IPS Employment Specialist - Band 5

Job summary

Could you help someone rediscover their confidence, achieve their employment goals and take an important step forward in their recovery?

We are recruiting full-time Band 5 Employment Specialists to join our established Individual Placement and Support (IPS) services across Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield. Working within community mental health and primary care teams, you will help people find and sustain employment that reflects their strengths, interests and ambitions.

Previous IPS experience is not essential. We welcome transferable experience from employment support, recruitment, health, social care or community services. Training, supervision and support are provided. We encourage applications from people with disabilities or health conditions. Please select the relevant option in your application so we can discuss any reasonable adjustments you may need. If you share our belief in the value of employment and peoples potential, we would love to hear from you.

All employees of the Trust are strongly encouraged to have their up-to-date flu vaccination to protect staff and patients.

Main duties of the job

This is a varied and highly rewarding role in which you will help people turn their employment ambitions into achievable plans. Using the evidence-based IPS approach, you will build trusted relationships, understand each persons strengths and goals, and provide practical support throughout their journey into work.

You will:

Develop personalised employment plans based on each persons strengths, preferences and aspirations.

Provide flexible support with job searching, CVs, applications, interviews, benefits, workplace adjustments and sustaining employment.

Build relationships with local employers and work closely with clinical teams to make employment part of recovery.

At the time of advertising, this role does not meet the minimum requirements (salary threshold or occupational requirements) set by UK Visas and Immigration to sponsor candidates to work in the UK. For this reason, unfortunately we are unable to sponsor anyone on a visa for this role at this moment in time.

We are happy to accept applications from candidates who can prove their right to work in the UK or via alternative visa routes. Such applications will be considered alongside all other applications.

About us

We are a specialist NHS Foundation Trust that provides community, mental health and learning disability services for the people of Barnsley, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield. We also provide low and medium secure services and are the lead for the west Yorkshire secure provider collaborative.

Our mission is to help people reach their potential and live well in their communities, we do this by providing high-quality care in the right place at the right time. We employ staff in both clinical and non-clinical services who work hard to make a difference to the lives of service users, families and carers.

We encourage and welcome applications from all protected characteristic groups, we value diversity and want our workforce to be reflective of our communities.

Being a foundation Trust means were accountable to our members, who can have a say in how were run. Around 14,300 local people (including staff) are members of our Trust.

Join us and you will be one of over 4,500 staff committed to supporting and improving the mental, physical and social needs of the thousands of people we meet and help each year.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all colleagues and volunteers to share this commitment.

We do reserve to right to close vacancy before the advertised closing date if necessary, so please apply as soon as possible.

Details

• Date posted: 09 October 2026
• Pay scheme: Agenda for change
• Band: Band 5
• Salary: £32,073 to £39,043 a year
• Contract: Permanent
• Working pattern: Full-time, Flexible working
• Reference number: C9378-CK2568
• Job locations: Folly Hall Mills, St Thomas Road, Huddersfield, HD1 3LT, United Kingdom, Laura Mitchell Health and Wellbeing Centre, Halifax, HX1 1YR, United Kingdom, Drury Lane Health & Wellbeing Centre, Drury lane, WAKEFIELD, West Yorkshire, WF1 2TJ, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities

JOB SUMMARY

KEY RESULT AREAS:

The postholder will:

• Assess, provide guidance and person centred support to people who have experienced mental health problems in exploring their interest and capacity for employment under the supervision of the team leader.
• Have an individual caseload of people who have experienced mental health problems and wish to return to employment using the Individual Placement and Support approach
• Proactively engage work with employers to negotiate and secure employment opportunities for this client group.
• Work as part of a community mental health team, maintaining positive and integrated relationships, fostering a holistic approach to recovery through employment.

1.1Care/service/function provision:

• The IPS Employment Specialist undertakes comprehensive assessments formulating vocational profiles of the individuals employment needs and abilities, developing an employment action/support plan whilst liaising with the care coordinator.
• To assess individuals work related support needs.
• To offer guidance and support to people in exploring their interest and capacity in employment using the Individual Placement and Support approach.
• To prepare individuals for employment through vocational profiling under supervision of the team leader.
• To provide personalized ongoing support to individuals once they have secured employment and to assist then in sustaining their employment.
• If the service user consents, to review employment with both the service users and the employer.
• To provide education and support to the employer as agreed with the individual. This may include negotiating adjustments and maintaining ongoing contact with the employer
• To develop relationships with both service users, employers and other organisations that support people to achieve their employment goals whilst being mindful of their needs and priorities.
• Assess for, review and deliver a comprehensive range of HR services around employment needs and difficulties of people who have experienced mental health problems who want to access employment opportunities and want to return to work.
• To create documents/reports in a timely manner.
• To support service users complete application forms and to job search.

1.2 Working as part of a Team:

• The role of the IPS Employment Specialist is integrated into the clinical teams (as allocated) and works along side care coordinators, being responsible for those service users who want to gain employment.
• To meet regularly with care coordinators to coordinate and integrate IPS services into mental health services.
• To feedback information clearly and concisely within multidisclinary team meetings using excellent communication skills.

For full job description, please see attached supporting documents.

We are aware that an increasing number of applicants are using AI technology to generate responses on NHS Job application forms. Over reliance on AI-generated content in application forms is strongly discouraged and we will conduct a thorough screening process before selecting candidates to progress to the next stage. If you are using AI to enhance your application, please disclose this in your NHS Jobs application form.