23459 - Community Payback Supervisor - Gateshead - North East - Minimum Hours Contract FTE 0.05

Days spent guiding hands-on community work

As a Community Payback supervisor, you’ll lead small teams of offenders serving a community sentence, ensuring tasks are completed to a high standard. Your role may involve driving service vehicles to transport people or equipment and coordinating on-site activities to demonstrate best practice. You’ll work with service users to plan, supervise and support a range of manual tasks, everything from building benches and cleaning streets to restoring community facilities and carrying out gardening or landscaping work. You’re there to supervise, motivate and model responsible, constructive work, helping people on probation make a positive contribution while you both learn and develop practical skills along the way.

What you’ll need to bring to the role

To be considered, you’ll need to meet a core set of requirements and bring a hands-on approach to leadership in a community setting. The team values clear communication, reliability and the ability to stand in front of a group with confidence to guide activities safely and effectively.

• A full UK manual driving licence, to drive Community Payback minibuses, transport equipment and travel to project sites
• Strong people skills and the ability to lead, motivate and supervise a small group
• Willingness to engage with a diverse mix of individuals and to demonstrate good practice on site
• Practical skills or trades are a bonus, including painting and decorating, carpentry, gardening, grounds maintenance, construction, landscaping or general maintenance

Extras that help you hit the ground running

• Experience in any setting, employment, the Armed Forces, voluntary work, education or community projects, can be useful as you’ll be drawing on a range of backgrounds
• A readiness to work weekends and evenings as projects run seven days a week and pay includes a weekend uplift

Pay, benefits and practical details

This is a permanent role within the Probation Service, with five part-time vacancies. The advertised salary ranges from £28,064 to £33,549, pro-rata for part-time positions. The contract is described as a minimum-hours arrangement, with five 0.5 FTE posts available; you’ll typically spend up to seven hours supervising a group per day, and weekend work is likely, with a higher rate for weekend days.

Working arrangements include flexible patterns where business needs allow, and roles may involve some weekend and evening duties. The organisation aims to place new staff within about an hour’s commute of their home location where possible. The MoJ offers the Civil Service terms with annual pay progression through a Competency Based Framework where eligible, and new entrants join at the entry point for the advertised band. Part-time, flexible and job-sharing options are considered under the flexible working policy.

Security and eligibility are important: DBS Enhanced checks are required, and all candidates must have the right to work in the UK. From July 22, 2025, Skilled Worker visa sponsorship changes apply: this role is not eligible for a new Skilled Worker visa, unless you held one before that date; those who have held a Skilled Worker visa previously may have eligibility reviewed during pre-employment checks. Specific nationality rules apply for Civil Service recruitment, and applicants must meet these alongside standard checks.

Other benefits include 25 days of annual leave (rising to 30 after five years) plus public holidays, pro-rated for part-time positions, access to a Local Government Pension Scheme, training opportunities, and a suite of family-friendly policies, flexible benefits and support networks. The role sits within a broader Civil Service framework that values diversity and inclusion and provides support for staff wellbeing and development.

Tips for succeeding in this role

For your resume, lead with your direct fit: highlight that you hold a full UK manual driving licence and your track record supervising groups on hands-on, community-focused projects. Make it clear you’re applying for five part-time posts and can commit to the weekend and evening patterns the role requires.

In your evidence of experience, pull concrete examples that show your leadership and ability to drive a team to complete tasks. Describe a situation where you organised a on-site activity, maintained safety standards and achieved measurable outcomes, ideally in a setting with diverse participants or probation-like contexts.

Prepare for interviews by outlining how you’d manage on-site welfare and wellbeing during a busy shift, keep tasks on track when pace is high, and handle logistics like transport of people and equipment. Be ready to discuss how you would model good practice and motivate a group to complete their hours to a high standard.

Ask a focused question at the interview: what does a typical weekend shift look like, and how is weekend pay calculated across a 0.5 FTE arrangement? A practical follow-up could be whether there is on-site support or supervision during busy periods and how you would access wellbeing resources on long or demanding days.

Ready to apply

To apply you’ll need to complete a short application form. The vacancy references job ID 23459, and the closing date is 09-Nov-2026. If you’re applying for multiple vacancies for the same role, only one application will be progressed. For help with the process or to ask questions, you can call 0345 241 5358 (Monday to Friday, 8am–6pm) or email [email protected]. Please quote the job reference 23459 in any correspondence.