Principal Registered Psychologist

at  Ministry of Justice

Salary
The national salary range is £68,295 - £75,124, London salary range is £71,192 - £78,311. Your salary will be dependent on your base location
Number of jobs available
1
Detail of reserve list
12 Months
Region
National
City/Town
London, Sheerness
Building/Site
HM Prison Belmarsh, SE28 0EB, HM Prison Swaleside, ME12 4AX
Grade
Grade 7
Organisation Grade for HMPPS
Band 9
Post Type
Permanent
Working Pattern
Full Time, Part Time, Part Time/Job Share, Flexible Working, Other
Role Type
Psychology
Will the successful applicant have line manager responsibilities?
Yes
Job description
Must have ability to travel to both Swaleside and Belmarsh on a weekly basis.

SUMMARY

The job holder will be responsible for managing a number of work area(s) within the Psychology of the establishment. These include all aspects of the Psychology and should include the management of registered and trainee psychologists. As a member of the senior management team, they will contribute and implement their objectives as defined in the Establishment’s Business Plan.
The Head of Psychology must be a registered psychologist and where there is a requirement of the post, a chartered psychologist.
This is a non-operational job with line management responsibility.

ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE

• Experience of delivering psychological services directly, and through a managed team.

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Registered Practitioner Psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council and eligible to use a protected title.
• May be a Chartered Psychologist and Full member of the appropriate division of the BPS if the post requires it.
• Registered for over two years and are eligible for Associate Fellowship of the BPS.
• When transferring to a Young Persons establishment the job holder will be required to successfully undertake an assessment to demonstrate suitability to work with Young People.
• Job holders must complete specific training in their specialism once they take up post.

The job holder will be required to carry out the following responsibilities, activities and duties:

• Accountable for managing and providing professional leadership of psychologists.
• Accountable for ensuring the psychology service exhibits key competencies, provides performance reports to key stakeholders and complies with HMPPS and professional standards
• Accountable for the delivery and quality of those aspects of treatment programmes that must be overseen by a registered psychologist (typically these courses are the more complex interventions and would include, for example, Sex Offender Treatment Programme (SOTP) but may not include the Thinking Skills Programme (TSP) or Controlling Anger and Learning to Manage it (CALM) programmes
• Accountable for providing the short term evaluation of effectiveness of relevant psychological intervention within the establishment
• Accountable for contributing towards the choice of the appropriate balance of programmes/interventions through conducting Needs Analysis
• Accountable for leading on key areas of offender risk assessment
• Accountable for supervising and overseeing research work
• Accountable for initiating research within the establishment or co-ordinating the establishment’s contribution to national research projects
• Accountable for promoting the work of the Prison Service, through preparing and disseminating research findings detailing clinical practice and outcomes
• Accountable for providing consultancy support for a range of regime issues e.g. Safer Custody/Resettlement/Treatment Programmes
• Accountable for the admissions, applications and referral process for prisoners applying to the relevant settings
• Accountable for ensuring that psychologists have a clearly defined remit in leading on identified tasks
• Manages and provides professional leadership for supervising trainee psychologists’ organisational outputs (e.g. risk reports)
• Accountable for supervising pre-registered psychologists as they move toward registered and/or chartered status
• Accountable for supervising trainees towards qualified status (e.g. as a coordinating supervisor), where appropriate
• Accountable for conducting Psychological Assessments as required
• Accountable for conducting individual interventions as required
• Accountable for assisting in producing policy documents
• Accountable for managing own Continuous Personal Development (CPD) requirements and maintains professional standards
• Act as a negotiation adviser, where suitable and competence has been demonstrated
• Act as a “professional witness” in parole board hearings, multi-agency meetings, and other formal settings where psychology input is required. May also act as an expert witness, in respect of court proceedings, for the Ministry of Justice
• Act as a mentor and exhibit appropriate role modelling to pre-registered psychologists and less experienced staff
• Maintain own CPD and registration with the Health Professions Council (HPC)

Undertake other management tasks including:

• Accountable for the performance of the Function and the staff within it. Manage the achievement of qualitative and quantitative standards including Service Delivery Indicators (SDI’s) within the Function, verifying and signing off documentation as appropriate. Analyses and acts upon data which is relevant to their Function
• Ensure that all managers and staff within the Function are held accountable for providing decent conditions for prisoners and a safe working environment for staff
• Promotes prison service policy in all activities and behaviours e.g. promotediversity, decency, safety and reducing re-offending agendas
• Provides leadership and management of the Function. Will have the skills to apply all Human Resources (HR) related policies and practices and be able to carry out all aspects of people management such as attendance management, disciplinary investigations, performance management and staff appraisals
• Investigate and manage Function prisoners complaints process within the Function
• Responsible for ensuring all litigation claims following staff assaults relevant to area have been dealt with in accordance with policy
• Oversee the compilation and achievement of any performance improvement programmes reporting on progress regularly as appropriate
• Manage the appropriate authorisation of financial compliance statements
• Manage devolved budgets in accordance with the financial procedures outlined in the budget delegation
• Ensure that the Function produces and analyses audit and establishment performance management information identifying variances and areas requiring improvements
• Contribute to the establishment’s overall achievement of (SDIs) and standards and be accountable for the performance and delivery of targets relating to the budget, People Plan for the Function
• Accountable for all local and national policies relating to Function, and ensure procedures implemented are compliant, including development of new policies
• Contribute to the development and delivery of the medium-to-long term strategic and business plan for the establishment, with overall responsibility for implementation within their Function
• Attend relevant boards/meetings and actively contribute either as chair or team member
• Responsible for ensuring the defined work areas and associated activities comply with Health and Safety legislation. Ensure all risk assessments are undertaken and staff are made aware of their personal responsibility towards Health and Safety compliance
• Work collaboratively and provide constructive challenge to colleagues to ensure that their own and other Functions are joined up and together contribute towards the overall delivery of the establishment’s performance
• Contribute to the preparation of the establishment contingency and emergency plans and ensure implementation when required.
• Ensure the effective use of staff resources and the provision of training and annual leave opportunities
• Produce relevant reports as required and ensure that the response to all correspondence are within agreed timescales
• Ensure effective use of staff resources provide training and annual leave opportunities
• Deliver and implement projects as directed by the Governor
• Actively encourage staff engagement within the Function to ensure objectives are met

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary. Significant adjustments may require re-examination under the Job Evaluation Scheme and shall be discussed in the first instance with the job holder.
An ability to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence through the medium of English or (where specified in Wales) Welsh.