Family Pathway Manager

Job Introduction

HMP Forest Bank are currently recruiting for a Family Pathway Manager to manage the Children and Families Pathway at HMP Forest Bank; ensuring a high standard of family case work and interventions are delivered to residents and their family members.

HMP Forest Bank serves the courts of Greater Manchester and maintains strong links to the local community with a focus on resettlement. We aim to deliver quality of life services and support people to change their lives for the better.

Opportunities for learning and developing work-ready skills are on offer for all who come in to custody, but our commitment to reducing reoffending in local communities does not end at the prison gate. We support people released from custody through innovative partnerships in substance misuse services in Bury and Oldham, working with people to maintain recovery and lead law-abiding lives.

As well as the 16 residential units on site, there is a healthcare centre, gym, library, workshop complex, visits hall, chaplaincy and kitchen. The prison’s capacity stands at 1,460, holding adult men both on remand or sentenced and young prisoners between the ages of 18-21 years.

For more information on working in Justice within Sodexo please see Careers in Justice

Role Responsibility

• Effective line management of the Family Pathway Team through regular supervision, PDRs and supporting their training and development
• Writing, reviewing and implementing the local Children and Families Pathway
• Full engagement in the Resettlement Group; attending meetings and delivering the Resettlement Strategy
• Seek to develop the Children and Families Pathway in line with national policy and guidance, such as the Lord Farmer review.
• Work alongside Operational colleagues to ensure the Visits Hall is welcoming, safe and comfortable for family visits and contact to take place.
• Ensure the Children and Families Pathway is fully embedded with wider prison processes such as the Safer Prisons Action Plan and Community Rehabilitations Companies.
• Develop ways to engage isolated residents to increase their support networks, such as engagement with the HMP Forest Bank Care Leavers model.
• Ensure a package of interventions is available and regularly delivered; such as case work, group work and Family Days.
• Performance manage and quality assure the work delivered by the Family Pathway team to provide an evidence base for the Family Pathway work.
• Work in partnership with community providers and organisations to develop through the gate support for residents and their families.
• Understand how the Children and Families Pathway can contribute to wider Greater Manchester Combined Authority priorities and build on existing relationships.
• Ensure service users are listened to by a variety of means and any appropriate suggestions are actioned in partnership with Operational colleagues.
• Raise awareness with prison colleagues about the Children and Families Pathway to embed family work throughout the prison.

The Ideal Candidate

• Experience of effective line management
• Experience of partnership working and/or working in a multi-disciplinary environment.
• An excellent knowledge of the impact imprisonment can have on families
• Experience of attending meetings and presenting information to Senior Managers.
• Experience of delivering training is desirable
• Experience of working with offenders or within the Criminal Justice setting is desirable
• Experience of working with families is desirable
• A high level of numeracy and literacy
• Good interpersonal skills and an empathic approach.
• Good planning and organisational skills

Package Description

24 hours per week

Salary £20,055 per annum plus 20 days holiday (pro-rated), free meals on duty, gym access, pension and shopping discounts.

About the Company

In the UK and Ireland, Sodexo employs some 35,000 employees to deliver integrated facilities management services to clients at over 2,000 locations in the corporate, healthcare, education, leisure, defence and justice sectors. With an annual turnover of over £1bn, we provide everything from catering, cleaning and reception to security, laboratory and grounds maintenance services, enabling our clients to focus on their core business.

We are building on our support to the Armed Forces community through the development of specific pathways within our recruitment process to  support ex-forces personnel and reservists, those applying for jobs with us who meet the ideal candidate criteria for the role advertised are guaranteed to progress to the selection process.

Sodexo and our clients are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults within a regulated activity. Certain roles will require applicants to undergo screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and/ or Disclosure Scotland.

Please note all roles within Sodexo Justice are subject to security and recruitment checks which may include a Social Media Check. You will also be asked to provide 3 years’ worth of references and request employment history details from the HMRC