Project Manager - Criminal Justice (Part-time, FTC)

York | £30,000 to £32,000 per year pro rata

Employer: National Literacy Trust
Sector/Specialism: Charity

Project Manager - Criminal Justice (Part-time, FTC)
£30,000 to £32,000 per year pro rata (0.4 FTE)
Part-time, 14 hours per week
Fixed-term contract for two years
Based in Yorkshire as a home working role

We are on a mission to give children, young people and adults from disadvantaged communities the literacy skills they need to succeed. You could join us as Project Manager for our growing criminal justice programmes.

What you’ll be doing

We have been delivering criminal justice and literacy programmes for more than 10 years, and our work includes projects across men’s and women’s prisons, as well as Young Offender Institutions and through Youth Offending Services in the community.

Thanks to funding from the HMPPS Literacy Innovation Fund, which supports literacy activities outside of formal education provision, our criminal justice team is growing with four new roles to expand our team to seven.

You will be responsible for a new project in HMP Askham Grange near York, managing the delivery of a range of reading and writing interventions and events. This will include planning and delivering high-quality training sessions and workshops, working with authors and freelance facilitators, and managing project logistics, safeguarding, content and resource development, risk management and quality assurance.

Whenever possible, we engage our beneficiaries in the design of our projects and centre people with lived experience of prison in our activities so you will have the flexibility to tailor your work to meet their needs.

What we’re looking for

You will be an excellent project manager, with experience of working with people in custody or in contact with the criminal justice system, or other vulnerable groups. You will need strong communication skills as well as knowledge of the criminal justice system and literacy issues among the prison population. Excellent safeguarding practice is also essential. Experience delivering creative writing or other creative workshops would be an advantage, as would delivering interventions specifically for women. A driving licence and access to your own vehicle would be helpful due to the travel required.

Why our work is so vital

Poor literacy and resulting inequality is not inevitable. The National Literacy Trust improves the reading, writing, speaking and listening skills of those who need it most, giving them the best possible chance of success.

We make society fairer. Poor literacy creates social and economic inequality. The one in six adults in the UK with poor literacy earn less, are less likely to vote and more likely to experience health inequalities.

We enable social mobility. A child without literacy skills can’t succeed at school, and as an adult they will be locked out of the job market. The pattern is intergenerational and starts at birth.

Our work is targeted at communities with the highest levels of disadvantage and the lowest levels of literacy. We support thousands of schools and early years settings, bringing in wonderful partners like the Premier League and the nation’s best publishers who bring literacy alive. We campaign to make literacy a priority for our nation’s leaders. Our research and analysis make us the leading authority on literacy and drive our interventions.

What we offer you

As well as a competitive salary, we offer benefits including a generous leave allowance totalling 39 days (including bank holidays and office closure between Christmas and New Year), pension contributions of 8% of annual salary, a cycle to work scheme, employee assistance programme and other health and wellbeing benefits.

We support flexible working and promote a workplace where you can be yourself and contribute to our success, whoever you are.

Application details

Our people are our most important asset and we value and respect diversity in all its forms (seen and unseen). We particularly welcome applications from those from Black and Asian backgrounds, as well as candidates with disabilities and from the communities in which we work. We would like to increase representation of these groups among our staff as we know greater diversity will lead to an even greater impact for our work.

To apply for this role, please select the apply button shown.

Closing date: 10am, Wednesday 12 April 2023.

Please note we do not accept CVs. No agencies or recruitment sites. Registered charity no. 1116260 (England and Wales) and SC042944 (Scotland).

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