Employment Specialist | South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust
| Posting date: | 08 July 2025 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | Not specified |
| Additional salary information: | £35,763 - £43,466 per annum inclusive of outer London HCAS |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 07 August 2025 |
| Location: | London, SW17 0YF |
| Company: | South West London and St Georges Mental Health Trust |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 7333006/294-COMM-7333006-JB-A |
Summary
We are currently seeking to recruit 3 Full Time Employment Specialists to join our Individual Placement and Support (IPS) team. The following locations are available: Wandsworth, Richmond, Sutton.
South West London & St Georges NHS Trust has a proud history as one of the first IPS providers in the UK and we have IPS Employment Specialists working across our service to provide support to service users with severe mental illness and helping them to find suitable employment or to retain work if their job is at risk.
IPS services are expanding nationally as part of the Government’s agenda to provide greater support for people with Mental Health problems in gaining sustainable Employment and we are committed to continuously improving our own service and our integration into community mental health teams.
As an IPS Employment Specialist, you will work with a caseload of 20-25 individuals in line with the IPS Fidelity scale. The core foundations of the role are routed in clinical team integration, vocational profiling and employer engagement and we work with every person as an individual, supporting them in line with their work preferences and aspirations.
We are looking for individuals who are passionate and motivated to make a difference to people’s lives and work collaboratively as part of our clinical service to be an advocate for the value of Employment in someone’s recovery when diagnosed with severe mental illness.
You will be proactive and able to work collaboratively within a team and have a good understanding of the challenges that people with severe mental illness face in employment. Experience in a similar role is helpful, but more important is the attitude and motivation to make a difference in people’s lives and recovery.
Agile and flexible working:
As one of the few Trusts in London we are proud to offer flexible and agile working as part of our new ways of working, and we are happy to talk flexible working at the interview stage. In this role you will be able to work Monday to Friday in the time frames from 9am to 5pm giving you the very best of good work life balance.
We are Proud to Belong at South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust.
We have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as ‘good’ - we aspire to be ‘outstanding’.
This is a great time to join us. We are transforming the way we care for our communities to support our mission of Making Life Better Together. We have built two brand new mental health facilities at Springfield University Hospital, which are amongst the best in the world. More developments are planned across our sites and services as we invest a further £120m to upgrade and modernise our estate by 2027.
We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do
We offer flexible working, career development and a variety of benefits to enable a positive, welcoming environment in which our people and their careers can thrive.
Come and join our inclusive teams and help our patients on their recovery journey.
1. To manage a caseload of a maximum of 25 service users at any one time who are currently off work / unemployed and who wish to return to work
2. To be gain referrals from primary care services, being responsible for those service users who want to return to employment.
3. To meet regularly with primary care staff to co-ordinate and integrate employment support into health treatment.
4. To prepare individuals for a return to work through assessing each person’s individual employment needs through vocational profiling/assessment.
5. To provide individualised, support to individuals once they have returned to work to assist them in sustaining employment.
6. To proactively engage and work with employers to retain employment opportunities for people who have experienced mental health problems.
7. To provide education and support to employers, as agreed with the individual, which may include negotiating adjustments, return to work strategy and on-going contact with the employer to ensure
job retention.
8. To provide outreach services as necessary to individuals when they appear to disengage from the service. Maintain some contact with individuals even without a vocational focus if necessary to
sustain engagement.
This advert closes on Sunday 20 Jul 2025