Probation Service Officer

**Probation Service Officer - Accommodation Officer - South Essex - East of England. - 65934**
**£23,637 - £29,046**
**Southend-on-Sea**:
This post is to support resettlement and sentence management Probation Officers to gain accommodation for People on Probation.

**East of England Region**

**Accommodation Officer - Band 3 PSO Responsibilities and Duties**

The role will contribute to the successful rehabilitation and reintegration of people on probation back into the community with the aim of reducing reoffending. The post will work closely with internal and external partners, agencies and stakeholders including: prison resettlement teams, local authority housing and homelessness depts., the Probation Service, police, housing association, third sector partners and our Commissioned Rehabilitative Services (CRS), who are involved in delivering the Accommodation Pathway. The post will also have a key role in monitoring the timeliness and effectiveness of services, identifying good practice, and helping to develop solutions to any blockages.

**Main Duties and Responsibilities**
- Play an active role in supporting Probation Practitioners to manage cases who are at risk of homelessness.
- Play and active role in supporting the delivery of the CRS provider.
- Actively work to reduce the number of homelessness across the East of England Region, working closely with Probation Practitioners (PPs) and HPT Probation Services Officer (PSO) to achieve this.
- Support PP to complete Duty to refer (DTR) and liaise with CRS providers who are responsible for following up the DTR.
- Clarify the available resources and parameters for use, such as supporting PPs with enquiries about BASS availability.
- Support the PP as required to think about accommodation support needs.
- To act as an additional point of contact for advice and guidance on accommodation across their PDU.
- Raise awareness of, and embed, the accommodation pathway in to day-to-day operational practice. To do this by means of close collaboration and partnership working with key stakeholders:

- CRS Providers (Seetec, St Giles Wise, The Advance Charity)
- Prison Resettlement Teams (public & private prisons)
- Local Authority Housing and Homelessness Depts.
- Probation Practitioners
- To Identify and share existing good practice.
- To identify any inefficiencies and blockages in the Pathway and help to propose and develop solutions.
- To support the CAS3 contract as required to deliver local information.
- To work within the aims, values and behaviours of the MoJ. They will work as a geographically dispersed team located in PDUs and will offer support to each other, where possible.
- Work with PPs to ensure that wrap around support is in place for individuals (for example maps of where foodbanks are located, lists of places which offer free food, local services which can provide clothes. Ensure all records are clearly updated in a timely manner.
- Take responsibility for ensuring that they keep up to date with all new process and guidelines.

**Overview of the job**

The job holder will undertake the full range of work with offenders before and after sentence. This will include assessment, sentence implementation, offender management and producing reports. The job holder will provide case management support to a full range of offenders utilising service procedures and practice directions that underpin professional judgement.

**Summary**

To assess and manage the risk (including risk management plans and escalation) posed by offenders to protect victims of crime and the general public by:

- Liaising, providing information and advice to criminal courts, criminal justice agencies and other partner agencies
- Work with other agencies and groups to prevent crime and meet the needs of victims and offenders.

In line with NPS policies and procedures, the job holder must at all times demonstrate a commitment to equality and inclusion and an understanding of their relevance to the work they do.

The post holder must adhere to all policies in respect of the sensitive/confidential nature of the information handled whilst working in this position.

If relevant to the role, some out of hours working may be required (i.e. Courts, Approved Premises, programmes, evening reporting etc)

**Responsibilities, Activities & Duties**

Probation Services Officers may be required to undertake any combination, or all, of the duties and responsibilities set out below.
- To undertake the full range of offender management tasks with offenders assessed as low or medium risk of harm and to support the Probation Officer grade in high risk cases.
- When providing case manager support, to contribute to the delivery of the Risk Management plan and report significant changes relating to risk of harm and/or of reoffending or any non-compliance within agreed enforcement procedures
- To use computer based systems to produce, update and maintain records and other documentation within agreed time