Youth Worker

Organisation: Leicestershire County Council

Work Location: County Hall, Glenfield, LE3 8RA

Salary: £33,129 - £35,493 per annum (pro rata for part-time)

Working Hours: 37 hours per week

Contract Type: Permanent

Closing Date: 22nd November 2026

Interview Date(s): Tuesday 8th December 2026 @ Greenhill Youth Centre, 171 Waterworks Road, Coalville, LE67 4HZ

Leicestershire Youth & Justice Service is an ambitious, vibrant and forward-thinking service working in an environment focused on supporting children towards their brighter futures. We are committed to Child First approaches and are strong in our advocacy for children.

we are a wide team consisting of staff from the local authority, probation, police and health based across Leicestershire. We are proud to have a workforce which represents and reflects the children & families we work alongside.

The Youth & Justice Service is a dedicated service for children aged 11+ who need support. We offer a wide range of non-statutory and statutory interventions to children who are experiencing difficulties and challenges where support cannot be provided by universal services alone. We have strong relationships with wider services& partnerships supporting children and their families to ensure that we can jointly deliver the best possible support and care.

About the Role

As an Early Intervention Youth Worker, you will make a real difference to the lives of children, young people, and families by providing targeted short-term support when challenges first emerge. You will quickly build trusting relationships with children, families, and partner agencies, helping them access the right support at the right time.

This is a varied and rewarding role that requires strong critical thinking skills, creativity, and the ability to think outside the box. You will assess needs, analyse strengths and areas of concern, deliver purposeful one-to-one interventions, coordinate support, and bring work to a safe and planned closure. Throughout your interventions, you will empower children and young people to build confidence, resilience, and develop positive coping strategies.

A key part of the role is working alongside parents and carers, recognising their strengths and helping them to build the confidence, knowledge, and skills needed to support positive change within their family. You will empower families to identify solutions, overcome challenges, and access opportunities within their communities, promoting sustainable outcomes that continue beyond your involvement.

You will have a strong understanding of local services and support networks, making timely onward referrals and ensuring children and families are connected to the most appropriate services to meet their needs. Using your professional judgement, you will help families navigate support systems and ensure they receive the right help at the right time.

We're looking for someone who is dynamic, organised, and motivated, with the ability to manage a varied workload while maintaining high-quality outcomes. You will be skilled at building effective relationships quickly, communicating confidently with a wide range of people, and adapting your approach to meet the individual needs of children and families.

Whether your experience comes from youth work, family support, education, social care, health, community work, or another related field, we welcome applicants who can demonstrate transferable skills in working with children, young people, and families. Experience of assessing needs, delivering interventions, building positive relationships, and supporting individuals to achieve positive outcomes will be highly valued.

As part of the Early Intervention team, you will contribute to service development, attend team meetings and supervision, and play a vital role in ensuring children and families feel safe, supported, and connected to the help they need.

This position is based at County Hall and involves working across Leicestershire, with a particular focus on the Hinckley & Bosworth and North West Leicestershire districts.

Children Voice

In Youth & Justice, we are committed to the voice and passionate about the participation of the children who access our services and support. We have developed a culture and ethos of children being at the heart of decision making across our service. We are fortunate to have children who are involved in our recruitment process and are looking forward to meeting interview candidates. You will be interviewed by our children who will have an equal part in selecting the best people to join our amazing team.

An enhanced with barred list DBS check is required for this post.

For information on our approach to the recruitment of ex-offenders, please see our policy statement .

About You

To apply for this post, you must be able to evidence in your application how you meet the following criteria:

- Qualification level required – NVQ Level 3 or above, and significant experience of working with children (11 years+) and families.

- Conduct timely and dynamic assessments that identify immediate risks, needs, and priorities. Provide short interventions to stabilise situations, support children, and ensure they are signposted or referred to the most appropriate services.

- Demonstrate a strong understanding of the issues faced by vulnerable children and families with complex needs, including awareness of differing developmental needs, adverse childhood experiences, and trauma. Experience in capturing the voice of children and families, ensuring their views inform decision-making, assessments, and case records.

- Draw on a strong understanding of local services to guide children and families toward the most appropriate support, empowering them to complete referrals independently and providing assistance with referrals when required.

- Experience in using targeted and purposeful interventions to stabilise situations, strengthen family functioning, and support children to engage positively.

- Demonstrable, significant experience of forming positive working relationships with a variety of professional partners and working collaboratively to meet the identified needs of children and their families.

- We are a safeguarding organisation – Please evidence your knowledge and ability to contribute to the protection of children from abuse in accordance with local and national safeguarding policies, procedures, and practice – including a comprehensive understanding of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child.

All posts are essential car users – you will need to hold a valid UK Drivers’ Licence and have access to a vehicle for work purposes.

If you would like to find out more about this exciting role, we would like to invite you to join us at one of our Drop-in sessions where you will hear more about the role and meet our friendly team. Please book your space via contact details below…!

In-person: Thursday 12 th November @ 5:30-6:30pm @ Leicestershire County Hall, Main reception, LE3 8RA

Online: Tuesday 17 th November @ 5:30-6:30pm on Microsoft Teams

In addition, we also expect you to share our commitment to our values and to delivering accessible and inclusive services which meet the needs of all of our residents. You will be asked to demonstrate your understanding of these commitments as part of the selection process.

Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability. We are a Disability Confident Employer .

Interested in Flexible Working?

We are open to discussions about flexible working, which may include part time working, job sharing, term-time working, flexible start and finish times, and hybrid working, depending on the requirements of the role and the service. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below.

For more information or an informal discussion, please contact:

Amy West, Senior Youth Worker

Telephone: 07889135804

Email: [email protected]

Or

Penny Pugh, Youth & Justice Team & Partnership Manager

Email: [email protected]

How to Apply

At Leicestershire County Council we’re looking for top talent from all walks of life. Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, and whatever your background - we care about what you bring to our organisation, not just what’s on your CV. That’s why we’ve designed a recruitment process that’s fair, accessible, and focused on potential. And with benefits that support people at every age and stage of life, we make sure you can thrive - both personally and professionally.

If you share our passion to make a difference for the people of Leicestershire, we’d love to hear from you. Click the apply button to submit your application, ensuring that you upload a supporting statement that explains how you meet the criteria listed in the ‘About You’ section above. Without this information, we won’t be able to assess your suitability for the role, and your application will be rejected. For tips on how to write your statement, see the How to Apply section on our career site.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post or you want to request an application pack in an alternative format, please contact our Employee Service Centre by telephoning 0300 3030222 (select option 2) or raising a ticket via our online portal: https://emss.org.uk/support .

By applying for this post, you agree to our Terms and Conditions .