Employment Specialist - Individual Placement and Support

Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust - Employment Specialist (Individual Placement and Support)

Closing date: 04 May 2026

Help change minds. Help change lives.

Work is a vital part of recovery for people needing mental health support. With increased funding, we are recruiting new Employment Specialists to support clients accessing the Malvern Neighbourhood Mental Health Service.

Main duties

• Proactively manage a caseload of people who have experienced mental health problems to become established in the workplace.
• Assess and record clients' vocational needs and liaise with clinicians in the team if necessary. Agree and produce person centred action plans and support clients to achieve their goals.
• Assist with activities such as producing a CV, interview techniques, confidence building and any other identified actions.
• Assist clients in gaining employment through job search skills as well as maintaining regular contact with local employers to build lasting and meaningful relationships, identify and create suitable positions such as hidden vacancies for clients.
• Liaise closely with DWP and providers where appropriate.
• Support clients who have secured employment or have experienced difficulties in the workplace to retain and sustain their employment status. Through tools such as benefits advice, work adjustments and support plans, strategies, and tools to share personal information, enhance job sustainment.
• Enhance job sustainment through education, advice and guidance to employers on support needs and negotiating reasonable adjustments and considerations.
• Attend weekly team meetings both as part of the clinical team and the employment services provision.

About us

Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust delivers outstanding care across community hospitals and health services in Worcestershire and mental health and learning disability services across Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

We support around 4,500 staff across 100 sites to provide care for people of all ages and conditions.

Benefits

• 27 days leave plus bank holidays, increasing to 33 days with long service
• Generous NHS pension and enhanced pay when you work unsocial hours
• Flexible and agile working opportunities
• Great maternity, paternity and adoption support
• Wide range of supportive staff networks
• Health and wellbeing opportunities

Job responsibilities / qualifications

Requirements and skills include:

• One to one employment support of helping people obtain or keep education/work.
• Knowledge of IPS and the employment needs and difficulties of people who experience mental health problems.
• Experience working with people on a one to one basis, offering motivation and support.
• Knowledge of a range of resources for helping people maintain employment when facing ill health difficulties.
• Ability to build good relationships with a range of people, from employers to clients.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks at once and work independently, reliably and consistently.
• Excellent administrative and organisational skills.
• Passion for making a difference to people's lives.
• Skills in vocational assessment and in assessing ill health obstacles to returning to work and working with employees to overcome them.
• Ability to meet travel requirements, including areas not accessible by public transport.
• Preparedness to work flexible hours through prior arrangement as job needs dictate (e.g., some evenings).

Person Specification Qualifications

• Education to degree level or equivalent relevant experience.
• GCSE (Grade A-C) or equivalent in English Language.
• Willingness to train in IPS.
• Employment Law and welfare benefits training.
• Mediation training.

Skills and Abilities

• Partnership working to reach positive outcomes for clients.
• Ability to initiate and develop relationships with employers whilst being astute to their needs.

Knowledge

• Report writing skills.
• Solution focused therapy skills.
• Understanding of the principle and practice of supported employment.
• Equality Act.
• Disability and special needs issues in relation to employment and education.

Additional Criteria

• Preparedness to work flexible hours through prior arrangement as the needs of the job dictate (e.g. some evenings).
• Ability to meet the travel requirements of the role, including rural areas and sites not accessible by public transport.

Experience

• Minimum 1 year experience working with people who have experienced mental health problems with health, social services, voluntary sector or mainstream educational or employment services.
• Experience supporting clients on a 1-1 basis.
• Experience and knowledge of welfare benefits and all disability/employment related benefits.
• Personal experience of mental health recovery.
• Experience carrying out person centre recovery plans.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and requires a Disclosure and Barring Service check.

Salary: £32,073 to £39,042.99 a year pro rata for part time.