Homicide Caseworker

This is a home-based role in Cornwall, which requires travel throughout the county. A driving licence and use of vehicle during working hours is essential.

Do you want the unique opportunity to work in a fast paced service, delivering exceptional support to families bereaved by homicide and eyewitnesses? Working closely with the Police Major Crime teams, coordinating a tailored package of support to service users and their families? If yes, then we’d love to hear from you; we have an exciting opportunity for a Homicide Family Caseworker to join the South West, West Midlands and South Wales Homicide Service team, you will be based in Cornwall covering the surrounding areas as well as Dorset on a 1 in 4 allocation of new notifications working 30 hours a week (Monday – Friday between the hours of 9am -5pm)

We believe in attracting and retaining the best people and offer a competitive rewards and benefits package including:

• Flexible working options including hybrid working
• 25 days annual leave plus Bank Holidays, rising to 30 days plus Bank Holidays
• Pension with 5% employer contribution
• Enhanced sick pay allowances and maternity payments
• High Street, retail, holiday, entertainment & leisure discounts
• Access to our financial wellbeing hub and salary deducted finance
• Employee assistance programme and wellbeing support
• Ongoing training and support with opportunities for career development & progression

About the role:

You will be joining a passionate and committed service who provide high quality and bespoke support to service users. The South West team you will be joining covers South West, West Midlands and South Wales . We are a small team, who pride ourselves on exceptional trauma informed advocacy and support to all service users. This a home-based role in Cornwall, requiring travel in the region.

You will be driven to make a difference every day with the ability to focus on the needs of vulnerable service users. You will have resilience and adaptability; will understand the importance of professional boundaries; have excellent listening skills and the ability to demonstrate empathy. You will enjoy the challenge of a busy caseload and will be able to demonstrate the excellent organisation skills essential to managing a demanding and diverse workload.

Once in post you will benefit from the mandatory comprehensive training programme which will build on your existing skills and experience to prepare you for the role. Training includes the Homicide Training Package, covering criminal justice process; trauma informed approach to support; supporting traumatically bereaved families; personal and professional resilience, and Victim Support training, including Safeguarding, GDPR and Health and Safety.

As a fully trained Homicide Family Case Worker you will be responsible for managing your own complex caseload to the highest quality standards as set out by VS. You will be focused on listening to the needs of service users and will be able to develop a bespoke support plan. You will understand the impact of trauma and bereavement on service users (including eye witnesses) and will be able to provide trauma informed support. You will understand the criminal justice system and will be able to explain to, and support service users through, this process. The HS empowers service users to move on from support in their own time and therefore you will be able to support families to exit the service in a positive, structured way.

You will need to be able to travel to home visits within, and occasionally outside of region, and therefore a driving license and use of a car are essential. You will be reimbursed for all travel costs.

Please read carefully the attached Job Description and Person Specification for further details, this is essential for your application. Ensure you can demonstrate each of the required essential criteria in your application.

Note: it is essential you can drive, have a driving licence and a car to use during working hours. If you do not meet this requirement your application will not be processed.

About Us:

At VS we can offer flexible hours of working (with prior discussion) between Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm.

Victim Support (VS) is an independent charity providing a range of specialist services to people who have been affected by crime across England and Wales. We work towards a world where there are fewer victims but who have stronger rights, better support and a real influence in the Criminal Justice System. Everyone at VS is driven by our Vision Ambitions and Values to play their part in making a difference for those who experience crime and traumatic events. Working for VS gives you the opportunity to play a key role in a national charity providing high quality services to victims and witnesses and being a vital force for change.

Victim Support are committed to recruiting with care and to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Background checks and Disclosed Barring Service checks may be required.

Victim Support is committed to supporting and promoting equality and diversity and to creating an inclusive working environment. We believe having a diverse workforce at all levels allows us to represent the communities we serve and connect better with people affected by crime. We believe this can be achieved through attracting, developing and retaining a diverse range of staff from many different backgrounds. We therefore welcome applicants from all communities and monitor the diversity of applicants to analyse if we are representative of the communities we serve in terms of sex, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, trans identity, relationship status, religion or belief, caring responsibilities, age and socio-economic status. As part of our commitment to the Race at Work Charter we would particularly welcome applicants from BAME communities