Band 5 Assistant Psychologist - Fixed Term

Job summary

The Defence Clinical Psychology Service (DCPS) is a specialist service delivering high-quality psychological care to United Kingdom (UK) Armed Forces personnel.

We are seeking a motivated Assistant Psychologist to support the delivery of evidence-based psychological assessment, formulation, and intervention within a multidisciplinary Defence healthcare setting.

This post is offered at 37.5 hours per week, requests to work flexibly and/or part time will be considered, taking into account business needs. Please note the salary will be pro-rata where part time hours are undertaken.

This is a fixed term position that is lifed until 1st April 2029.

For this role you must have a willingness to work across Mental Health Network South West sites as required.

Does this sound like the role for you?

We offer the following employee benefits:

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• Free Parking
• An inclusive working environment
• An NHS pension

Main duties of the job

DCPS operates within a fast-paced environment supporting Service personnel with complex presentations, including operational stress, trauma-related difficulties, adjustment issues, and occupational impact on mental health.

The post holder will work under the supervision of a qualified Clinical Psychologist and contribute to clinical, service development, audit, and research activity.

DCPS provides specialist psychological services across primary and community mental health settings within Defence, supporting operational effectiveness and recovery.

About us

Our success depends on our people our Whole Force regular and reservist military, civil servants and contractors, all working as one, working together seamlessly to deliver for us.

Our civil servants are a central part of this Whole Force, developing strategy, making policy, supporting ministerial decision-making and Parliamentary processes. In fact, with over 2,000 different roles working across 650 sites around the world, now really is an excellent time to join one of the largest, most exciting departments in government.

The Ministry of Defence is committed to attracting and retaining people from across the full range of backgrounds and enabling flexible ways of working as the norm. We offer maternity, adoption or shared parental leave of up to 26 weeks full pay followed by 13 weeks of statutory pay and a further 13 weeks unpaid, and paternity leave of 2 weeks full pay.

In return, you can expect a department that helps you learn and develop that recognises your expertise and contribution, both as an individual and part of a team.

If youve ever wanted to do more, see more, go further or be better, we have roles in more professions and vocations than ever before. Let's see where your future will take you, together.

Details

• Date posted: 10 July 2026
• Pay scheme: Agenda for change
• Band: Band 5
• Salary: £31,049 to £37,796 a year Pro Rata for part time * Pay award pending
• Contract: Fixed term
• Duration: 30 months
• Working pattern: Full-time, Job share
• Reference number: K0003-26-0235
• Job locations: Royal Air Force Brize Norton, Carterton, Oxford, OX18 3LX, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities

Duties and responsibilities of the role include but are not limited to:

• Contributing to the provision of a specialist psychological service for Service personnel under supervision of a qualified Clinical Psychologist
• Assisting in psychological assessment, including administration of psychometric tools, structured interviews, and outcome measures
• Assisting in the development of psychological formulations and care plans
• Managing a delegated caseload of less complex cases under supervision
• Liaising appropriately with the Chain of Command while maintaining professional and ethical standards of confidentiality

The selection at sift stage will be based on your CV.

Please ensure you demonstrate that you have the required skills, knowledge, experience, qualifications and memberships in your CV and that you have saved it, making sure that any reference to your personal details have been removed from your CV prior to submitting your application.

Please provide information of how you meet the criteria set out in the Job Description. You may wish to further include examples of how you have tackled similar tasks or demonstrated the skills outlined in the job advert.

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/artificial-intelligence-and-recruitment/

At interview you will be assessed against the following:

• NHS Core NHSC1 Communication
• NHS Core NHSC2 Personal & People Development
• NHS Core NHSC4 Service Improvement
• NHS Core NHSC5 Quality
• HWB2 Assessment & Care Planning
• HWB6 Assessment & Treatment Planning

The interview may consist of a mix of direct questions and clinical situation-based scenarios.

Please see the link to our YouTube channel for advice preparing your best responses with some hints and tips on answering behaviour-based questions. Hints and tips such as: Your behaviours can be based on situations from work, volunteering or home; match your situation to the behaviour requested and how to use your 250-word limit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEpdNWKQSRI

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and working from home as part of a non-contractual hybrid working arrangement. All office-based employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to site capacity and any required workplace adjustments. Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD workplace, will also count towards this level of office attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this and other flexible working arrangements may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details). Defence Business Services cannot respond to any questions about working arrangements.

The sift will be completed within 10 working days of the vacancy closing date. Interviews will be held on a date to be confirmed.

There will be no reimbursement for any travel expenses for the interview.

All employees joining Ministry of Defence who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a 6-month probation period (unless otherwise advised) effective from the employment start date.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check.

Access to the NHS pension scheme is available to the successful candidate.

If found successful for this position, you will be required to provide evidence of your immunity to Hepatitis B. Please note that evidence of your vaccination is not a proof of your immunity, but your serology levels will be required. Failure to provide sufficient evidence may result in the offer of employment being withdrawn.

To be considered for this role, qualifications and memberships detailed must be held in full, prior to submitting your application.

There is no requirement to deploy as this is met by our uniformed personnel, but you will form the continuity of care required by our patients when based at home.

The post does NOT offer relocation expenses (move of home, excess fares or temporary transfer). Non-Standard move applicants will be eligible for the full package, subject to eligibility.

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category, and we will not sponsor a visa. It is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system.

Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected, and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

This vacancy is part of the A Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/making-the-civil-service-a-great-place-to-work-for-veterans

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

There may be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all DCS candidates that meet the minimum criteria for the job. For example, in certain recruitment situations such as a high volume of applications, seasonal demand, or peak periods, the employer may wish to limit the overall number of interviews offered to both DCS and non-DCS applicants.

If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact DBSCivPers-SGDMSResourcing@mod.gov.uk.

The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.

The Ministry of Defence adopts a zero tolerance approach to unacceptable behaviours, which includes bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and victimisation. You will not be eligible and will not be considered for this post if you have been dismissed from a role for such unacceptable behaviours within the last five years. This will also apply if you resign or otherwise leave a role but, because of an adverse decision, would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had you continued in that employment. Pre-employment checks will be carried out.

The Ministry of Defence is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for its staff which includes educating them on the benefits of not smoking, protecting them from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and supporting those who want to give up smoking. Under the Smoke-Free Working Environment policy, Smoking and the use of all tobacco products (including combustible and chewing tobacco products) will not be permitted anywhere in the Defence working environment. The policy is Whole Force and includes all Defence personnel, contractors, visitors and other non-MOD personnel. All applicants seeking, considering, or accepting employment with the Ministry of Defence should be aware of this policy and that it is already in place at a number of Defence Establishments.