This is the page that puts a face to a voice when you give us a call ~ 0844 4993398
the Backstop Recruitment Service team
Amanda
Amanda is our newly-appointed Recruitment Team Manager. She has worked in a London Youth Offending Service (YOS) for nine and a half years in a range of roles including Generic YOS Officer, Prevent and Deter Co-ordinator and Senior Court Officer. In addition, she has been an area assessor for the first phase of YOS inspections in 2004 and provided a consultancy service to a London YOS, so she has an excellent understanding of the needs of managers and practitioners in criminal justice. Further to this she runs groups for adults involved in drink-driving offences. In her free time, Amanda is a keen snowboarder and loves to travel, with New York being her all-time favourite destination.
Effia
Effia joined our team of Consultants after having cut her teeth with us as Recruitment Process Co-ordinator. With three years' experience recruiting to thefinance industry and having worked on various business development projects, Effia is great at unlocking the potential in each and every candidate who walks through our door. When not working on finding you your perfect placement, she is busy being an all-round domestic goddess, always engaged in planning lavish dinner parties and making the rest of the office jealous with her delicious creations. Also a self-confessed Come Dine With Me addict, she is Backstop's resident food expert.
Nick With a BA Hons in History from Newcastle University, Nick has worked in temporary and permanent recruitment for the last 3 years where he has developed a vast knowledge of working practices, building markets from scratch and understanding the difference between PAYE and Ltd contracts. From a family of police officers, Nick has always been interested in the criminal justice field and is relishing the opportunity to grow alongside Backstop. As a keen sports enthusiast he will mostly be found in front of the telly or at a stadium, cheering on his favourite teams.
Kath Kath started at Backstop in February 2008. With four years of experience in the London recruitment industry, Kath decided to carry her knowledge and skills over from the education sector to the youth justice specialist field. Kath initially took on the role of Recruitment Process Co-ordinator and progressed into the role of Recruitment Consultant. Carrying a camera is Kath's thing - everyone in the office may not appreciate being papped by Kath on a night out - but they all ask for copies afterwards. If you are currently working as a Backstop temporary practitioner, expect to be invited to be snapped by Kath at one of our special practitioner events soon!
Alex
Alex is the newest addition to our Recruitment Team. As well as matching locums to their ideal placements, her role as Recruitment Consultant involves the maintenance and expansion of Managed Vendor Service contracts. She brings with her a solid background in recruitment with over five years' agency and on-site experience in the fields of construction, housing revenues & benefits and legal, to name but a few! Alex joined Backstop through a desire to really get her teeth into the specialist field of Criminal Justice. Whilst out of the office, Alex loves nothing more than a spot of retail therapy...you'll always see her in a pair of super-fierce heels!
Malyssa As Candidate Control Officer, Malyssa is your friendly first point of contact, assessing all CVs that we receive and matching you to your consultant. She's also responsible for compliance which means she'll stop at nothing to ensure we exercise best practice in all recruitment processes so that each of our candidates is fully equipped to start work. When she's not chasing you up to book you in for that all-important first interview, Malyssa is our tireless charity crusader - always on a mission to get us involved in the next crazy fund-raising event. In between leaping off buildings and tackling white-water assault courses, Malyssa loves to chill out and unwind with her five lovely pet cats.
Abi
Abi is our dedicated Candidate Control Assistant. With a degree in Law and a track record of working in recruitment, she's an expert when it comes to compliance and ensuring that our locums tick all the boxes in terms of working in accordance with client and recruitment regulations. Working tirelessly behind the scenes, Abi won't stop till she's satisfied that our placements are fully compliant - and she's not afraid to stalk to achieve this! A self-confessed chatterbox, out of the office you'll mostly find Abi ripping up the dancefloor in London's trendiest nightspots, enjoying good food and putting the most ardent shopaholics out there to shame!
Rodger
Rodger holds a joint honours degree in Psychology and Sociology and qualified as a Social Worker in 1987. He also holds a management qualification. His entire working career has been spent in the criminal justice field. Initially working in approved Probation hostels, Rodger then moved on to work as a manager in a large Children’s home. Further experience entailed setting up one of the first Residential Remand units in the country for young people remanded to local authority accommodation. For the last eleven years Rodger has managed Youth Justice services first as a Youth Justice Service Manager and then as a YOT Manager in the North West. This entailed establishing the YOT following the Crime and Disorder Act and developing systems to monitor the performance agenda introduced by the Youth Justice Board. Achievements include consistently good performance ratings, positive outcomes for young people and a highly satisfactory Inspection undertaken in 2005. Rodger joined Backstop in October 2006 and runs the Company’s Northern office. His interests include, music, skiing, travel and cricket…..he still plays competitively.
the Backstop Training Service team
Naomi After completing her Social Welfare Degree, Naomi worked for a busy London YOT. She joined Backstop in 2001 as a Recruitment Consultant and is now our Systems and Personnel Manager with responsibility for Training bookings. Throughout her time at Backstop Naomi has continued to work with young people in the voluntary sector giving them opportunities to volunteer and make a contribution to their local communities. She is currently undertaking her Diploma in Management and is now responsible for ensuring her previous experience is passed on to the team and equipping them with the tools to provide you with an excellent service. Warm and charming, she is also focussed ~ remember she didn't get to be a teenage kickboxing champion for nothing.
Chiatulah
Is rated by many sources as one of the best Diversity and Race Equality trainers in the UK. For most of the 1990s he was a Groupwork Probation Officer at the flagship Camberwell Probation Centre in the former Inner London Probation Service (ILPS), specialising in BME Offender and Cognitive Behavioural groups. Chiatulah ran over 500 BME offender group sessions and wrote the most influential handbook in this field. His unique level of experience and empowering training style has led to an ever increasing demand for his skills as a trainer and consultant from criminal justice agencies nationwide. He has delivered training packages to over 2,500 staff in Youth Offending and Probation teams to date and is currently taking bookings months in advance so please be aware that you will need to book early.
Backstop MD
Andrew Andrew Thorne, Backstop founder, is a qualified social worker with ten years experience of working with young offenders both in the UK and the USA. He worked in a busy London YOT until the summer of 2001. Realizing that the usual recruitment agencies had little idea of what working in a YOT actually meant, Andrew decided to utilize his knowledge of the criminal justice field and set up a specialist recruitment agency. Backstop was subsequently launched in September 2001. Since that time Andrew has continued to manage the company; however he has a strong desire to get back into frontline YOT work again on a part-time basis so any YOT managers looking for an experienced practitioner…… Also has a strong interest in meteorology so be aware what you're getting into if you mention the weather.
the friendly Backstop Finance Department
Alicja
Alicja is the Backstop finance officer. Should you have any questions about pay or timesheets you will be speaking to her or Linda. Accurate and friendly, she will be happy to talk you through any general finance question you may have regarding temporary work. Alicja has a Masters degree in Finance from Gdansk University and at present she is updating her knowledge to British standards by studying the professional level of ACCA. Before joining Backstop she worked for an international architectural practice as an accounts assistant. Beyond work, her hobby is restoring antique rugs and needlework (a piece of her work is even in the British Museum).
Linda Our very efficient Finance Assistant. Linda joined the Backstop team as Finance Assistant in August 2007 after having worked in retail banking for over 20 years, performing various roles including processing customer transactions and customer services. Within the finance team Linda is responsible for processing the weekly payroll for all locums and will be happy to assist you with any payroll queries you might have.
You are here: Practitioner lounge
ndon Youth Offending Service (YOS) for nine and a half years in a range of roles including Generic YOS Officer, Prevent and Deter Co-ordinator and Senior Court Officer. In addition, she has been an area assessor for the first phase of YOS inspections in 2004 and provided a consultancy service to a London YOS, so she has an excellent understanding of the needs of managers and practitioners in criminal justice. Further to this she runs groups for adults involved in drink-driving offences. In her free time, Amanda is a keen snowboarder and loves to travel, with New York being her all-time favourite destination. 
o the finance industry and having worked on various business development projects, Effia is great at unlocking the potential in each and every candidate who walks through our door. When not working on finding you your perfect placement, she is busy being an all-round domestic goddess, always engaged in planning lavish dinner parties and making the rest of the office jealous with her delicious creations. Also a self-confessed Come Dine With Me addict, she is Backstop's resident food expert.
ir ideal placements, her role as Recruitment Consultant involves the maintenance and expansion of Managed Vendor Service contracts. She brings with her a solid background in recruitment with over five years' agency and on-site experience in the fields of construction, housing revenues & benefits and legal, to name but a few! Alex joined Backstop through a desire to really get her teeth into the specialist field of Criminal Justice. Whilst out of the office, Alex loves nothing more than a spot of retail therapy...you'll always see her in a pair of super-fierce heels! 
r 500 BME offender group sessions and wrote the most influential handbook in this field. His unique level of experience and empowering training style has led to an ever increasing demand for his skills as a trainer and consultant from criminal justice agencies nationwide. He has delivered training packages to over 2,500 staff in Youth Offending and Probation teams to date and is currently taking bookings months in advance so please be aware that you will need to book early. 
