a real difference to children’s and families’ lives.

The post holder will be based in North Essex with a case load working across North Essex and occasionally other localities across Essex.

The role

The POWER project (Promoting Opportunities for Emotional Resilience) and the Turnaround programme are part of Essex Youth Justice Service’s Early Help team. It is an award-winning* team of social work and alternatively qualified practitioners developing therapeutically-informed interventions to prevent the escalation of children’s mental health needs and to reduce the risk of entering the formal youth justice system or the need more specialist and/or statutory services. This is achieved through assessment, and collaborative planning to agree a targeted package of voluntary support which takes a whole-family approach, to build upon strengths, address unmet needs and improve positive outcomes and sustainable positive change. We work to enable the child to build pro-social skills and improve their future life prospects whilst aiding the resilience of parents to respond appropriately and provide care and support, with a particular emphasis on working in and with schools to support reasonable adjustments.

To read more about us please visit: Children & Families

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

Accountabilities

Responsible for managing a caseload and undertaking individual and/or family work with children or young people on the cusp of entering the criminal justice system.
Accountable for undertaking high quality assessments of young people, and co-producing comprehensive intervention plans, evidencing input from children, and liaising with partner agencies to effectively address the underlying needs identified through assessment.
Conduct evidence-based interventions (systemic practice, as well as Signs of Safety, Motivational Interviewing, and child development theory) to develop relationships that enable the family to build upon their strengths and support positive change, without the need to refer to other agencies unnecessarily.
Responsible for establishing and maintaining effective working relationships with partner agencies, particularly with schools, to ensure effective knowledge about YJS Early Help as the source of expertise in the locality on YJS Early Help.
Accountable for ensuring that the voices and views of children and young people are sought, heard, and represented appropriately, evidenced throughout the intervention, and used to inform and develop effective service delivery.
Accountable for maintaining accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date information/case records and share information appropriately according to local and national practice guidance/policies.
Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

What experience you will bring

Educated to degree level or equivalent, with a recognised social work qualification i.e. diploma, degree or masters in social work, CQSW, CSS or equivalent, with current registration with Social Work England as a registered Social Worker or a minimum of 2.5 years working in the field of the field of youth justice.
Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional area.
Experience of working in a multi-agency environment with excellent engagement skills with a demonstrable ability to communicate and collaborate effectively with colleagues, partner agencies and service users.
Knowledge and understanding of health and safety and safeguarding of children, and young people.
A clear understanding of early help services and early interventions, values, and principles.
Excellent understanding of both ‘strengths based’ and ‘outcomes focused’ work, with a demonstrable knowledge of appropriate and effective evidence-based problem-solving interventions with children, young people and families.
Proven ability in the effective use of assessment frameworks and tools to produce appropriate, sound, evidence-based assessments of need, strengths and of risk, and use these to co-produce with families, individualised support plans that are reviewed and updated appropriately.
Proven ability to work within an evidence-informed framework, with knowledge and understanding of criminogenic factors, causing young people to offend.

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.

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.

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.

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

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