What's this job all about?

Project Workers – Women’s Turnaround HMP Styal
Salary: £26,742
Job Ref No: PWHMPS032026
Hours: 37 hours per week
Location: Mainly based in HMP Styal with travel to other areas in Cheshire and Merseyside
Contract type: Fixed Term until 31st March 2027

About Us

At PSS, we’ve got an important job to do; and that’s to help people make the most of their lives, no matter what life throws at them. Whether you’re working directly with the people who use our services, or behind the scenes in one of our offices, every day you’ll be helping to make other people feel happier, healthier and more supported.

We’re a social enterprise or, as we like to call it – a ‘business with a heart’. This means that all the money we make goes back into finding new ways to help people. Our aim is simple; we want to help people change their lives for the better – no matter what life throws at them. We’ve got offices across Merseyside, North Wales, Lincolnshire, Manchester, Norfolk and Suffolk and the Midlands, where we’re making our stamp.

Our Women’s Turnaround team have been supporting female offenders in Merseyside since 2010. Based on the success of the service in delivering positive outcomes, Women’s Turnaround has expanded into Cheshire and North Wales.

What’s our Women’s Turnaround service all about?

Our open-minded Women’s Turnaround team support women who are on remand/awaiting trial and those serving sentences in HMP Styal. Our team work alongside the probation, prison service, partner agencies and the women to address any immediate/urgent needs around accommodation, finance, benefit and debts, family support and social inclusion.

Working with the women pre-release to understand the multiple reasons behind their offending behaviours and find ways to reduce their likelihood of reoffending in the future. Women are given the opportunity to access a range of specialist support options from one-to-one support, group work to remote support through PSS services and partner agencies.

Meet Rebecca

Rebecca was referred to Women’s Turnaround by Probation. Rebecca was serving 12 week custodial sentence and was due to be released in 3 weeks’ time. She met with a Women’s Turnaround project worker who carried out an assessment with her and identified immediate support needs in relation to accommodation and finance, benefit and debts, Rebecca was homeless, was not on any benefits and had significant debts. Rebecca had mental health needs, and her anxiety was increasing due to not knowing where she would be going when released.

An action was created alongside her project worker, and actions were put in place to help meet her immediate needs. She was referred to her local authority for housing, approved premises were requested, and housing providers were contacted for potential placements. Staff liaised with DWP around her benefits and liaised with services around her debts.

Upon release Rebecca was offered a room in shared accommodation and was offered follow up support in the community by her Turnaround worker to look for further housing options for her in the future. Her benefits were sorted whist in custody and appointments were made to access the local citizens advice service in the community to help with debts. She accessed group support around her emotional wellbeing in the women’s centre in Liverpool.

What you’ll do as a Women’s Turnaround project worker

As a project worker you’ll support people to turn their lives around, totally offering person-shaped support based around the unique and complex needs of every woman you work with. You’ll consider the needs of the individual, the complexity of their situation, any associated risks and offence-related issues. A commitment to treating people with dignity and respect is essential as you support people to understand their offending behaviours and reduce their chances of reoffending in the future.

You’ll take your responsibilities very seriously, focusing on:

Being a people person

• Offering the people you support immediate and/or urgent support within a custodial setting and following up in community locations.
• Completing assessments with women, action plans alongside them that offer a range of interventions to meet their needs.
• Working directly with probation/prison staff and other agencies to facilitate resettlement planning and meetings.
• Referring and signposting the people who use out service to other support options upon their release.
• Offering the people you support a range of interventions to look at a wide range of pathway areas.

Keeping up a great standard

• Maintaining case records and other documentation using case management systems and contributing to the collation of data needed for quality monitoring purposes.
• Ensuring that both Local Authority and PSS Safeguarding policies, procedures and protocols are fully understood and put into practice.
• Making sure that activities and interventions follow all the relevant policies and procedures and comply with court orders and legal framework.

Supporting our service to shine

• Networking and liaising with colleagues within the probation service, the criminal justice system, prisons and elsewhere to establish and maintain strong partnership working.
• Empowering the people we support to shape our service through co-production.

What do I need for this role?

We need people who live up to our values of being: genuine, big-hearted, open-minded, determined and professional. You’ll need to be committed to supporting women and improving their life opportunities and have experience of working with women with multiple and complex needs as well as experience of working in the criminal justice system and / or social care sector. Experience of providing structured support to individuals is essential and a Level 2 Diploma in Social Care or a comparable qualification is desirable.

You will also need a full driver’s license and use of own vehicle.

Above all, we need someone who believes that every person should have the chance to improve their lives and will support people to achieve their hopes and dreams.

This post is exempt under schedule 9 part 1 of the Equality Act 2010.

In the event that you are offered the above position, an Enhanced Disclosure will be required, and the role will be subject to Enhanced Level 1 Prison Vetting.

What's in it for you?

• 24/7 remote GP advice*
• Non-repayable grant fund for teammates in serious financial difficulty
  
• Free counselling 24/7, 365 days per year*
• Cancer guidance and support*
• 360 wellbeing reports*
• 1-2-1 lifestyle coaching*
• Personal training*
• Nutritional consultations*
• Cycle2Work Scheme
• Charity Worker discounts
• Refer-a-friend bonus
• Access to your monthly pay early
• Blue Light Card eligibility
  
• Online physiotherapy*
• Gym membership discounts
• Financial guidance by Salary Finance
• PSS Savings Club
• Annual public transport season ticket loan (not a footy season ticket loan, but still pretty good!)
• Medicash membership
• CCSC Sports and Leisure membership
• Family-friendly leave
• The chance to join Costco and buy industrial sized packets of Malteasers (and a canoe...)
• ... and loads more stuff that we're updating all the time!

*Provided through Unum Help@Hand app

More about PSS perks

Important things to read before you apply

How to apply 

We use a system called Applied to do blind recruitment. Blind recruitment means that the only thing we know about you when you apply for a role with us, is what your skills are, and whether or not you can do the job. The team that's hiring you won't know any of your personal details or your background until much later in the process. That means that none of your personal information can sway the decision. which means we focus on your skills and what you can bring to the role, rather than who you are or where you've been before. 

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