Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust

Youth Diversion Worker

The closing date is 25 February 2026

Job summary

Band 4 Youth Diversion Worker This is a fixed term contract for 12 months. The hours of work are 18.75 per week.

Are you passionate about making a real difference for vulnerable young people in the criminal justice system?

We are seeking a Youth Diversion Worker to join our specialist youth pathway within the Gloucestershire Criminal Justice Liaison & Diversion Service.

About the Role:

You will play a vital role in improving early identification of young people (up to age 18) in the youth justice system who may have mental health needs, neurodevelopmental issues, learning difficulties, or other vulnerabilities.

Your primary responsibility will be to screen and assess young people following arrest, identify health, emotional and social needs, and signpost or refer them to appropriate interventions. This work may take place in police custody or through follow-up appointments in the community.

You will work closely with partner agencies to reduce health inequalities and support positive outcomes for young people.

Please note: Successful police vetting is required for this role due to working within custody settings.

Main duties of the job

Key Responsibilities

Screen and assess young people for mental health, emotional, and social needs.
Identify vulnerabilities and link to appropriate services and interventions.
Work collaboratively with Youth Justice Services, CAMHS, Police, and other partners.
Contribute to service development and early intervention strategies.
Maintain accurate records and ensure compliance with service standards.

What we're looking for:

Experience working with young people and multi-agency teams
Strong communication and organisational skills.
Ability to manage a caseload and work flexibly across custody and community settings.
Commitment to equality, reducing health inequalities, and improving outcomes for vulnerable young people

Why Join Us?

Be part of a supportive, multi-disciplinary team making a real impact.
Opportunities for professional development and training.
Work in a dynamic role that combines custody and community-based support.

The qualification, training & experience requirements for the role are underlined in the Job Description/Person Specification.

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About us

We have a skilled and dedicated workforce of over 5000 colleagues working in a diverse range of services over 55 sites and within people's homes. We strive to enable a welcoming workplace culture that builds and celebrates civility, inclusivity and diversity, while providing a sense of belonging and trust.

Annual staff surveys, regular Pulse surveys and other engagement opportunities provide our people with lots of opportunity to tell us about their experiences of working with us. In the latest staff survey, 61% of colleagues gave us their views. It was great to hear that:

72% of colleagues would recommend the Trust as a place to work, ranking us 1st for Provider Trusts in the South West region on this question.
76% would recommend the standard of care provided in our services if a friend or relative needed treatment, also ranking us 1st in the South West region.
81% said that care of patients and service users is the Trust's priority, compared with an average in comparable NHS Trusts in England of 64%.

This high-level overview shows we are in a healthy position, with higher scores than average for comparable organisations, alongside a great response rate, indicating good staff engagement. However, we also know we have plenty of room for improvement in many areas. To that end, we continue to prioritise and invest in our commitment to genuinely becoming a Great Place to Work with consistent top-quartile performance in the annual staff survey and Pulse surveys.

Date posted

22 January 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 4

Salary

£27,485 to £30,162 a year per annum, pro rata

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

12 months

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

327-26-041

Job locations

The Vibe Youth Centre

Stanway Road

Gloucester

GL4 4RE

Job description

Job responsibilities

Job Purpose:

The Youth Liaison and Diversion Service forms part of the all age Criminal Justice Liaison and Diversion Service, providing the specialist youth pathway. The purpose of the Youth Liaison and Diversion Worker role is to improve early identification in the youth justice system of young people (up to age 18) with mental health problems, neuro-developmental issues, conduct disorder, learning difficulties or disabilities or other vulnerabilities.

The primary function of the role is to screen all young people who have been arrested for an extensive range of mental health, emotional and social need, and identifying and signposting/referring on to appropriate interventions to meet assessed need.

The successful candidate will contribute to the development and delivery of the Liaison and Diversion Service, by working in partnership with other agencies to reduce health inequalities for young people within the criminal justice system.

Dimensions:

The post holder will work within police custody with the aim of offering assessment to young people who have been arrested. The role will also involve community work offering follow up to these young people, as well as those who have been processed through police custody out of hours/those who have come into contact with the criminal justice system via another pathway such as via a Voluntary Interview.

Core Key Responsibilities:

Offer comprehensive, holistic, youth focused assessments to identify health and social care needs and identify most appropriate care pathway

Provide health education, advice and information to children, young people, and their families.

Establish positive relationships with young people and where necessary their families, encouraging active engagement and participation.

Maintain a caseload of young people and ensure effective interventions and programmes are in place to meet needs

Develop positive professional relationships with partner agencies including the YJS/YOT, CAMHS, Police and other Early Intervention Services

To improve interagency preventative working with vulnerable young people.

To liaise with Police around young people's mental health problems, neurodevelopmental issues, conduct disorder, learning difficulties or disabilities or other vulnerabilities and how best to support with these needs

To reduce the use of custody for vulnerable young people (and for other overrepresented groups in the youth justice system) through effective screening and linkage with appropriate early and needs led intervention.

Deliver interventions through a variety of engagement strategies

Participate and contribute to regular reviews of the services identifying progress and gaps or changes required

Effectively manage competing priorities and workload including meeting required quality standards and statutory responsibilities

Participate in a multi-disciplinary environment and work in a supportive and collaborative manner with colleagues and partner agencies to deliver cohesive services to young people

Attend regular supervision, team development days and contribute to the development of plans, practice guidelines and policies as necessary

Maintain accurate and up-to-date records of work using appropriate data base systems in order to assess service effectiveness in meeting performance

To represent the service in a manner consistent with the highest professional standards and reflective of the service and its commitment to equality of opportunity

To remain aware of developments locally and nationally in terms of policy and practice and to demonstrate an on-going commitment to continuous improvement and working to the highest quality standard

To work in a flexible and responsive way that ensures the service is capable of meeting key goals and objectives and remains relevant

Assist trained staff to ensure junior staff and students are actively engaged in patient activity at all times

Participate in the induction of new staff

Manage own caseload with supervision from the senior registered practitioner ensuring the implementation of all aspects of care and treatment in line with Gloucestershire Health & Care Trust Policy for Care Management.