Overview
All staff have a responsibility to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The post holder will lead on supporting prisoners with needs arising from neurodivergence and will work to ensure prisoners are supported to engage with Education, Skills and Work (ESW) pathways throughout their sentence. The Neurodiversity Support Manager (NSM) will liaise with key stakeholders to ensure continuity of support into the community, including by probation teams. This is a non-rotational, non-operational role with no line management responsibilities.
The post holder will provide support and guidance to ensure that all staff and stakeholders share the same vision and ethos of neurodiversity, and will ensure that actions across education, skills and work (ESW) support a whole-prison improvement approach that aligns with wider improvements across the estate.
Responsibilities, activities and duties
* Focus on improving and ensuring that the quality of neurodiversity support and provision is at least good and moving towards outstanding. Include assessment of quality to inform the prison education, skills and work improvement plan applicable across learning channels (classroom, industries, work areas, workshops, gym, etc.).
* Develop and maintain a neurodiversity needs strategy for the prison, working with key stakeholders (HoESW, LSM, HoRR, provider education/curriculum managers, Employment lead, NFN broker, Prison Work Coach, Head of Offender Management Unit, libraries, CIAG, activities, gym, industries manager, key workers).
* Develop and maintain systems and structures to ensure delivery of all Education, Skills and Work activity is appropriate to all cohorts. Recommend and test related solutions leading into an improvement plan, working with the Senior Management Team to implement, maintain, invest and update as necessary.
* Manage the collection and analysis of data on neurodiversity at local level. Continuously evaluate current practice for tailoring neurodiversity provision to a wide range of prisoners, including hard-to-reach and vulnerable prisoners, and those for whom English is not their first language.
* Track the progress of neurodivergent prisoners in education, learning and work (including kitchen, horticulture, waste management industries/workshops, wing work and orderly/peer roles), analyse data and identify participation and achievement gaps, and address these.
* Case manage prisoners who require additional support to access education, skills and work opportunities within the prison to ensure relevance and usefulness.
* Ensure that neurodiversity-related information for individual prisoners is shared appropriately and lawfully with relevant prison teams (e.g., PEF, CIAG, LSM, AM Health Care).
* Consider the needs of neurodivergent prisoners regarding activity availability, adaptations and reasonable adjustments, ensuring sufficient places in collaboration with LSM, activities and industries managers.
* Raise awareness of neurodiversity in the prison and upskill the workforce to support a whole-prison approach through staff briefings, internal communications and 1-2-1 processes.
* Work with key stakeholders to ensure neurodivergent prisoners receive the support and advice needed to prepare for release into the community.
Requirements and criteria
* Security: Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Baseline personnel security standard checks apply for those working with government assets.
* Nationality requirements: Open to UK nationals, certain Irish and Commonwealth nationals with right to work, EU/EEA/Swiss nationals and family with settled or pre-settled status under EUSS, applicants with valid settled or pre-settled status, and other eligible categories as described in the job posting.
* Behaviours (Civil Service Success Profile): Changing and Improving; Working Together; Managing a Quality Service.
* Essential Experience: Specialist neurodiversity role experience; experience in Special Educational Needs/Additional Learning Needs and Disabilities; knowledge of OFSTED/Estyn EIF and FE/skills criteria; substantial teaching experience with accessible resources; strong partnership development; experience in multi-agency settings; goal-setting and target achievement; experience implementing educational changes; evidence of innovation and impact.
* Technical requirements – Qualifications: PGCE, Cert Ed or Level 5 in Education and Training; Level 4 Certificate in Supporting the learning of learners with SEND/ALN; or equivalent extensive experience in neurodiversity roles in custodial or multi-disciplinary settings. Level 4 TAQA in IQA or equivalent, Level 7 Diploma in Assessing and Teaching Learners with Dyslexia/Specific Learning Differences.
* Abilities: Strong written and verbal/non‑verbal communication; proficient with Microsoft Word, Excel, Project and PowerPoint.
Benefits and additional information
* Salary: £39,803 plus £11,530 Civil Service Pension scheme employer contribution.
* Benefits include access to learning and development, flexible working options, an inclusive culture, Civil Service pension with 28.97% employer contribution, annual leave, public holidays, and season ticket loan.
* For more information about the recruitment process, benefits and allowances, and answers to general queries, refer to the official Candidate Information Page.
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