Volunteer Cadet Unit Leader New Forest - HC623425
Job Title: Volunteer Cadet Unit Leader - New Forest - HC623425
Location: New Forest
Salary: Volunteer
Hours: 3 hours per week
Contract: Permanent
Closing Date: Monday 30th March 2026 at 23:59 hours
Become a Cadet Unit Leader – Inspire. Support. Lead.
Make a Difference in Your Community
Are you looking for a role where you can make a real and lasting difference to young people in your community? We are currently recruiting Volunteer Police Cadet Unit Leaders for our Basingstoke and New Forest units.
This is a unique opportunity to guide and inspire young people while developing your own leadership, communication and organisational skills.
The New Forest Unit runs on Thursdays from 6 to 8pm
As a Unit Leader, you will play a vital part in supporting young people during some of the most important years of their development.
You will help cadets to build their confidence and resilience, develop transferable life skills, and feel supported by consistent and positive adult role models. Through your guidance, they will gain a better understanding of their community and how they can contribute to it, while also exploring future opportunities, including potential careers in policing.
You will volunteer alongside other adult leaders to ensure the welfare and development of everyone in your unit, while maintaining compliance with safeguarding and organisational standards.
Your responsibilities will include:
- Planning and coordinating weekly cadet sessions.
- Delivering an engaging curriculum and organising community events.
- Acting as the main point of contact for parents and guardians.
- Promoting the cadet unit within the local community.
- Managing records, budgets, and risk assessments for events.
This is a varied and rewarding role where you can genuinely shape the experiences of young people and fellow volunteers.
Click role profile for full description
We welcome volunteers from all backgrounds, and while prior cadet or youth‑work experience would be a great advantage, it is not essential. What matters most is your ability to communicate effectively, motivate and support young people, demonstrate patience, empathy and commitment, and uphold the constabulary’s values of respect, empathy, courage and public service.
Benefits of Volunteering
Volunteering as a Cadet Unit Leader is a rewarding experience. You will:
- Make a real difference in your community.
- Gain valuable leadership and organisational skills.
- Access training and development opportunities, including safeguarding and role-specific courses.
- Be part of a supportive team committed to helping young people thrive.
Unit Leaders typically commit to one evening per week for cadet sessions, plus occasional weekends for community events. We understand flexibility is important and will work with you to accommodate your availability.
Help us support young people as they grow, learn, and contribute to their communities.
We Are Emotionally Aware Level 1
We Support and Inspire Level 1 Level 1
We Take Ownership Level 1
If you are ready to apply, click the ‘Apply’ button at the top of the page!
When applying, you will have the opportunity to tell us how you are meeting the criteria outlined on the advert. Please use concrete examples that demonstrate the level of your knowledge/skills.
You can use specific examples from your career or personal life to demonstrate your competence and describe how recently you have used your skills,
Read through the competencies hyperlinked above: these, in fact provide clear expectations for everyone working in policing.
They also describe the behaviours required by you, as a police officer or member of staff or volunteer, to be effective in your role.
Please note that the email address you supply when submitting an application will be used for contact throughout the full lifecycle of that vacancy. You will not be able to amend your contact details. You should therefore ensure that you choose an appropriately accessible email address, being mindful that the process may take several months for some roles.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary is an inclusive employer and strives to have a workforce representative of the communities we police and serve. We recognise that we are not fully representative and are working to address this imbalance through a variety of initiatives.
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary is an equal opportunities employer that positively promotes flexible working, enabling officers and staff to achieve a healthy work-life balance whilst meeting operational requirements of the constabulary. We actively encourage applications to be made on a full time, part time or flexible working basis.
The Equality Act 2010 allows us to promote equality within Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary by adopting Positive Action to support people from under-represented groups. Our aim is to recruit talented people with a diverse range of skills and experience and welcome applications from all sections of the community. Our Positive Action team are available to provide support through the application and assessment process by contacting: positive.action@hampshire.pnn.police.uk
The Disability Confident campaign aims to remove barriers, increase understanding and ensure that people have opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations. We will accommodate requests for reasonable adjustments where possible throughout our recruitment and promotions processes and encourage anyone requiring reasonable adjustments to disclose this at the earliest opportunity.