Job Description

Please note this post is exempt under section 7 (2) (e) and (f) of The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and therefore open to

female applicants only.

The successful applicant will be subject to an enhanced DBS check.?

APPLICATIONS WITHOUT A COVER LETTER WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED

Women's Accommodation Criminal Justice Key Worker

Salary:

28,266 (per annum)

Location

: Leeds

Hours:

37 hours full-time

Closing Date:

12PM, 27th August 2025

Interview Date:

TBC

In our gender-specific Centres, we provide holistic support to women by women, to overcome challenges and address needs. We help women build upon their strengths and work through any barriers that are preventing them from progressing and achieving their potential.

The Women's Accommodation Criminal Justice Key Worker will engage with and provide intensive support to women on Probation and will be particularly required to support women with overcoming issues around their:

Personal Wellbeing Mental Health Accommodation Finance, Benefits and Debts Employment, Training and Education Family and Significant Others Lifestyle and Associates Social Inclusion Dependency and Recovery
This role will be part of the Women's Criminal Justice Team, delivering an inclusive and supportive programme driven to achieve the best for local communities. The particular focus of this role will be to support women through the Accommodation pathway across West Yorkshire. We manage centres in Leeds, Bradford, Wakefield, Huddersfield, Halifax and HMP Newhall.

You will work closely with external organisations, across West Yorkshire, to extend access to support services and secure safe and affordable long-term accommodation. You will also work to encourage women to access existing resources, as well as working to build new opportunities. You will support women to build upon their strengths and work through any barriers that are preventing them from progressing and achieving their potential.

This role requires agile working, which will include being office based, delivering within the community and working from our multiple locations, therefore you will need to be able to work effectively independently, and as a dispersed team member, under pressure to meet challenging deadlines. You may also be required to provide in-reach support to women in custody.

Key Accountabilities

Responsible for a caseload of women, to whom you will provide high quality customer support via the following: Assist women in identifying their own needs and supporting them to progress using a strength based and trauma informed approach to reduce the likelihood of further offending. Provide flexible, pro-active outreach support to vulnerable women who may be reluctant to engage with services or who need additional support to comply with Court/Prison Licence requirements, reducing the likelihood of breach or recall to custody. Accompany women to appointments in the community, acting as advocate as required. Facilitation and delivery of therapeutic group-work activities to women. Work with other practitioners within the Partnership to review and monitor women's progress against agreed support plans. Determine the nature and extent of treatment and support that is appropriate to develop social capital and rehabilitation for women. Promote the programme using branded literature and materials throughout the community Contribute to the Development of a cohort of peers who can support learners. Establish community focus and development approaches to ensure that all women accessing the service have effective sustainable support networks in place. Identify and support access to community resources to support women in the successful exit from the programme. Working within and alongside an integrated model of care involving Health, Criminal Justice System and Social Care professionals. Safeguarding vulnerable women from self-neglect, abuse and harm by acting in accordance to Together Women's Safeguarding Policies and Government Legislation Encouraging feedback from women using the service in order to promote quality assurance. Contribute to measuring and monitoring systems as required. Ensure all necessary records are properly maintained in line with policies on client files, finance and administration. Use evaluation, learning, experience and use feedback to support service development. Manage and update own skills base to ensure quality service delivery and personal development in role

Additional Accountabilities

The post holder is to fulfil additional accountabilities specific to the accommodation specialism. Assess women's accommodation needs and support them to obtain and maintain secure, appropriate and safe accommodation in agreement with their offender manager, considering risk, restrictions and vulnerabilities. Work with housing providers, including the Private Rented Sector, local authority Gateways and Supported Housing to secure accommodation or safeguard existing accommodation through continuous support to sustain tenancies. Lead on the development of services for women to access support to improve their housing situations, across the West Yorkshire Criminal Justice Team, ensuring equality of access across the region. and general well-being, across the West Yorkshire Criminal Justice Team, ensuring equality of access across the West Yorkshire localities. To act as a single point of contact for West Yorkshire Criminal Justice Key Workers to access support and advice relating to housing services, delivered internally. To contribute and coordinate training to West Yorkshire Criminal Justice Key Workers, in relation to supporting women to obtain safe and affordable accommodation across West Yorkshire. Contribute to the development and maintenance of external partnerships relating to accommodation support for Together Women service users.

General

To be inducted, supervised, performance managed and appraised in line with the organisation's performance management policies and procedures. To be responsible for personal learning and development where appropriate and undertake learning and developments activities, both mandatory and optional, to increase knowledge, skills and awareness To ensure information is dealt with in accordance with Together Women's project policies around Confidentiality, Communications, Internet, Email and Telecommunications and steps are taken to ensure that confidential information is secure To ensure that Data Protection, Health & Safety, Complaints Handling and Corporate Governance requirements are met. To implement Together Women's policies, procedures and practices and comply with Equality, Diversity and Inclusion practises and to promote this. To be aware of and employ the general practices of organisational Safeguarding and Health and Safety policies and ensure these are adhered to at all times. To undertake any other duties as directed by management in accordance with the responsibilities of this post.

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA

Successfully prioritise own workload, including agreeing and meeting targets/ priorities, under pressure. Effectively motivate and enable community members and organisations to work together to meet required outcomes Excellent written and verbal communication skills with diverse audiences Ability to communicate effectively with other staff/volunteers within your team in order to meet outcomes
Excellent ICT skills using a variety of packages e.g. able to collate monitoring information, and produce learning tools. Evidence of developing and using IT packages to monitor impact of services. Experience of case management and recording
Ability to build rapport and demonstrate high levels of empathy whilst maintaining professional boundaries Experience working with complex Accommodation issues. Experience of supporting women in the accommodation sector. Demonstrable knowledge and considerable experience of housing law and debt advice. Experience of advocacy on behalf of customers to external agencies and/or authorities. Effectively working in a team setting. Collaborative working with partners in other organisations. Experience of working in a Criminal Justice System setting is desirable. Experience of the delivery of services for vulnerable women. Experience of working with women in a support role. Knowledge and understanding of the issues faced by women in the criminal justice system Knowledge of the criminal justice system Knowledge and understanding of housing related matters. Understanding of different accommodation pathways and how to navigate these effectively. Being able to demonstrate the main issues affecting homelessness and women with multiple needs. Commitment to Together Women's aims and values Commitment to respecting diversity and anti-discriminatory/anti-oppressive practices Commitment to personal development, learning and reflective practice Open to change in line with the needs of the service/organisation A commitment to working in partnership with service users and services An ability to work flexibly according to needs of the service Resilient Must be able to recognise discrimination in its many forms and be willing to put into practice Together Women's Policies Must demonstrate a sensitive approach to the needs of disadvantaged groups in the planning and delivery of services A commitment to provide high quality services to diverse communities

DESIRABLE CRITERIA

Experience & competence in report writing. Experience of running training sessions & workshops. Knowledge of child protection issues. Experience of outreach work. Relevant NVQ or equivalent at Level 3 or 4 in Social housing management. An understanding of the particular problems faced by women offenders in relation to housing.
The post holder is expected to work within policies and procedures of Together Women and be committed to its ethos and values.? This includes promoting and demonstrating the principles of equity (including encouraging diversity and tackling discrimination) and sensitivity to the environment.?

Please note this post is exempt under section 7 (2) (e) and (f) of The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and therefore open to

female applicants only.

The successful applicant will be subject to an enhanced DBS check.

We actively encourage applications from women from a variety of backgrounds, and with a range of skills and experiences. We are particularly interested to hear from Black, Asian and minority ethnic women and women who have personal experience of the criminal justice system. This post is open to female applicants only as being female is deemed to be a genuine occupational requirement under Schedule 9, Paragraph 1 of the Equality Act 2010.

To apply:

Please submit your up-to-date CV with a cover letter setting out how you meet the criteria for the role and outlining your interest in the position.

PLEASE NOTE - applications without a cover letter will not be considered.

Please also complete our

equality and diversity monitoring form -

https://forms.office.com/e/pVGhLApKPz

The information you provide will:

not be used as part of the selection process; not be seen by the interview panel; only be used for statistical purposes. No information will be published which allows any individual to be identified.
Job Type: Full-time

Pay: 28,266.00 per year

Benefits:

Company pension
Application question(s):

Please ensure you have attached a 2 page Cover Letter prior to submitting your application. Applications without a cover letter will not be considered.
Please note this post is exempt under section 7 (2) (e) and (f) of The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and therefore open to female applicants only.

Work Location: In person

Application deadline: 27/08/2025