This role involves delivering trauma-informed, holistic support to unsentenced or remanded women in HMP Peterborough and the Cambridgeshire community. Offered by St Giles Trust in partnership with The Wise Group, the position focuses on rehabilitation, resettlement, and addressing complex needs through person-centred interventions, collaboration, and lived-experience expertise.
Footsteps Women’s Service Team Leader - Custody
Responsible for:
The delivery of holistic and Trauma informed Women’s services to females on remand or unsentenced
Hours:
Full Time, 35 hours per week (flexible hours) Fixed term until 31 March 2027
Grade:
Band 2
Location:
HMP Peterborough and Cambridgeshire Community
Holiday:
30 days + bank and statutory holidays (pro-rated if part time)
Salary:
£23,300 per annum
Application Deadline:
Sunday, 17th August 2025 at 11.00pm
St Giles Trust is a Charity helping people facing severe disadvantage to find jobs, homes, and the right support they need. We help them to become positive contributors to local communities and wider society. We passionately believe everybody is capable of changing their lives. Our mission is we empower people to overcome injustices for themselves, their families and their local communities – we achieve this through offering support from someone who has been there. Our peer-led services form the backbone of our work.
The Wise Group is a leading social enterprise working to lift people out of poverty. As an enterprise, we build bridges to opportunity for the most vulnerable in our society.
St Giles and The Wise Group came together to form a partnership with the aim of supporting the Probation Resettlement reforms by offering a high-quality service underpinned by staff who have lived experience and cultural competency.
You will be part of a multi-agency team providing person-centred support focusing on holistically addressing a range of issues faced by service users referred by the National Probation Service. Interventions will focus on addressing the following:
- Families and significant others
- Social Inclusion (including Meet at the Gate)
- Accommodation
- Finance, Benefit and Debt
You will be part of a comprehensive service delivering across St Giles Wise that is mindful of, and promotes our Vision, Mission, Values, and strategic aims.
We positively encourage applications if you have previously worked on a client-led support project, have had personal adverse experiences such as homelessness, substance misuse, debt, involvement with gangs etc. This will include experience of the criminal justice system, having served a prison sentence. You will need to demonstrate how your lived experience supports your ability to carry out the role to the benefit of the clients we work with.
(1) Key Deliverables
- Provide person-centered support to a caseload of service users who will be female adults aged 18 years and above on remand and unsentenced within HMP Peterborough.
- Complete Trauma Informed assessments and develop in collaboration with service user Action Plans which will result in timely and prescribed outcomes being achieved.
- Deliver a range of interventions to service users which contribute towards achievement of prescribed outcomes including group work sessions where required.
- Develop and maintain positive working relationships with external agencies including Probation, Prisons, partners, and others who will assist in achieving prescribed outcomes for service users.
- Work towards contractual targets and outcomes within agreed timescales and in line with specified quality standards.
- Using agreed CRM databases to record all activity relating to caseload ensuring all information is recorded within agreed deadlines.
- Provide updates and reports where required using a range of formats.
- Positively represent the St Giles Wise partnership in all external meetings including conferences, seminars, and other events.
- Proactively adopt a learning approach to the role, improving skills and knowledge to continue providing a high-quality service for service users.
(2) Person specification
- Experience
- Proven ability and experience as a caseworker delivering gender specific and trauma responsive interventions which support resettlement and rehabilitation of female adults in the criminal justice system whether in the community or in prisons (A)
- Experience of working with females and supporting them to achieve positive outcomes (A).
- Experience of engaging successfully with challenging people, for example people who have complex needs, people who are reluctant to discuss their needs, and people who are angry and confused (A)
- Experience in delivery of 1:1 and group coaching solutions, including preparation and delivery of skills and learning (A).
- Experience in working with partner agencies either as part of a multi-agency team working towards common objectives or negotiating to establish links to further the aims of a project.
- Qualifications
- To have a relevant qualification to a good standard or be working towards one. (including any recognised qualification of ‘A’ Level standard or above in any aspect of social care, advice work, youth work etc.(A)
- Independent Domestic Violence Adviser (IDVA) qualification (A).
- Knowledge
- Knowledge and understanding of the requirements of managing a caseload including maintaining and updating records, remaining focused on action plan goals, and keeping to deadlines (A)
- An understanding and knowledge of the barriers faced by people with complex and multiple needs, protected characteristics, and disabilities as well as relevant specialist support services (A).
- Knowledge of relevant services for female adults in the local community.
- Knowledge of and commitment to safeguarding practices and policies, and ability to promote safeguarding among vulnerable clients and colleagues.
- Skills and Abilities
- Ability to assess clients’ needs and provide tailored, person-led support through action planning and interventions involving advice, guidance, advocacy, and coaching (A).
- An ability to collaborate sensitively with clients applying trauma informed strategies, actively listening and able to use a range of communication methods when providing information and support (A)
- Ability to find innovative ways to work with service users to identify and find informed solutions to the challenges faced by them.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills to ensure effective reporting and customer service.
- Strong IT skills including proven experience of using Word, Excel, and Outlook in a similar work environment. This includes ability to use online video communication platforms (e.g. Microsoft Teams, Zoom)
- Effective interpersonal and relationship building skills including ability to develop strong professional working relationships (A)
- Ability to develop and maintain a workplace environment which is both safe, supportive, enabling your colleagues and service users to thrive.
- Ability to calculate risk and implement safety procedures when engaging with service users in their home or public places.
- Ability to be a flexible and co-operative member of a team.
- Ability to work resiliently under pressure, meet deadlines, work on own initiative and part of a team. (A)
- Attitude
- Pro-active and able to work under their own initiative.
- Commitment to consultative & collaborative ways of working.
- Commitment to and understanding of safeguarding and professional boundaries.
- Respect for the values and ethos of St Giles Trust.
- Personal and professional integrity
- Positive attitude towards staff and our Peers
- Emotionally Resilient (A)
- Drive, enthusiasm and determination to deliver services for females and met service delivery objectives.
- Awareness of and commitment to equal opportunity and diversity practices and policies, and ability to promote diversity and treat colleagues and clients fairly and with respect.
- Awareness of and commitment to working in line with the Trust’s environmental and Sustainable Procurement policies and with environmental best practice.
(3) About Us
In St Giles, you can expect a competitive salary, generous leave allowance, staff pension, flexible working, a mentoring programme, an advice and counselling service, season ticket loan and much more.
We are an equity and inclusion-confident employer. We welcome all applications and we particularly encourage applications from people of the global majority (black, brown, multi-heritage) and those who identify as disabled, nonresponsive, or neurodiverse, with any protected characteristics and/or social barriers or challenges. We value the empowering and informative impact that all lived experiences and diversity of thought can offer the organisation.
St Giles will guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria set out in the Job Description for the vacancy.
Ready to Apply?
1. Click HERE to download the application form.
This job description is a statement of requirements at the time of writing and is not contractual. It should not be seen as precluding future changes after appointment to this role.