Family Services Student Placement (HMP Coldingley)

Volunteering as a Family Services Student Placement

Are you looking for a Social Work placement or perhaps a year in industry/sandwich year?

Pact placement provides students with the opportunity to work closely with people impacted by imprisonment - students must use their problem-solving skills to address complex issues around the individuals, their families, and their communities at large. Every case is different and requires a student who can not only adapt their knowledge to fit the context and provide tailored work plans but can lead and influence our service users to want to do better for themselves and their families.

This opportunity is like no other, with first-hand experience of working on the front line, our students learn to adapt to new environments, withstand and recover quickly from difficult situations, and become independent case leaders who can see the difference their work is making to people's lives.

Why choose Pact for your placement?

Pact was founded more than 125 years ago by volunteers. True to our roots, volunteers continue to play a key role in helping us provide our services in courts, prisons and communities across England and Wales.

We hope that you make the decision to come join us and help us get one step closer to a society that understands justice as a process of restoration and healing for all.

At Pact we believe in the unique dignity of every human being. We are an inclusive, welcoming organisation, with a diverse workforce of people who share our core values. We welcome applications from people from all sectors of our diverse communities and all backgrounds, including people who have been affected by imprisonment (appointment to post may be subject to a risk assessment).

What happens next?

After you’ve filled in an application, we will invite you for an interview at the earliest convenient date for you and your manager. This is an opportunity for us to find out a bit more about you and your motivations for volunteering and for you to find out more about Pact and the role you’ve applied for to make sure it’s what you expected! Where possible, we will conduct these interviews on site and in person so you can get a feeling of the working environment and the commute.

If successful at interview, you will then be required to complete our background checks, which will include references and an Enhanced DBS. You will also be required to complete our mandatory online training (approx. 10-12 hours) before being able to start the role (please see the role profile for more information about the training).

Once all the checks and training have been completed, you will have a check-in meeting with your manager to check you have understood everything and give you a final chance to ask any questions before you start!

Please note - Students on placement as part of their degree course are not eligible to claim out of pocket expenses, including travel.

Suggested Involvement

Please complete as much information about your placement in your application form and we will endeavour to fulfil your requirements.

Please note, because of the recruitment process, which can take several weeks, and the nature of this role, we are unable to short-term placements (such as those with 4 week / 30 hour requirements).

For more information about this role, please download the full role profile on the right-hand side of this page.