Interim Practice Manager - Youth Justice Service

We are working with a South West based local authority who are seeking an Interim Practice Manager to join their Youth Justice Service team. You will be committed to child-centred practice and passionate about improving outcomes for children, victims, and the wider community.

Location: South Gloucestershire

Set-up: Hybrid working, 3 days per week in the office

Contract: 3 months initial contract

Start: ASAP

South Gloucestershire Youth Justice Service (SGYJS) is seeking an experienced and dynamic Interim Practice Manager to provide essential short-term leadership capacity within our high-performing, child-centred Youth Justice Service.

SGYJS is firmly committed to a Child First approach—placing children at the heart of decision-making and ensuring their active participation throughout their journey in the youth justice system. We have a strong track record of maintaining low rates of first-time entrants, prioritising diversion and prevention, and delivering high-quality, relationship-based practice. The service was rated Outstanding by HMIP (2020) and has recently been inspected under the new framework.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide additional management capacity to support the day-to-day operational delivery of the Youth Justice Service
• Deliver high-quality supervision and leadership to youth justice practitioners, ensuring consistent and effective work with children
• Drive improvement work aligned to recommendations from the recent HMIP inspection, contributing to the delivery of the service’s action plan
• Strengthen and develop the service’s approach to victim work, ensuring personalised, responsive, and trauma-informed engagement
• Support ongoing development of participation practice, building on areas identified as good practice in the recent inspection

Essential Experience & Skills

• Strong operational leadership experience within a Youth Justice setting
• Proven track record of supervising and managing youth justice staff to a high standard
• Practical experience using youth justice case management systems such as Childview
• In-depth understanding of youth justice legislation, practice models, and outcome-focused service delivery

Qualifications

• A professional qualification in social work or probation is highly desirable
• Alternatively, extensive management experience in Youth Justice and a relevant degree-level qualification will be considered 

If you are interested in this role, please apply online or send through an up-to-date CV to gfry@venngroup.com then a member of the team will call you to discuss further. At Venn Group, we endeavour to respond to all applications. Due to the volume of applications, if you have not heard from us within 48 hours, please assume you have been unsuccessful on this occasion.