Service User Engagement Lead (Criminal Justice)

Are you looking for a dynamic and rewarding role working for an organisation with the feminist agenda at the core of its ethos?

Then Advance Charity could be the career choice for you!

We are looking for a Service User Engagement Lead

Job Title: Service User Engagement Lead – Criminal Justice Services

Service/Division: Criminal Justice Services

Reports to: Senior Service Manager

Direct reports: A team of CJS Champions and Ambassadors

Location: Based in London (Finsbury Park, Stratford, Hammersmith). Primary office location is Hammersmith and please note that this role requires you to work in an office 5 days a week

Working Pattern: Full Time, office-based Monday – Friday, 9pm – 5pm

Reports to: London Senior Service Manager

Job Type: Fixed term contract until March 2027

This post is open to female applicants only as being female is deemed to be a genuine occupational requirement under Schedule 9, Paragraph 1 of the Equality Act 2010.

Please note: Any offer of employment will be made subject to references, confirmation of the right to work in the UK, and satisfactory enhanced DBS check. This role is also subject to Police Vetting.

About us

Advance is an award-winning and innovative women-only organisation, established in 1998, providing emotional and practical support to women and girls survivors of domestic abuse and supporting women with short-term sentences to reduce offending.

We believe in empowering women and girls to lead safe, non-violent, equal lives so that they can flourish and contribute to the community.

We are a community-based organisation who lead in best practice approaches to supporting women in their local community. We achieve this by being available to meet and support women in local settings and at our women’s centres, and by working in close partnership with other agencies.

Our values are to listen and support, to empower and respect, collaboration, innovation, and accountability.

Job Summary

Advance’s Minerva service works with women and young women and girls involved in the Criminal Justice System offering safe, targeted support and advocacy to women to help them address their complex needs in relation to the 9 pathways to offending, such as substance misuse and financial difficulties, aiming to reduce re-offending, encourage desistance amongst repeat offenders, and empower women to live safe, crime free lives.

Working as a Service User Engagement Lead you will be responsible for supporting the operational delivery of our service user engagement programme that will be a part of the Minerva service across London, including leading a team of CJS community champions and ambassadors and supporting in the oversight and delivery this programme across our 3 criminal justice services.

In addition, this role requires you to build effective relationships with the criminal justice teams across London, and the regions alongside our partners and service users.

An integral part of the Service User Engagement Lead role will include delivering planned monthly supervision and ad-hoc supervision and having oversight of safeguarding and risk management for the CJS champions and ambassadors that you are working alongside.

You will support the Senior Service Manager and Service Managers in delivering key information to keyworkers, in staff meetings and in day-to-day interactions to help promote the service user engagement programme.

You will lead your team and service while working collaboratively with fellow Advance managers and teams, external agencies and key stakeholders across London to provide a consistent and holistic service.

Key responsibilities and duties

• Support the recruitment, onboarding, and exit processes for champions and ambassadors including processing checks and welcome packs. Creating and supporting a positive culture of CJS Champions and ambassadors within the service
• To ensure the voice of service users is heard, valued and have influence throughout all areas of services, development design and delivery
• Supporting the CJS champions and ambassadors in post with their professional development
• Support with coproduction of projects across sites including coproduction space and service user activities, representing the views and opinions of those who access our services by leading on service user board meetings, focus groups and training sessions.
• Oversight of the welfare and wellbeing of CJS Champions and ambassadors
• Embed processes that enable you to engage with those who access our services, by listening to their views and asking for their feedback. Provide feedback and updates to those who access our services informing them of any changes and decisions.
• Work with staff and the local community to improve and develop the service, promoting our strategy
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date records on champions and ambassadors and service user engagement via our internal database and spreadsheets.
• Manage invitations, bookings, and logistics for internal and external events, meetings or workshops involving CJS community champions and ambassadors
• Ensure all CJS champion and service user information is managed confidentially and in line with Data Protection regulations.
• Keep CJS champions and ambassadors training and participation records up to date.
• Support in monitoring engagement levels and preparing basic reports or summaries on Service User Involvement champions and ambassadors.
• Be responsible for your own personal learning/development and keep up to date on research, relevant legislation, policy and practice, and other literature relevant to the role.
• Participate in supervision, training and meetings as required and assist in the development of services in line with agreed development plans.
• Work collaboratively with the Service Managers to ensure that the work supporting women in the CJS is a coherent and well organised service, meeting regularly to communicate issues across the team and reporting achievements, challenges and proposed solutions.

About You

To be successful as the Service User Engagement Lead you will need the below experience and skills:

You are an organised and empathetic individual with experience in supporting service user involvement and champion/ambassador programmes.

You’re confident managing the full lifecycle of engagement - from recruitment and onboarding to professional development and exit processes - ensuring safeguarding and data protection protocols are followed at all times.

You have a strong understanding of co-production principles and are passionate about ensuring the voices of those with lived experience are heard, valued, and embedded in service design and delivery.

Your ability to build positive relationships enables you to effectively support the welfare and wellbeing of community champions and ambassadors, while also engaging wider staff and community networks to improve services.

With strong administrative skills, you’re confident in managing data systems, coordinating events, and maintaining accurate records. You’re proactive in monitoring engagement levels and can contribute to reporting and service development activities.

Collaborative by nature, you work well within a team, communicate effectively, and are committed to continuous learning.

You stay up to date with relevant legislation, policy, and best practice, and thrive in environments that value service user voice, equality, and community impact.

What we can offer you - Employee Benefits

• A 35-hour working week
• An exceptional 30 days of paid holiday per year (pro rata for part time), PLUS public holidays on top (that's nearly 40 days paid holiday per year!)
• Additional days off to celebrate International Women’s Day, and for religious observance and moving home
• Perkbox - an employee discount platform where you can receive free rewards as well as take advantage of savings on clothes, groceries, travel, leisure and more
• Pension scheme
• Enhanced maternity/adoption provision
• Access to our Employee Assistance Programme
• Employee eye-care scheme
• Clinical supervision for front line staff and first line management roles
• Refer a Friend Scheme - £250 for each referral who passes probation
• Organisation wide away days
• Thorough induction and training
• Career development pathways

**************************************************************

Under the Equality Act 2010, we are required to make any reasonable adjustments. If you have a disability as defined under this act and/or have special needs, please email the Talent Acquisition Team at Advance and we will aim to make the necessary arrangements to accommodate your needs.

Diversity, Inclusion and Equal Opportunities

We are committed to providing equality of opportunity and actively seek to recruit people from groups underrepresented in our current team. We have policies and processes in place to ensure that all employees are offered an equal opportunity in recruitment and selection, promotion, training, pay and benefits.

Safeguarding

Advance is committed to safeguarding and creating a culture of zero-tolerance of harm and expects all staff, including volunteers to share this commitment. We believe all individuals have the right to live their life free from violence and abuse and the right to feel and be safe. We have a suite of safeguarding policies, procedures and practice guidance, accessible to all staff, which promotes safeguarding and safer working practices across all our services and activities. When we recruit staff, we follow rigorous safer recruitment practices, this involves carrying out pre-employment checks including references, Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks, and identity checks. We ensure all staff undertake mandatory safeguarding training relevant to their role and responsibilities, to empower them to be competent and feel confident in recognising and responding appropriately to safeguarding issues and promote wellbeing.