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Job overview
Are you interested in supporting people to rebuild their lives after a mental health crisis?
In this rewarding role, you will support individuals recovering from a first episode of psychosis to move forward into education, training, and volunteering. Your work will help them regain independence, purpose, and confidence. You will also play a key role in reducing financial stress by providing practical welfare benefits support, enabling service users to focus fully on their recovery.
Over time, you will develop strong partnerships with educational institutions, local providers, and community services, ensuring our service users can access a wide range of opportunities to support their goals and aspirations.
We’re looking for someone who is:
- Experienced in benefits advice, employability, education, or support work
- Skilled at working with people facing complex barriers to engagement
- Confident completing detailed benefits applications and paperwork
- Able to build trusting, therapeutic relationships
- Organised, proactive, and able to manage their own workload
Main duties of the job
- Supporting service users to explore and access education, training and volunteering opportunities
- Providing hands-on support with benefits applications (Universal Credit, PIP, Mandatory Reconsideration Requests, UC Journal Support etc)
- Helping individuals set goals and overcome barriers to participation
- Delivering 1:1 and Group sessions at team base and out in the community
- Working collaboratively with care coordinators and other professionals as part of a multi-disciplinary mental health team
- Building links with local providers, colleges, and community services
- Keeping up to date with benefits changes and local educational opportunities
- Updating records and sharing progress with the wider MDT
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see attached full JD and person specification
Direct work
- Helping service users to identify and consider educational or voluntary opportunities, set personal goals, and develop appropriate action plans to overcome any barriers.
- Supporting service users to complete benefits application forms where eligible, such as Personal Independence Payments, Universal Credit, and Employment Support Allowance.
- Develop and facilitate group work as appropriate.
- Keeping up to date with local and national education and labour market trends & policy, and informing and educating service users and colleagues about education/training opportunities for our client group.
- Keeping up to date and informing and educating service users about welfare benefit changes relevant to client group
- Providing training to colleagues on welfare benefits eligibility.
Communication & engagement
- To collaboratively and sensitively work with individuals with a range of mental health needs, adjusting and adapting approach as necessary
- To use a range of communication methods and being flexible in what is offered - face-to-face appointments, video meetings, telephone calls, emails, texts.
- To be creative and innovative in engaging sometimes hard to reach service users
MDT working and stakeholder engagement
- Contribute to the EI Pathway vocational strategy by working closely alongside the team’s Occupational Therapist, Vocational/Employment specialist (IPS worker) and STaR worker
- Working with local providers to identify work experience, volunteering, courses and training that meet the needs of service user’s vocational development
- Working as part of a team, sharing knowledge and expertise, and contributing to team meetings, service development activities and wider networks
Documentation
- Typing clear and concise event entries, entering data onto electronic databases, ensuring that files and systems are always up-to-date and accurate.
- Participate in audits and data collection as required
Person specification
Experience
Essential
- Experience of working in an educational, volunteering or benefits advisory role
- Experience of working with individuals experiencing complex barriers to participating in education, training, or volunteering
- Experience in coaching or mentoring others to meet their goals
- Experience of working collaboratively within a multi-disciplinary team
Desirable
- Experience working in a mental health setting
- Experience running of groups for service users in particular those with mental health difficulties
- Vocational assessment and profiling skills
Qualifications
Essential
- At least 3 years employment in a relevant role or NVQ in relevant area
Desirable
- Educated to degree level or L4 IAG training / IPS training /benefits training/ mental health training or equivalent would be beneficial but not essential
Knowledge / Skills
Essential
- Knowledge and understanding of link between vocation, purpose, and mental wellbeing
- Good working knowledge of the welfare benefits system
- The ability to form trusting, therapeutic relationships with service users (A/I)
- Good understanding of Equality and Diversity issues, including knowledge of the Equality Act 2010 (I/A)
- Ability to work independently, prioritise workload and carry out work efficiently and effectively (I/A)
Desirable
- Knowledge of Early Intervention in Psychosis interventions and the EI standards.
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Education and Benefits Worker with South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust in London, London, England. It is listed as a Band 4 Healthcare support worker role. The advertised salary is £34,186 - £37,389 per annum inclusive of HCAS (Inner). The contract type is 12 months (Fixed term or internal secondment). The application deadline is 05 Aug 2026.
Before you apply, compare the job description with the person specification and mirror the employer's essential criteria in your supporting information. Use the vacancy title, employer, location, salary, contract type, closing date and posted date (22 Jul 2026) to decide whether this role fits your current NHS job search. If the employer can close applications early, prepare the application before the stated deadline rather than waiting for the final day.
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