Youth Justice Practitioner Apprentice
Kent County Council
Kent - Various Locations, to be discussed at interview, United Kingdom (ME14 1XQ)
Closes in 30 days (Sunday 20 September 2026)
Posted on 20 August 2026
Contents
Summary
During the apprenticeship, you will receive training, coaching and mentoring. You will complete workshops, online learning and development activities and be supported by your Manager, colleagues and apprenticeship provider Unitas.
Please note that due to the nature of this role, applicants must be aged 18 or over.
- Wage
-
£26,956 a year
Minimum wage rates (opens in new tab)
Salary Band £26,956 - £27,765 per annum
- Training course
- Youth justice practitioner (level 5)
- Hours
-
Flexibility, including willingness to travel across Kent and work
occasional evenings / weekends where required.
37 hours a week
- Start date
-
Tuesday 20 October 2026
- Duration
-
2 years 1 months
- Positions available
-
8
Work
Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.
What you'll do at work
Work towards being skilled to deliver trauma informed child-first interventions to prevent and reduce offending.
- Be supported to write quality and analytical assessments and reports
- Develop the knowledge and gain experience in keeping accurate timely records utilising relevant case management systems
- Learn how to work collaboratively with partners internally and externally, sharing appropriate information and working in partnership to support children and their families
- To participate in multi agency forums and develop the knowledge to work effectively with other professionals
- Liaise with children to identify and report back to the service, what is working well and how we can improve our service delivery
- Motivate and inspire children to achieve their potential by encouraging their attendance and inclusion in both 1-1 and group activities, services and initiatives
- Learn about, and champion restorative approaches, including supporting the delivery of reparation activities
- Learn how to, and gain experience in Supporting children to be involved in service design and development, including the recruitment of Youth Justice staff
- Gain experience in working collaboratively with the Victim Voice service to ensure the victim’s perspective is actively heard, clearly understood, and meaningfully considered throughout the assessment, planning, and delivery of interventions with the child
Where you'll work
Kent - Various Locations, to be discussed at interview, United Kingdom
ME14 1XQ
Training
Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.
Training provider
UNITAS
Training course
Youth justice practitioner (level 5)
Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)
What you'll learn
Course contents
- Communicate effectively face to face and in writing (including digitally) with children who encounter the youth justice system
- Identify the factors that may lead to offending and anti-social behaviour and the methods for promoting desistance, and use these to plan individually tailored interventions.
- Promote the physical, emotional and mental health and wellbeing of children in the youth justice system by recognising and building on strengths, identifying need and taking action to protect children where necessary.
- Use a range of engagement skills to promote trust, including clarification of role, purpose of intervention and boundaries of authority.
- Develop relationships that are collaborative, motivating and child-centred using a range of strategies to engage young people and families (e.g. motivational interviewing, solution focussed methods, participatory practice, pro-social modelling and problem solving).
- Make effective use of assessment and planning tools designed for use in youth justice settings to inform decision making.
- Develop, implement and monitor plans which reflect risks and needs, and build on positive human and social capital to promote desistance.
- Select interventions and approaches to working with young people based on the best available evidence about their effectiveness in promoting desistance from offending.
- Broker access to sources of human and social capital appropriate to the needs of children in the youth justice system.
- Be an effective social advocate for children and their families
- Share and safeguard information about children and their families in line with data protection law
- identify, assess and meet the needs of children and young people where there are safeguarding concerns
- Reflect on practice within evidence-based frameworks in order to continuously improve outcomes for children in the youth justice system.
- Identify any barriers to children’s effective engagement with youth justice interventions and take steps to remove or mitigate these.
- Actively protect the rights of children, challenge disproportionality and promote equality of opportunity
- Keep accurate and timely records of all interactions relevant to the assessment, planning, implementation and review cycle.
- Communicate effectively face to face and in writing (including digitally) with children who encounter the youth justice system
- Identify the factors that may lead to offending and anti-social behaviour and the methods for promoting desistance, and use these to plan individually tailored interventions.
- Promote the physical, emotional and mental health and wellbeing of children in the youth justice system by recognising and building on strengths, identifying need and taking action to protect children where necessary.
- Use a range of engagement skills to promote trust, including clarification of role, purpose of intervention and boundaries of authority.
- Develop relationships that are collaborative, motivating and child-centred using a range of strategies to engage young people and families (e.g. motivational interviewing, solution focussed methods, participatory practice, pro-social modelling and problem solving).
- Make effective use of assessment and planning tools designed for use in youth justice settings to inform decision making.
- Develop, implement and monitor plans which reflect risks and needs, and build on positive human and social capital to promote desistance.
- Select interventions and approaches to working with young people based on the best available evidence about their effectiveness in promoting desistance from offending.
- Broker access to sources of human and social capital appropriate to the needs of children in the youth justice system.
- Be an effective social advocate for children and their families
- Share and safeguard information about children and their families in line with data protection law
- identify, assess and meet the needs of children and young people where there are safeguarding concerns
- Reflect on practice within evidence-based frameworks in order to continuously improve outcomes for children in the youth justice system.
- Identify any barriers to children’s effective engagement with youth justice interventions and take steps to remove or mitigate these.
- Actively protect the rights of children, challenge disproportionality and promote equality of opportunity
- Keep accurate and timely records of all interactions relevant to the assessment, planning, implementation and review cycle.
Training schedule
Requirements
Essential qualifications
GCSE in:
Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.
Skills
- Communication skills
- IT skills
- Organisation skills
- Customer care skills
- Administrative skills
- Team working
- Non judgemental
- Patience
Other requirements
This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure Application to the Disclosure and Barring Service. This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. The Council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English / Welsh sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the Job Description / Person Specification.
About this employer
Kent County Council is a county council that governs most of the county of Kent in England. It is the upper tier of elected local government. Below are 12 district councils and around 300 town and parish councils. The county council has 81 elected councillors. The chief executive and chief officers are responsible for the day-to-day running of the council.
Disability Confident
A fair proportion of interviews for this apprenticeship will be offered to applicants with a disability or long-term health condition. This includes non-visible disabilities and conditions.
You can choose to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident scheme. You’ll need to meet the essential requirements to be considered for an interview.
After this apprenticeship
Your earnings can increase over time with an apprenticeship. Find out about potential future pay (opens in new tab).
This apprenticeship offers clear development opportunities, with progression through defined learning stages and corresponding salary progression as knowledge, skills and competencies are achieved. Following successful completion of the apprenticeship, candidates will be eligible to apply for a Youth Justice Practitioner role.
Please note that due to the nature of this role, applicants must be aged 18 or over and that completion of the apprenticeship does not guarantee a permanent post within the service.
Ask a question
The contact for this apprenticeship is:
Kent County Council
Rose Field
rose.field@kent.gov.uk
The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC2000049305.
Apply now
Closes in 30 days (Sunday 20 September 2026)
After signing in, you’ll apply for this apprenticeship on the company's website.