Community Payback supervisor

Interviews for this role will be held in person on Thursday 5th November at Acton Probation Office. This will be a full-day assessment event, providing an opportunity for you to meet colleagues and gain insight into the role through a visit to a live Community Payback project. You will be required to arrive at 09:00, with the morning dedicated to the site visit. Your interview will then take place in the afternoon. Please note that interviews will only be conducted on this date. You must be available for the full day, as we are unable to offer alternative dates or reschedule appointments. The role will be working on a cross-borough basis, for either; West 1 covering Ealing, Hillingdon, Harrow, Hounslow, Kingston, Richmond or West 2 covering Barnet, Brent, Camden & Islington, Hammersmith, Fulham, Kensington, Cheslea, Westminster You will be asked to indicate your preferred location on the day. While we will make every effort to accommodate your preference, this may not always be possible. This role is based within local communities across London, supporting the supervision of People on Probation as they complete their Community Payback hours. The post offers the opportunity to contribute to rehabilitation and reparation within the community, make a tangible difference to the lives of those we work with, and support public protection by delivering court-ordered sentences effectively. You will work directly with groups of People on Probation, providing pro social role modelling, developing practical life skills, and supporting desistance from further offending. The role is well suited to individuals who enjoy working with people, are organised and resilient, and are comfortable undertaking physical work, often outdoors in community settings. You will be expected to follow clear processes, manage sensitive information appropriately, and engage with People on Probation with professionalism, care, and respect. This role would suit someone who is confident working independently, capable of leading groups, has practical or DIY skills, strong verbal communication abilities, and is motivated by contributing to effective sentence management, rehabilitation, and public protection.

• Please note: Candidates must hold a full UK Manual Driving Licence when applying for this role, this is a mandatory technical requirement in order to carry out this role. We cannot accept candidates who hold an automatic Driving Licence only.
• A career in community payback gives you the power to make a positive impact on the lives of People on Probation as well as your community. People come from all walks of life to form one team in the Probation Service. It's all about supporting People on Probation on their journey and making your community a better place. Whether that's building benches or cleaning the streets, you're there because you genuinely want to help. If you are successful in the recruitment process to join the Probation Service, your starting salary will be £28,064
• On a typical day, you'll spend up to 7 hours supervising a group at a Community Payback unpaid work placement. Post holders may be required to undertake weekend working as part of their normal pattern of working. The Community Payback supervisor role is accommodated to people on probation who work or have caring responsibilities. Community Payback projects run 7 days a week therefore you will: work frequent weekends, and you may be asked to cover some evenings. You will be paid a higher rate of 50% for weekend days you do work. In this role, the pace of our work means that rest breaks don't always happen in the standard way. When this happens, we make sure your wellbeing is looked after. Your wellbeing really matters to us, so we want to be open about this from the outset. If you're someone who enjoys a varied, active role where no two days are the same, this is a great environment to make a real difference while being fully supported.
• The Probation Service offers the opportunity for annual pay progression through a Competency Based Framework (CBF), which if eligible, will see your pay increase. CBF is designed to enable you to move up through the pay band range as your competence grows. New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band. Probation Service also increase their pay band ranges annually in line with Civil Service Pay guidance, which will also apply an increase to band pay ranges where applicable.
• Overview of the job: This is an operational role directly supervising work groups of offenders serving a community sentence. This may include driving service vehicles to transport people or equipment. The post holder will be responsible for all work site supervision tasks and will work with service users to ensure that all tasks are carried out to the best of their ability. This will include working alongside people to demonstrate good practice as necessary. For further information on the summary, responsibilities, activities, duties of the role and the Civil Service Success Profile Criteria which will be used in the assessment process, please refer to the full Job Description Attachment.
• Right to work in the UK: You must have the right to work in the UK and Civil Service ( Skilled Worker visa changes from 22 July 2025: In accordance with current immigration rules, this role is not eligible for a new Skilled Worker visa. From 22 July 2025, the Government introduced changes to the eligibility criteria for Skilled Worker visas. As a result: HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) cannot consider sponsoring you to work as a community payback supervisor unless you have held a Skilled Worker visa prior to the 22 July 2025 changes. If you have held a Skilled Worker visa continuously, please raise this during your pre-employment checks and your eligibility will be assessed in accordance with the immigration rules and transitional provisions in place. If you apply to be a community payback supervisor and you have not held a Skilled Worker visa prior to 22 July 2025, you will need to consider your options for obtaining and/or maintaining your right to work in the UK in light of these changes. If your application is successful, you will need to ensure that you have and maintain the legal right to live and work in the Civil Service and in the United Kingdom. HMPPS will continue to comply with UK Immigration Rules applied in the UK and Civil Service. You can read more about Skilled Worker visas and the eligibility criteria here.
• About the role: Community Payback Supervisors will work with a diverse mix of individuals, so it's important that you're empathetic, a good communicator and happy to take the lead. It's all about supporting offenders on their journey and making your community a better place. Whether that's building benches or cleaning the streets, you're there because you genuinely want to help people. As a Community Payback supervisor, you'll be at the heart of this work, leading small teams to complete their unpaid work hours. You'll supervise and motivate them to complete a range of manual tasks to pay back for the harm they've caused. These tasks could include clearing overgrowth to make public spaces safer, restoring community facilities such as sports halls and playgrounds, planting trees or laying flowerbeds, and litter picking and graffiti removal.
• About you: To thrive in this role, you'll need: Excellent people and communication skills. The confidence to lead, motivate and supervise groups. A full UK manual driving licence to drive Community Payback minibuses, transport equipment and travel to project sites. Got practical skills or a trade? Even better. We'd particularly welcome applicants with experience in areas such as painting and decorating, carpentry, gardening, grounds maintenance, construction, landscaping or general maintenance. This is a hands‑on role where you'll help people on probation make a positive contribution to their local communities while developing skills and work habits that support rehabilitation. You may draw on experience from any setting, including employment, the Armed Forces, voluntary work, education, community projects, construction, maintenance, landscaping or other relevant activities.
• Additional Information: Where applicants provide multiple location preferences, reserve lists will be managed in accordance with location preference/s, as indicated in your application. We will appoint in merit list order for each location outlined in the vacancy and hold a separate locational reserve list for each of these locations. After appointments have been made using this locational appointment process, any remaining candidates who met the benchmark for the role will remain on a locational reserve list in accordance with their preferences for 12 months. Please only indicate preferences where you are prepared to work. If you are subsequently offered a role from the reserve list for a location preference indicated in your application and decline it, you will be removed from the reserve list for the vacancy, across all locational preferences. All offers of employment will be made strictly in merit order, based on your performance throughout the recruitment process. Candidates at the top of the merit list will be offered vacancies as they arise in their chosen locations. Once you have accepted an offer for a role, you will be withdrawn from any other licence applications for the same role and will no longer be considered for those vacancies. The addresses listed in the job advertisement are not an exhaustive list of potential base locations, they give an indication of some of the potential locations you could be based at. We will therefore endeavour to offer you a vacancy within a 60‑minute commute of your home location. New entrants to the Civil Service will be expected to join at the entry point salary for the advertised band. Existing Civil Servants will have their salary calculated in accordance with the Departments pay on transfer / pay on promotion rules. Due to the length of this recruitment campaign, we will endeavour to inform you of your outcome following the interview. Successful candidates will be placed on a reserve list and will be allocated or offered roles once the campaign has fully concluded.
• Working Arrangements & Further Information: The MoJ offers Hybrid Working arrangements where business need allows. This is an informal, non‑contractual form of flexible working that blends working from your base location, different MoJ sites and / or from home (please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas). Some roles will not be suitable for Hybrid Working. Similarly, Hybrid Working will not suit everyone's circumstances. Arrangements will be discussed and agreed with the successful candidate(s) and subject to regular review. For nationally advertised roles, the successful candidate(s) will be appointed to a MoJ office location, which may include their nearest Justice Collaboration Centre or Justice Satellite Office. This will be discussed and agreed on the completion of pre‑employment checks. Some of MoJ's terms and conditions of service are changing as part of Civil Service reform. The changes will apply to staff joining MoJ who are new to the Civil Service. Staff joining MoJ from other civil service employers will transfer onto the new MoJ terms if they are already on 'modernised' terms in their current post or onto 'unmodernised' MoJ terms if they are on 'unmodernised' terms at their current post. Details will be available if an offer is made. Standard full time working hours are 37 hours per week excluding breaks which are unpaid. HMPPS welcomes part‑time, flexible and job‑sharing working patterns, where they meet the demands of the role and business needs. All applications for part‑time, flexible and job‑sharing working patterns will be considered in accordance with the HMPPS' Flexible Working policy.
• The work is varied, challenging and meaningful and comes with job security, great benefits and career progression opportunities – not to mention

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