IPS Employment Specialist

Job overview

This role is not eligible for visa sponsorship. If it is identified that you require sponsorship to undertake this role your application may be withdrawn

A new and exciting opportunity has arisen for an Individual Placement and Support (IPS) Employment Specialist to cover the following area – Stafford & Cannock!

IPS (Individual Placement and Support) is an evidence-based approach to helping people within recovery find and keep a paid job.

The IPS worker will be working with people who have are within the STaRS service and support them into competitive employment and then enabling them to retain that employment.

As an IPS worker you will be looking for paid employment opportunities for clients who are currently involved with drug and/or alcohol recovery. This will involve developing opportunities with local employers and supporting them as well as the client, to ensure the right person is in the right job.

Main duties of the job

You will support service users within the service as part of their team to gain, return to or retain employment.

The role will involve working directly with Recovery Coordinators, care coordinators, JobCentre Plus, employers, trade unions, world of work and employment agencies to keep people in employment and secure employment opportunities.

You will work closely with practitioners in Staffordshire. You will work in partnership with specialist services and other primary and secondary care services serving Staffordshire. This is an exciting opportunity to make a real difference to the vocational outcomes of people accessing our services.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see the Job Description and Person Specification for further details, a summary is below:

• To manage a caseload of people who have experienced drug and alcohol health problems using STaRS and who wish to retain, return to or regain meaningful employment.
• The ES workload will be led by and focused on the aspirations of the service user as part of a package of care.
• Conduct an assessment of employment needs and consider their strengths, difficulties and employment assets in order to offer the most effective support, which must include the person’s job goals and any concerns regarding their capacity for work and previous work experience, making accurate recommendations.
• Match job tasks and the individual’s ability to do the job and any work solutions that may be required to develop the match.
• Offer the service user support agreeing a written action plan with the person detailing the steps to be taken to either get back into or retain employment and the appropriate support route. Need to include abilities, work solutions, preparation for work, disclosure. The action plan should also be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time bound).
• The ES will develop in-depth knowledge of the local labour market, local support and new initiatives, taking into account the needs of the client to broker effective interventions. Including specialist schemes to help with retaining or finding employment.

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.