Child sexual exploitation practitioner jobs

37 hours per week / £32,565 per annum / fixed-term Maternity cover (12 Months) / working Monday - Thursday 9.00-1700, Friday 9.00-16.30.

At YMCA DownsLink Group,is to help children and young people have a fair chance to be who they want to be. We do this by providing a safe home, building life skills and self-confidence, and supporting emotional wellbeing and mental health.

Our Values - we do what’s right, we work with heart, and we build real connections - guide and shape how we show up for children and young people we support and for each other.

YMCA is our specialist project supporting children and young people across Sussex and Surrey who are affected by, or at risk of, exploitation. Through education, awareness-raising and empowerment, we help young people understand healthy relationships, recognise harmful behaviours, and build safety and resilience.

We now have an exciting opportunity to join our WiSE team as a Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Practitioner. In this vital role, you will work alongside the Service manager, an Early Intervention worker, and two experienced Practitioners. You will be co-located with the Exploitation team at Guildford Police Station, working collaboratively with partner agencies to support young people and contribute to multi-agency safeguarding responses.

The role involves a significant amount of lone working and frequent travel across Surrey to meet clients and attend meetings, with occasional travel further afield. Therefore, a full UK driving licence and access to a car are essential.

What you will be doing

In this role, you will hold a caseload of young people aged 10–25 who are vulnerable to sexual or criminal exploitation, providing intensive, person-centred support. You will work closely with professionals across multiple agencies to promote safety, disrupt exploitation, and empower young people to move towards safer, more stable futures. Key Responsibilities:

• Manage a caseload of vulnerable young people, helping them stay safe and move away from the influence of perpetrators.
• Work collaboratively with partner professionals to design and deliver tailored support packages, offering specialist consultation where needed.
• Maintain accurate case records and contribute to clear, timely, and professional reports.
• Liaise effectively with Children’s Services, Surrey Police, and other agencies to disrupt abuse and support safeguarding and prosecution processes.
• Deliver training and awareness workshops to professionals, foster carers, and partner agencies to strengthen community understanding and responses to exploitation.
• Contribute to strategic development, deputising at relevant meetings and helping shape best practice across the service.

This is a challenging role; many of the young people you support may not recognise the risks they are facing or the abusive dynamics within their relationships. Supporting victims can at times be emotionally demanding and distressing. To ensure you feel supported and able to deliver high-quality practice, you will receive:

• One-to-one clinical supervision
• Weekly team meetings
• Regular line management supervision focused on both casework and wellbeing

 We recognise the emotional weight of this work and prioritise a reflective, supportive environment for all team members.

If you are enthusiastic about this opportunity but don’t meet every single requirement, we still encourage you to apply. Your skills and experiences may be more transferable than you think, and you could be exactly the person we’re looking for.

Qualifications, experience and knowledge

We are looking for someone who brings a strong combination of professional understanding, practical experience, and a commitment to safeguarding young people. You will ideally have:

• A relevant qualification in Youth Work, Social Work or an equivalent field — or significant comparable experience working directly with vulnerable young people.
• Proven safeguarding experience involving children and young people, with the ability to identify, respond to, and escalate concerns appropriately.
• Direct casework experience supporting young people aged 10–25, delivering structured, person-centred interventions.
• Experience facilitating group work that engages, educates and empowers young people.
• Experience delivering and risk-assessing outreach work, ensuring safe, effective practice in community settings.
• A strong understanding of the risks faced by vulnerable young people, including sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation, and harmful sexual behaviour.

CLOSING DATE: Sunday 29 March at midnight. 

PLEASE NOTE that we are unable to offer a work permit or visa sponsorship for this role; applicants must already have the right to live and work in the UK independently.

An inclusive workplace We are committed to policies and practices of equity, diversity, and inclusion and to supporting our people to make sure our culture is consistent with this commitment. 

Accessibility If you require assistance or have questions regarding the application process, please do contact us.

YMCA DLG requires all staff and volunteers to be committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and to respond proactively to safeguarding concerns. 

Successful applicants will undergo a thorough background screening process, conducted by an accredited third-party provider. This includes an Enhanced DBS check (with Children’s and Adults’ Barred Lists) as well as comprehensive reference and activity check.

Starting Salary: £31,312 - £33,815 (including London weighting) 

Location: Romero House, London 

Hybrid working with a minimum of 40% of your time in the London head Office 

Job Profile

We are looking for an Advocacy Assistant who is keen to contribute to the work of CAFOD’s advocacy work, especially our work in Parliament. You will work closely with the policy and campaigns teams in contributing to bringing about long-term change for the poorest and most marginalised. The post will be responsible for monitoring key issues in Parliament and supporting work with the CAFOD All-Party Parliamentary Group. It provides direct support to the Director of Advocacy and Communications and ensures our advocacy and development education grants programme is well administered. You will be interested in advocacy work and have had some experience in campaigns, policy or parliamentary work, maybe gained in a voluntary capacity. You’ll be very well organised, with an eye for detail and completing tasks on time.

Key Responsibilities

Providing focused and valuable administrative support

• Developing and amending online and offline systems for teams or the Group 

• Support the teams on events, activities and projects 

• Supporting and Coordinating Supporter mailings 

• Collate relevant annual reporting information including the ECOSOC reporting.

Parliamentary Monitoring 

• To track Parliamentary activity, statements, questions and circulate these to relevant stakeholders within CAFOD 

• To support organising Parliamentary events and APPG meetings 

• To work with other NGO’s and coalitions on Parliamentary activity

Grant Processing 

• To administer the advocacy and development education grants liaising with prospective and successful grantees as appropriate. 

Communications Support

• Act as a first point of contact for any external enquiries, passing on requests to others as appropriate, and ensuring that the Supporter Relations Team have up to date information 

• Supporting the campaigns and policy team’s communications, mainly internal, and where appropriate, through CAFOD’s external website, social media tools

Financial Support 

• Monitoring expenditures and budgets

Person Specification  

• Understanding CAFOD: I understand, demonstrate and actively support CAFOD’s vision, mission and values and what we aim to achieve 

• Managing ourselves: I recognise what needs to be done and take action to deal with it

• Working with others: I help others in the team and across CAFOD to achieve their goals

• Communicating: I actively listen to others; I keep colleagues informed of developments that may affect them

• Managing resources: I am clear about available resources and how they can be best used. I am careful in the use of resources, including other people’s time

• Achieving results: I have a clear sense of priorities. I keep focused on the work to be done. 

Job-specific Competencies  

• Experience in administration and budgets in an office environment with good knowledge of IT systems

• Good communication skills, written and verbal.

• Understanding of the UK Parliament is helpful but not essential.

CAFOD is a welcoming and supportive place to work and is committed to a safe and inclusive working culture where all are respected. CAFOD will make reasonable adjustments at every stage of the recruitment process to ensure candidates with disabilities or individual needs are fully supported.  

Safeguarding for Children and Vulnerable Adults  

CAFOD recognises the personal dignity and rights of children and vulnerable adults, towards whom it has a special responsibility and a duty of care and respect.  CAFOD, and all its staff and volunteers, undertake to do all in our power to create a safe environment for children, young people and vulnerable adults and to prevent their physical, sexual or emotional abuse.  CAFOD is committed to acting at all times in the best interests of children and vulnerable adults, seeing these interests as paramount.  Any candidate offered a job with CAFOD will be expected to adhere to CAFOD’s Safeguarding policy and sign CAFOD’s Code of Behaviour as an appendix to their contract of employment and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these documents.   

All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references, and appropriate screening checks can include criminal records and terrorism finance checks. CAFOD also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this Scheme, we will request information from job applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their understanding of, and consent to, these recruitment procedures.  

Come and join us and help make a real difference in the lives of the world’s poorest communities. 

CAFOD is an equal opportunities employer. Recruitment and selection procedures reflect our commitment to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults

Have you got experience and a passion for working to support women? We are seeking a new team member to join our small team, in a well-established charity, to support and empower women who experience multiple disadvantages and want to make positive changes to their lives.

We are seeking a Women’s Support Worker to join our Door of Hope team in the East End of London. The role will involve working directly with women who sell sex in Tower Hamlets; supporting them to make goals and support the changes that they wish to make, through information sharing, advocacy, and practical support.  We offer this whilst also providing a non-judgemental, and confidential space to talk and be heard.

Who are we looking for…

• You will have the commitment and creativity to engage women who can often be isolated and have difficulty engaging with other services. 
• You will be able to think and work independently yet also be a supportive colleague to the wider team. 
• You will have frontline experience of working with vulnerable women/adults. This might be within the context of domestic/sexual abuse, substance misuse, mental health, or housing. Or it may be of direct experience of women in the sex industry.  You will thrive on supporting women to become empowered and to make positive change.
• You will possess energy, motivation, and professional resilience. 
• You hold a level of confidence in advocating on behalf of women and to other professionals and services, whilst ever mindful of ways to support and encourage the empowerment of women in the process.

About Beyond the Streets

Beyond the Streets is a UK charity with over 20 years’ experience of partnering with women in the sex industry to see them safe from coercion, violence and abuse. We deliver trauma-informed, person-centered support, provide training for the third sector and statutory professionals, and create resources and reports informed by research, lived experience, and practitioner experience. Our training and partnership work seeks to equip professionals to understand the sex industry, particularly survival sex, and to support them to engage with women selling sex in a trauma-informed way.

You’ll enjoy…

• Competitive pay – earn £30,600 rising to £31,407 FTE on successful completion of probation (this includes London weighting)
• Pension - 5% employer contribution, 3% employee contribution
• Generous annual leave - 33 days including bank holidays pro rata
• Flexible working – Our core hours are 10am to 3pm
• Family friendly policies – parental leave from day 1 of employment, an enhanced maternity pay policy and a flexi time policy as standard
• Career opportunities – develop yourself and your career in a reputable national organisation who are specialists in the VAWG sector
• Personal development allowance – to further your work-based skills and knowledge
• Cycle to work scheme – tax free allowance to buy
• Tech Buying Scheme – spread the cost of personal technology equipment and homeware across 12 months via payroll
• Travel season ticket loan scheme - an interest-free loan to enable team members to purchase a season ticket for travel between their usual place of residence and their usual place of work
• Clinical supervision – all staff are entitled to clinical supervision on request. A place to discuss work issues and challenges, and their emotional impact, on a regular basis.
• Blue light discount – a well recognized national discount card scheme. It will cost you £4.99 for two years’ membership but the discounts are large, and it’s widely accepted.
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) – a confidential and independent service designed to help you deal with personal and professional problems that could be affecting your home life, work life, health, and general wellbeing. EAP is available to you and to your immediate family.

All roles are subject to proof of eligibility to work in the UK, satisfactory references, and a DBS check.

About the role

This is a senior leadership role and a key early appointment within EQUISS.

As Head of Advocacy and Safeguarding, you will lead the development of our advocacy and safeguarding work, shaping how EQUISS supports individuals navigating abuse, misconduct and safeguarding concerns across the equestrian sector.

You will establish and oversee the organisation’s advocacy service and support line, including recruiting and managing advocacy caseworkers, and ensuring individuals receive safe, informed and survivor-centred guidance. You will also lead the development of safeguarding frameworks, case management systems and organisational safeguarding practice.

As a founding leadership role, you will help shape the safeguarding framework of a new independent organisation, providing strategic oversight of the EQUISS safeguarding training programme and contributing safeguarding expertise to the development of our standards and accreditation frameworks, ensuring learning from advocacy informs sector practice.

Working closely with the leadership team, you will help establish EQUISS as a trusted organisation driving stronger safeguarding, clearer reporting pathways and greater accountability across the equestrian sector.

As a developing organisation operating with a small and collaborative team, this role requires someone who is comfortable balancing strategic leadership with practical delivery. We are looking for a compassionate and inclusive leader who can support and develop others, foster a culture of trust and reflective practice, and contribute positively to building the organisation as it grows.

Key responsibilities

Strategic leadership and safeguarding oversight

• Provide strategic leadership for EQUISS’ advocacy and safeguarding work
• Establish safeguarding frameworks, case management processes and risk management structures across the organisation
• Act as Designated Safeguarding Lead, providing oversight of complex safeguarding cases and ensuring appropriate referrals and partnership working
• Ensure EQUISS maintains robust safeguarding governance, confidentiality and data protection standards

Advocacy and support services

• Lead the development and delivery of EQUISS’s advocacy service and support line.
• Recruit, manage and support advocacy caseworkers, ensuring high-quality, survivor-centred support and safe case management practice
• Shape how EQUISS supports individuals navigating reporting processes, organisational complaints and statutory systems
• Oversee case management systems and triage processes to ensure safe, consistent and effective responses to safeguarding concerns

Safeguarding training and sector learning

• Provide strategic oversight of the EQUISS safeguarding training programme, ensuring training reflects the realities of safeguarding within equestrian environments and aligns with best practice across sport and safeguarding sectors
• Lead the recruitment, management and quality assurance of safeguarding trainers, including freelance trainers, consultants and subject-matter experts delivering EQUISS training programmes
• Work with trainers and external partners to develop and refine training content, ensuring consistency, accuracy and high standards of delivery
• Establish processes for trainer induction, guidance and quality assurance to ensure training is delivered in line with EQUISS safeguarding principles and standards
• Ensure learning from advocacy work informs training content, sector guidance and safeguarding practice

Contribution to standards and sector improvement

• Contribute safeguarding expertise to the development of EQUISS standards and accreditation frameworks, ensuring safeguarding expectations reflect best practice
• Use insight from advocacy and safeguarding work to inform sector learning, standards development and organisational guidance
• Support the development of sector resources that help organisations strengthen safeguarding practice

Sector engagement and partnerships

• Build relationships with safeguarding professionals, statutory agencies and specialist support organisations
• Represent EQUISS in sector conversations relating to safeguarding, welfare and organisational accountability
• Contribute to knowledge-sharing, policy discussions and initiatives aimed at improving safeguarding standards across the equestrian sector

Culture, learning and survivor-centred practice

• Ensure EQUISS’s work remains grounded in survivor-centred principles, independence and transparency
• Embed learning from lived experience into service design, safeguarding practice and training development
• Foster a culture of reflective practice, safeguarding vigilance and professional integrity within the organisation

Person specification

Qualifications

• A relevant professional qualification or degree in safeguarding, social work, psychology, law, education, criminology or a related field, or equivalent professional experience
• ISVA, IDVA or CHISVA qualification, or willingness to work towards one
• Advanced safeguarding training, including Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) training and Safeguarding Level 4 or Level 5 training, or equivalent senior safeguarding training
• Evidence of continued professional development in safeguarding practice

Essential experience and knowledge

• Significant professional experience in safeguarding, advocacy or victim-survivor support, ideally within violence against women and girls (VAWG), sport, welfare or related sectors
• Strong understanding of independent advocacy models, including ISVA and CHISVA frameworks, and how these operate alongside statutory services
• Experience overseeing complex safeguarding cases, including risk assessment, referrals and partnership working within multi-agency safeguarding environments such as police, social care and safeguarding hubs
• Experience leading and managing teams, including providing supervision or reflective practice support to staff working with complex safeguarding or advocacy cases
• Experience recruiting, supporting or overseeing trainers, facilitators or external practitioners, ensuring quality and consistency of delivery
• Experience supporting or working with individuals affected by sexual exploitation, sex trafficking, modern slavery or related forms of abuse
• Demonstrable understanding of trauma-informed and survivor-centred practice
• Strong knowledge of UK safeguarding legislation and guidance, including responsibilities relating to children and adults at risk, and experience contributing to organisational safeguarding policies, procedures or governance frameworks
• Ability to exercise sound professional judgement in complex safeguarding situations, maintaining confidentiality and appropriate professional boundaries

Leadership and personal qualities

• A compassionate and inclusive leadership style, with the ability to support staff working with complex and sensitive safeguarding issues.
• Ability to work effectively in a small and collaborative team, contributing to the development of systems, processes and culture as the organisation grows.
• Strong interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence, with the ability to build trust with colleagues, partners and those seeking support.
• A collaborative mindset and willingness to work flexibly in a developing organisation, balancing strategic leadership with hands-on delivery where required.

Desirable

• Experience working within sport, equestrian environments or athlete welfare contexts.
• Experience contributing to sector standards, accreditation frameworks or safeguarding policy development.
• Membership of, or engagement with, a relevant professional safeguarding body or network.

About EQUISS

EQUISS is an independent organisation working across the equestrian sector to improve safeguarding, welfare and accountability. We support individuals affected by abuse and misconduct, work with organisations to strengthen safeguarding practice, and drive systemic change through training, standards and advocacy.

Our work brings together three key areas: supporting individuals navigating concerns, strengthening safeguarding practice across the sector, and campaigning for meaningful reform where systems are failing.

As a developing organisation, EQUISS is building the structures, services and standards needed to ensure safeguarding and welfare are prioritised across the equestrian world.

Please note: There will be a requirement to travel for this role.

Employment package:

• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays
• A personal pension plan provided through NEST after 3 months
• Private Healthcare insurance after successful completion of probationary period
• Reporting to CEO