Overview

Visits Play Facilitator – Part time – East Riding of Yorkshire

Permanent

£21,840

Do you want to be part of something life changing, helping families reconnect. and build brighter futures if so we are recruiting for Visits Play Facilitator/ Nursery Nurse.

Now, we’re looking for passionate, child focused individuals to join our team at HMP Millsike the UK’s newest, most progressive, and first ‘green’ prison. Due to open in early 2025 and run by Mitie Care and Custody for the Ministry of Justice, Millsike represents a new era in prison design, culture and rehabilitation. Forward Trust is proud to be a strategic delivery partner, providing a range of Connections Services designed to restore relationships, improve wellbeing and support personal growth.

Role Responsibilities

As a Prison Visits Play Facilitator, you will play a crucial role in creating a safe, engaging, and nurturing environment for children visiting loved ones in custody. Your work will help ease the emotional strain of prison visits and promote meaningful family connections, supporting long-term rehabilitation and stronger relationships.

This is more than a childcare role it’s a chance to make a real difference in the lives of families affected by the criminal justice system.

Key Responsibilities

  • Plan, set up and lead engaging, age appropriate play activities during prison visit sessions.
  • Provide emotional support to children and help them navigate the visit experience.
  • Create a welcoming, inclusive and safe play space that supports positive family interaction.
  • Work collaboratively with Family and Relationship Practitioners to design play sessions tailored to individual family needs.
  • Encourage and facilitate child prisoner interaction that supports parent child bonding.
  • Assist with family events and special visits, bringing creativity and compassion to every session.
  • Ensure all activities meet HMP Millsike’s safety and security protocols

All Prison based roles will require enhanced DBS and HMPPS security vetting. Please note this process can take up to 3-12 weeks. All offers are subject to receiving both HMPPS vetting and DBS clearances.

Checks will require you to provide information on the below:

  • Yourself (personal information, financial information, police information, criminal history)
  • Your family (parents, parents’ partners, siblings, partner(s), children)
  • Co-residents
  • Associations that may cause a conflict of interest with your role or the prison service.
  • Background checks across police information systems on you, your family and other associates
  • Credit reference checks
  • Social media and Open-Source checks (these are checks on content about you that’s publicly available on the internet to ensure there’s nothing linked to you that could undermine public trust and confidence in the prison service)
  • Other government and overseas agency or police checks.

The Ideal Candidate

We are looking for someone with the following skills knowledge and experience below to come join us for this role.

  • Experience working with children, particularly in stressful or unusual environments
  • Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with proven ability to work sensitively with diverse groups
  • Ability to handle sensitive situations /information with discretion and professionalism
  • Previous experience working in child advocacy or related role
  • Previous experience of developing and implementing service improvements.
  • Skilled in communication, presenting, data, written and verbal.
  • Working knowledge of using Microsoft Office packages /digital systems.
  • Experience of working in prison visits centres or equivalent environments.
  • Experience of databases, including overseeing the collection, recording and collating of information, including statistical data, for audit, research and reporting purposes.
  • A positive problem-solving approach with the ability to focus on key issues quickly and clearly.
  • Flexibility to meet the needs of the service as it develops.
  • The ability to engage effectively with the client group, as applicable.
  • Experience of partnership working with colleagues and external agencies

About Us

We are The Forward Trust, the social enterprise with charitable status that empowers people to break the often interlinked cycles of crime and addiction to move forward with their lives. For more than 25 years we have been working with people to build positive and productive lives, whatever their past. We believe that anyone is capable of lasting change. Our services have supported thousands of people to make positive changes and build productive lives with a job, family, friends and a sense of community.

We are committed to our cause and the work we carry out as a charity. Equally the wellbeing and the employees who work for us are also important. Joining us an employee, we will offer you the following benefits – 

  • Flexible working
  • Training and development opportunities
    • Simply Health Cashback Scheme (optional)
    • Season Ticket Loan Scheme 
    • Cycle to work scheme
    • Crisis Loan Scheme
    • Electric Car Scheme
    • 3 x Wellbeing Days (pro rata’d for part time employees)
    • Access to Blue Light Card
    • 25 days (rising to 30 with length of service) Annual Leave plus Bank Holidays 
    • Contributory Pension Scheme – Employer matched contributions of up to 6% in the first two years’ service and up to 9% thereafter 
    • Death in Service Payment (2x annual salary) 
    • Critical Illness Insurance (subject to qualifying criteria)
    Diversity at Forward Trust
    The Forward Trust commits to providing opportunities to everyone. We want to ensure we have a diverse team with a range of lived and professional experiences. This includes those with ‘Lived Experience’ of addiction, offending, or homelessness.

    When we recruit, we welcome applications from everyone. This is inclusive of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion and/or belief, marriage and civil partnerships, pregnancy and maternity and socio-economic background. Where operationally possible, we will consider flexible working requests and make reasonable adjustments for all roles.

    To find out more about Forward’s commitment to being an inclusive employer and our current EDI strategy click here.  


    Employee Screening and Eligibility to Work

    We recognise the importance of safeguarding, dependent on role you may be required to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service Check, details of which will be shared with you at interview.

    If successful in your application, you will be required to provide eligibility to work evidence in line with the ‘Eligibility to Work in the UK’ requirements.

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