Job summary
- Main area
- IPS Employment Support
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 5
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 363-BED7830902
- Employer
- East London NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Luton
- Town
- Luton
- Salary
- £31,049 - £37,796 Per Annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 13/04/2026 23:59
Employer heading
IPS Employment Specialist (Mental Health) - Secondary Care Pathways
NHS AfC: Band 5
ELFT has long been recognised as a centre of excellence for mental and health care, innovation and improvement. So it is a very exciting time for you to come and work for us. Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving quality of life for all we serve. Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Job overview
Vacancies: Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Luton (Primary & Secondary Care Opportunities)
Do you want to make a genuine difference and help transform someone’s life?
We are looking for motivated, passionate self-starters who want to build a career in the mental health sector. These roles offer a fantastic opportunity to make a real difference by supporting people with mental health needs into meaningful employment across Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Luton.
As part of our expanding IPS Employment Service, vacancies are available within Mental Health Community Hubs and Primary Care settings, supporting individuals at different stages of their mental health recovery journey.
As an Employment Specialist, you will play a vital role in helping people with mental health needs find and sustain fulfilling, competitive employment. You will receive comprehensive training, ongoing supervision, and access to a wide range of development opportunities within the Bedfordshire and Luton IPS Employment Service.
We welcome applications from people of all experience levels and backgrounds. What matters most is that you:
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Can motivate and build positive relationships with service users
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Have strong organisational and time management skills
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Are confident communicating and engaging with a range of employers
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Believe that anyone with a mental health condition can work with the right support
Posts may be allocated across Primary Care or Secondary Care teams depending on service needs.
Main duties of the job
What is an IPS Employment Specialist?
This is an exciting and dynamic role where no two days are the same, and you will be making a genuine difference to people’s lives.
As an IPS Employment Specialist, you will use the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model — an evidence-based approach that helps people with mental health needs move into and sustain paid employment.
In this role you will:
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Support and motivate individuals with mental health needs to access and sustain competitive paid employment.
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Meet regularly with clients to understand their goals, identify the right job match based on their strengths, skills and aspirations, and provide practical support such as CV development and interview preparation.
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Provide ongoing in-work support, helping clients manage workplace challenges, develop return-to-work plans where needed, and maintain employment through continued contact.
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Advocate for clients by engaging with employers, raising awareness of the IPS service, and promoting inclusive recruitment practices.
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Proactively source job opportunities through regular contact with local employers and community organisations.
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Work collaboratively as part of a multidisciplinary team, promoting the belief that people with mental health needs can and do succeed in paid employment, and helping to break down barriers to work.
Working for our organisation
Our mission is to make a positive difference to people's lives by improving the quality of life for all we serve.
Our values are: We Care, We Respect, We are Inclusive – so we are looking for people who live and breathe these qualities when supporting service users and carers, and in their relationships with colleagues in the Trust and our partner organisations.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for someone who is passionate about supporting people and wants to help develop our service while transforming lives.
This role requires empathy, resilience, and the ability to build positive relationships with a wide range of people. You will be confident engaging both service users and employers, using different approaches such as telephone contact, virtual meetings, and face-to-face engagement in the community.
You will also bring:
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Strong and persuasive communication skills
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Excellent time management and the ability to manage a varied workload
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High levels of organisation and administrative accuracy
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A proactive, solution-focused approach
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A genuine belief that people with mental health needs can achieve paid employment
If you are looking for a career where you can make a meaningful difference to the lives of people who are unemployed and need support to find paid work, and want to contribute to creating a fairer, more inclusive society in a role where no two days are the same - we would love to hear from you.
Person specification
Education/Qualification/Training
Essential criteria
- • Educated to degree level Or equivalent experience in the field of supported employment – to degree level
Desirable criteria
- • Occupational Therapy, Social Work, Psychology or Employment qualifications
- • IPS training
Experience
Essential criteria
- • Experience of initiating, liaising and collaborating with a wide range of individuals and organisations promoting and developing employment, education and training opportunities on behalf of service users.
- • Experience of working with a range of mental health service users (in health, social care and/or voluntary sectors) implementing individual programmes and interventions.
- • Experience of working towards recovery goal attainment at pace.
- • Experience of actively and regularly engaging with employers and employment providers to seek out employment opportunities on behalf of service users
- • Knowledge of good practice in employment legislation protecting disability equality
- • Experience of constructing and reviewing individually tailored programmes using a person centred approach.
- • Knowledge of vocational assessment & profiling of service users’ vocational needs
Desirable criteria
- • Recent experience of working with service users to help them meet their employment-related goals
- • Experience & knowledge of the benefits agency and all disability employment related benefits
- • Experience of collecting caseload and outcome data
- • Personal experience of using Mental Health services
Knowledge and Skills
Essential criteria
- • Enthusiasm and commitment towards supporting people with mental health problems find paid employment.
- • An understanding of the benefits of work as part of the recovery process and a positive attitude to enabling service users overcome barriers to finding employment, are essential.
- • Excellent marketing and promotional skills with an excellent negotiation skills & persuasive style
- • Able to analyse situations / information to identify and support service users to address their individual needs in relation to employment, education and training
- • Good time management skills to balance the co-ordination of own diary making best use of time, efficiently and effectively.
- • Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- • Ability to work independently and collectively as part of a team
- • Excellent interpersonal skills.
- • Ability to embrace and adapt to new challenges
- • Knowledge of local employment issues, relevant Government policy and Trust priorities
- • Excellent IT skills
- • Ability to work autonomously and use own initiative
Desirable criteria
- • Knowledge of relevant welfare benefits and benefits rules
- • Experience of delivering presentations to a wide variety of colleagues and agencies internal and external to the Trust
Other
Essential criteria
- • An inclusive approach to employment and a ‘can do’ attitude
- • Flexible/adaptable.
- • Ability to travel independently to other bases.
- • Cover for team members working in other areas in exceptional circumstances.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Chantelle
- Job title
- IPS Service Manager
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07803887362
- Additional information
Simran Khinder - Recovery Service Manager
07788186125
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