IPS Senior Employment Specialist - Primary Care Networks - Suffolk

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About Us

EPUT provides community health, mental health and learning disability services to support more than 3.2 million people living across Bedfordshire, Essex and Suffolk. Also:

• We are among the largest employers in the in the East of England region, with more than 10,000 staff working across more than 200 sites.
• We run the COVID-19 vaccination programme across mid and south Essex and Suffolk and north east Essex.

EPUT was formed on 1 April 2017 following the merger of North Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (NEP) and South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (SEPT). A new leadership team was established at the Trust in 2020.
Our vision and values

Our Vision

"To be the leading health and wellbeing service in the provision of mental health and community care".

Our Purpose

"We care for people every day. What we do together, matters".

Our Values

• We Care
• We Learn
• We Empower

Our strategic objectives

• We will deliver safe, high quality integrated care services.
• We will enable each other to be the best that we can.
• We will work together with our partners to make our services better.
• We will help our communities to thrive.

Our services

• Mental Health Services
• Community Health Services
• Learning Disabilities Services
• Social Care

Find out more about the services we offer in our service directory.

Job overview

The Suffolk IPS (Individual Placement & Support) Employment Service has successfully supported over 300 individuals into meaningful employment, integrated directly into mental health community teams across the county, This new role within the team will see you continuing to 'champion the employment agenda', as we expand our well established service into the Suffolk Primary Care Network. Instilling the belief that people with mental health needs want to work and with the right support, can work.Working within multi-disciplinary Mental Health Teams within Primary Care Networks, you will be expected to 'champion the employment agenda', instilling the belief that people with mental health needs want to work and with the right support can work.

You will work in partnership with individual service users enabling and empowering individuals through exploring individualised employment goals, liaising with employers, training providers, benefits providers and offering in-work support in accordance with the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model of supported employment.

Main duties of the job

You will be at the forefront of this exciting new stage, developing and fostering partnered working with key stakeholders across the Suffolk Primary Care Network.

You will work in partnership with individual service users enabling and empowering individuals through exploring individualised employment goals, liaising with employers, training providers, benefits providers and offering in-work support in accordance with the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model of supported employment.

You will proactively engage with key stakeholders across the newly established Primary Care Networks, liaising with mental health care professionals to raise awareness of IPS and our service offering, generating referrals for the Suffolk Employment Service.

You will "role-model" good Fidelity practice to others within IPS and wider Employment Services to help with personal development and training. You will also provide mentoring and support in a 1 to 1 and group format where required.

You will promote best practice within mental health and employment in the Trust and other organisations in the local area, helping to promote clinical integration and generating service referrals.

You will display excellent diary management in a combination of working from home, in the community and in the office, to achieve personal targets.

Working for our organisation

EPUT are looking for motivated staff who shares our Trust values of Care, Learn and Empower. In return, EPUT can offer you a range of benefits and development including;
• Season Ticket Loans
• NHS discounts for staff
• Excellent Training facilities and opportunities
• Buying and Selling annual leave scheme
• The opportunity to work bank shifts and expand knowledge and experience in other areas
• Salary Sacrifice schemes including lease cars and Cycle to Work
• Day One Flexible Employer

Join our Staff bank

What is Staff Bank?

Our EPUT NHS staff bank is an entity managed by the trust that hires clinical and non-clinical healthcare professionals to take on shifts at our trust hospitals and community settings. Here at EPUT we maintain our own bank of specialist staff to ensure that we are able offer safe and effective care at all times.

All our permanent staff are automatically enrolled onto the staff bank however this does not mean you have to work any additional shifts, but the option is there for you if you wish.

If you are joining our Trust in a fixed term role, please indicate on your New Starter Paperwork that you wish to join our staff bank.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

To effectively manage a caseload of clients to achieve their employment goal taking into consideration the individuals' preferences, skills/experience and barriers to employment.

To draw up an agreed Vocational Action Plan to prepare individuals for employment by assessing each person's individual vocational needs which might typically include identifying strengths, help with in-work benefits, overcoming barriers, travel to work plans, etc.

To assist individuals in rapid job search, which may include employment preparations such as supporting CV production, job searching, application completion, interview preparation, disclosure statements, exploring in-work benefits etc.

To actively identify and develop new relationships and strong links with local employers to facilitate introductions and the hiring of clients under your support using multiple methods of engagement such as phone calling, networking and in person meetings in line with expectations relating to frequency and quality of engagement

To provide job sustainment interventions to service users to enable the person to address in-work support needs whilst sustaining their employment, for example, negotiating adjustments to the job role with employers

To support other Employment Specialists (ES) and Peer Support Workers via 1 to 1 or group delivery to provide a Fidelity compliant Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model through mentoring, shadowing and modelling techniques.

To lead by example whilst delivering employment support by offering shadowing/learning opportunities of each area of key IPS fidelity principles to ES colleagues.

To provide specific employment and job sustainment support to the team, providing an enhanced level of expertise and delivering agreed development /action plans / identified and specific work; prioritising the most complex cases.

To develop community links in order to increase social inclusion and sharing these links collectively with colleagues to build on best practice. For example education providers, DWP, volunteer agencies, charities and social enterprises.

To lead on employment support for clients with complex support needs, either by joint working or assignment- depending on the individuals preferences

To provide additional service support as instructed by the Team Leader that is appropriate to the level of the role e.g. support with waiting list allocation.

To provide outcome measures on a monthly basis to the Team Leader and provide additional information when requested to support service improvements through monitoring/auditing data.

To continue to develop own understanding of government policy in the area of mental health and social inclusion, and to contribute to Trust policies and service development in line with this.

Person specification

Additional Requirements

Essential criteria

• Driving License and access to a vehicle

Desirable criteria

• Ability to travel across sites and across Trust boundaries to meet with clients, attend team meetings, training, etc.

Standard of Education / Training

Essential criteria

• Educated to degree level; Health and Social care related qualification
• Qualification in; Information, Advice & Guidance or Employability Service Sector
• Trained in IPS approach

Desirable criteria

• Good standard of Education or equivalent years of experience in sector

Knowledge

Essential criteria

• Understanding of the needs and challenges faced by people experiencing mental health difficulties when looking for employment
• Good knowledge of local and/or Government employment initiatives
• Knowledge of relevant Welfare Benefits, i.e. disability, employment and in-work benefits
• Knowledge of the IPS model and Fidelity requirements

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge of the Equality Act 2010
• An understanding of the principles and practice of supported employment (IPS Model)

Personal Qualities

Essential criteria

• Ability to be flexible, open and creative when problem solving, facilitating solutions to challenging situations
• Influential, with good negotiating and persuasiveness skills which will benefit development of relationships with local employers/ stakeholders
• Good communicator, who displays a commitment to working collectively with colleagues to reach team targets, sharing best practice ideas, stakeholder links and employer leads
• Ability to work independently, reliably and consistently whilst delivering support in line with Trust values - We Care, We Learn, We Empower

Experience

Essential criteria

• Experience of helping people obtain or sustain employment/training
• Experience of working within health, social care or the voluntary sector with people who have experienced mental health problems
• Experience of developing local stakeholder relationships
• Literate in IT/Computer Skills, including Outlook, Word, Excel, Databases

Desirable criteria

• Previous Experience of delivering IPS Employment Support
• Trained in Mental Health First Aid

!Important Professional References

Make sure that as a part of your application you have professional references with business contract information covering your last three year employment history. We are unable to accept personal or character references.

As a newly appointed employee you are responsible for incurring the cost of your initial DBS check relevant to your post, the amount will be deducted from your first salary with the Trust.

Applications for Job Share are positively welcomed.

Equal Opportunities Employer

Our Trust is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We particularly welcome applications from people with experience of using mental health services. We also hold the Disability two tick symbol and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with learning disabilities, we encourage people with a disability to apply. If you require this application form in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape etc, please contact the Recruitment Department on 01375 364513 or email epunft.recruitment.adverts@nhs.net and we can arrange for this to be dispatched to you.

The Trust has the right to expire vacancies prior to the closing date if they so wish. The Trust makes every attempt to contact all applicants and we strongly advise that you check the email account which is registered with NHS Jobs regularly, we would advise however due to the high number of applications we receive that if you have not heard from us within three weeks of the closing date your application has been unsuccessful on this occasion.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults, and expect all staff to undertake this commitment. Applicants will be subject to robust safer recruitment processes.

Covid Vaccination

Although Covid vaccinations are no longer a mandatory requirement within the NHS we continue to encourage and support the vaccination uptake as this remains the best line of defence against Covid19. The safety of our staff and patients is a top priority for us at EPUT.

If you would like to book a Covid vaccination or would like more information please contact us by emailing epunft.cv19hr@nhs.net.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Documents to download

• Senior ES JD (PDF, 536.5KB)
• Senior ES Suffolk PS (PDF, 640.3KB)
• Why Join The NHS Pension Scheme (PDF, 91.3KB)
• EPUT Pledge - Step into Health (PDF, 211.0KB)
• Candidate Privacy Policy (PDF, 173.9KB)
• Right to Work Information (PDF, 293.6KB)
• Employer Recognition Scheme - Gold Award (PDF, 27.7KB)
• Trust Vision and Values (PDF, 168.9KB)
• Values of the NHS Pension (PDF, 151.3KB)
• EPUT Staff Benefits (PDF, 89.3KB)