*Restricted to Adults, Health & Communities – Community Safety, Cosmo Community Youth Team, Employees in the Council’s formal redeployment pool and Agency Workers within this service area who are in an active placement and have 12 weeks continuous service.
Applications submitted that don’t meet this criteria will not be considered and will be rejected.
Plymouth City Council’s Community Youth Team is seeking an internal Senior Youth Support Worker to join our sessional delivery framework for the upcoming Summer Detached Youth Work project.
Hours – 6 hours per week
Contract – fixed term until 30/09/2026
This project represents a critical, time-sensitive element of the Serious Violence Funding – 26/27 Delivery Plan aimed at reducing youth-related antisocial behaviour and harm across Plymouth, with frontline sessions focusing specifically on the waterfront and city centre areas.
This is a semi-professional, customer-facing role delivering relationship-based, informal social education to young people aged 13 to 19 within their own environments during peak evening, weekend, and summer holiday risk windows. The specific inclusion of this senior post serves a critical operational dual purpose: directly reducing core capacity and operational pressures on the current Lead Worker in the detached team, and providing essential senior supervision, field risk management, and coordination needed to safely navigate the extended pressures unique to summer delivery.
This opportunity is offered as an internal Expression of Interest (EOI) process, we aim to ensure equity of opportunity while providing necessary additional capacity to alleviate extended operational pressures across the service over the summer weeks.
In this role, you will:
- Manage youth work delivery in single projects (allocated at 30% of project time) and identify the shifting needs of local young people through direct field engagement, observation, and consultation (allocated at 60% of project time).
- Provide first-line, coaching, and direction to the Youth Support Work team and to maintain the quality-of-service provisions, in collaboration with the SPYW and detached team leads (allocated at 10% of project time).
- Manage the formulation of programme and curriculum areas for the project, strictly checking the required allocation of sessional time to ensure staff have built-in capacity for preparation, planning, evaluation, and any identified casework (allocated at 20% of project time).
- Establish contact with, guide, and support young people on the streets using a highly flexible weekly delivery model designed to react to real-time spikes in demand (options include 3 x 2-hour, 2 x 3-hour, or 1 x 6-hour weekly sessions).
- Deliver best value by working flexibly within an emerging, multi-agency framework alongside partners like Devon and Cornwall Police and Community Connections Teams (allocated at 5% of project time).
- Perform and ensure the robust discharge of sessional administrative duties, including data recording, information governance, data protection, and health and safety compliance (allocated at 5% of project time).
- Contribute to curriculum development and the training programme as a practice supervisor, while ensuring all delivery stays in line with corporate equalities and ethical practice standards.
Essential Criteria
Qualifications
Qualified in youth work or a related professional area to NVQ Level 2 or 3, alongside GCSE English or Maths (grades A-C or equivalent).
Experience
Proven experience of successful youth work producing achievements for young people in the context of National Standards, alongside the ability to lead small project groups and develop active youth participation.
Core Skills
Written, IT, and oral communication skills sufficient to contribute effectively to Management Information Systems and to evaluate and develop reflective youth work practice.
Operational Demands
Ability and availability to routinely work unsocial hours (evenings and weekends) and travel to different delivery sites in alignment with targeted project deployments.
Practice Standards
Ability to utilize recording systems, deliver active anti-discriminatory practice, and show a clear capacity for insight, reflection, and ethical standards in youth work practice.
Leadership & Management
Ability to coach staff members using one-to-one supervision and group meetings, handle financial recording, and take the initiative to organize efficiently so that short-term projects are successful.
Desirable Criteria
- Knowledge of youth policy frameworks and multi-agency systems in external settings.
- Direct experience working in street-based, outreach, or detached youth delivery settings.
- Possession of a full UK Driving Licence and/or a valid Minibus Driver’s Licence.
- Water confidence or the ability to swim (given the localized focus on waterfront hotspot environments).
Strategic Alignment
- The post holder will report directly to the Senior Professional Youth Worker (SPYW) to ensure delivery stays in line with corporate role profiles and quality standards.
Work Style
- Office-based hot-desk/touchdown worker. No separate hardware or laptop purchases are required; staff will utilize existing infrastructure.
Safeguarding
- This role requires an active, valid Enhanced DBS check.
For Further Information
- For an informal discussion about project delivery, flexible shift configurations, or timeline variables, please contact:
- Contact Name: Caroline Storer, Senior Professional Youth Worker / Summer Detached Project Lead caroline.storer@plymouth.gov.uk
- Closing Date for EOI Applications: – Tuesday 18 August
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