ID: 1761 Youth Engagement Worker
Service: Gloucestershire Youth Support Service

Salary: £28,884 - £31,698 FTE per annum

Location: Cotswolds & Stroud Districts, 1 x Cotswold (GL71EB) 1 x Stroud (GL51JR)

Hours: Full time (37 hours per week)

Contract: Permanent

Family Action & the Role’s Impact:
At Family Action we support people through change, challenge or crisis. It’s what we’ve done for over 150 years. We protect children, support young people and adults and offer direct, practical help to families and communities.

We see first-hand the power of family to shape lives, for better or worse, so we speak up for the
importance of family in national and local policymaking, amplify family voices and represent the changing needs of families in the UK today.

Our Youth Support Service in Gloucestershire provides centre-based, outreach and detached youth work, ensuring young people are heard, supported and empowered.

The Role
We are seeking a skilled and motivated Youth Engagement Workers to lead and deliver a diverse range of youth work activities across the Stroud and Cotswolds districts. You will take a lead role in one-to-one support, group work, outreach and detached youth work, as well as conducting Return Home Interviews for children who have been missing from home. You will work flexibly, including some evening and weekend working to ensure young people feel safe, included and able to influence decisions that affect their lives.

What We’re Looking For
You will bring substantial experience in youth work practice, strong skills in safeguarding and risk assessment, and the ability to build trusting relationships with young people from a wide range of backgrounds. You will be organised, reflective and confident working both independently and as part of a team. A relevant Level 3+ qualification or significant experience of multi-agency working and a full driving license are essential.

Main Responsibilities:
1. Devise and deliver youth work activities in settings and community spaces across the Cotswolds and Stroud districts.
2. Engage with children and young people in a sensitive, trauma-informed manner, involving them in decisions about them and applying youth work principles throughout your work.
3. Enable children with protected characteristics to access group activities that feel safe and welcoming, supporting their social and emotional development.
4. Ensure that risk is assessed for activities and individual young people whenever required, involving relevant agencies when needed.
5. Ensure data collection and reporting requirements are met and contribute to the drafting of reports for commissioners and presentations to stakeholders.
6. Work effectively with partner agencies to deliver joint events and activities that children want and need across the districts.
7. Offer and complete Return Home Interviews within 72 hours of a child’s return, wherever possible.

Benefits:
- an annual paid leave entitlement that commences at 25 working days, rising each April by one day, subject to a maximum of 30 working days plus bank holidays
- up to 6% matched-pension contributions
- enhanced paid sick leave and paid family leave provisions
- eye care and winter flu jabs vouchers
- cycle to work scheme
- investing in your professional development with ongoing quality training and career development opportunities

We are forward looking, ambitious and committed to continuous improvement. We are a people focused, can-do organisation, which strives for excellence in all we do and operates with mutual respect.

To Apply:
• Click the ‘Apply’ link below and fill out our digital application form
• Closing Date: Sunday 12th April 2026 at 23:59
Interviews are scheduled to take place from 15th April.
For any queries, or if you would like to discuss any aspect of the selection process or the potential for flexible working, please email: mandy.massey@family-action.org.uk

All appointments with Family Action are subject to satisfactory Safer Recruitment checks.

Our commitment to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion:
We are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that candidates may need during the recruitment process and you will be asked whether you require any adjustments if shortlisted for interview. We also make reasonable adjustments on the job, where required.

We are committed to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in all that we do and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Intersectionality is important to us and we welcome applications from ethnically diverse communities, LGBTQIA+ candidates and disabled candidates. We are committed to increasing the representation of these groups at Family Action because we know that greater diversity will lead to even greater results for families and children and we strive for our workforce to be truly representative of the diverse communities we support.

All candidates with a disability are welcome to apply under the Disability Confident Scheme and request priority consideration for an interview, provided they meet the essential criteria for the role.

To help remove financial barriers to working with us, we will reimburse reasonable travel costs if you are invited to attend an interview in person.

*Ordinarily Family Action appoints new starters at the starting point of the salary scale (with subsequent annual pay progression), unless you have experience that would justify appointment further up the salary scale or there are any other exceptional reasons.