Rehabilitation Officer / Worker - Visual Impairment

Job summary

Are you an experienced Social Worker looking for a rewarding and exciting opportunity in a focussed role?

If so, we have the perfect opportunity for you.

North Yorkshire Council are recruiting two full-time equivalent Social Workers to a dedicated project, focussing on completing reviews and reassessments with people who live in Supported Living accommodation, funded by North Yorkshire.

You will be highly motivated by best practice, keeping the person and who they are at the centre of your work and ensuring that their support is least restrictive, promotes their rights, independence and supports their desired outcomes. You will have a high level of Legal Literacy and excellent communication skills which will be utilised in partnership working with the person, their families, partner agencies and care providers.

This will be reflected in the assessment and support plans that you complete in collaboration with the people you support, to ensure they are receiving meaningful interventions that make a positive difference to the lives they choose to lead. We believe that a persons community and social networks play a vital role in ensuring that we achieve the best outcomes for people. It will, therefore, be part of your role to think creatively when looking for solutions for individual needs. This role will be working with people who are receiving high levels of support.

Main duties of the job

Experience working with people with complex and multi-faceted needs would be beneficial but is not essential for these roles. We believe that a positive attitude, a tenacity for learning and a passion for supporting individuals to achieve their maximum potential are the desired attributes of applicants interested in undertaking this role.

To be eligible for this post you will have a professional Social Care qualification in Social Work, DipSW or CQSW and have current registration with Social Work England.

We promote a safe culture of support and learning which we expect all staff to endorse. We recognise the importance of the health and wellbeing of our employees, striving to ensure our staff have manageable workloads and providing them with specialised administrative support, allowing focus on delivery of care services. We also support the AYSE programme for newly qualified Social Workers where you will be supported in your first full year of employment through reduced caseloads and enhanced supervision.

We work with people with a wide and varied range of needs, using social work skills and knowledge to support them. Working to improve the lives of individuals; issues tackled include self-neglect, hoarding, dependence on alcohol or drug misuse, homeless prevention and supporting individuals and their families living with dementia. We do all of this alongside specialists in these areas, providing the most appropriate social work intervention.

About us

Working in North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire as a county has it all, rich in history and culture, outstanding natural beauty, vibrant cities, market towns, quaint villages, stunning rural and coastal landscape, and wide-open spaces.

Benefits of Working for NYC

• Flexible working practices including working from other locations and from home.
• A market-leading pension scheme.
• Generous leave entitlement.
• Retail, travel and leisure discounts and salary sacrifice discount schemes through our Everybody Benefits offer.
• Commitment to staff development and continuous learning.
• Progression and career-enhancement opportunities.
• Access to modern technologies to aid flexible working practices.
• As a Mindful Employer, we are committed to promoting and protecting your mental health and wellbeing at work, find out more on the Mindful Employer website
• Green travel loan scheme which offers interest-free loan towards an annual season ticket to get you from home to work.
• In addition to in-house occupational health services, preferential rates on a private health scheme are available through payroll deductions.
• Staff who use a computer as a regular part of their job are entitled to a free eye test and potentially computer-specific glasses.

Details

• Date posted: 19 October 2026
• Pay scheme: Other
• Salary: £39,481 to £44,253 a year
• Contract: Permanent
• Working pattern: Full-time, Part-time
• Reference number: F0025-26-0049
• Job locations: County Hall, Racecourse Lane, Northallerton, North Yorkshire, DL7 8AE, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities

Job Context

This post is part of a specialist countywide Sensory Services Team offer for North Yorkshire. The team consists of Sensory Social Workers, Rehabilitation Officers Visual Impairment and Communicator Guides.

The core focus of this role is preventing, reducing and delaying the needs of adults with care and support needs and carers by promoting independence and recovery through the provision rehabilitation support, training and equipment, ensuring people make best use of community facilities as appropriate to promote independence.

You will be expected to work collaboratively with North Yorkshire Council staff and other professionals working with people with sensory needs and also to promote awareness and understanding of sight loss and the impact on individuals to the wider community.

An enhanced DBS clearance is required. This role involves spoken communications, so a confident use of English language is required.

Job Purpose

The core focus of this job is to maximise the independence and safety of people of all ages with vision needs in North Yorkshire who have eligible social care needs.

Operational Management

• Support vulnerable people of all ages with visual impairment who have been assessed as being in need by planning, implementing and reviewing rehabilitation programmes to meet the persons or carers preferred outcomes within specified resources or by enabling people to access universal community resources.
• Provide support, advice and training to people and carers, including:
• Enabling visually impaired people to maintain / acquire communication skills
• Training visually impaired people in the use of orientation and mobility techniques, skills
• How their needs could be partly or wholly met by access to universal and other non-care services
• Promote awareness and understanding of vision loss and techniques to support individuals through training and equipment to meet individual needs.
• Undertake reviews of the rehabilitation programmes as required by the Team Manager.
• Assist with Safeguarding Adults Investigations, as delegated by the designated Safeguarding Manager and in line with procedures.
• Ensure value for money and maximise opportunities to generate income for adults with care and support needs.
• Involve advocacy services when appropriate.
• Maintain regular contact with adults and carers to monitor and respond to changes in their situations.
• Represent the Directorate in court proceedings and with other agencies as required.
• Assist in proactively working towards the increased uptake of direct payments and other service development initiatives including, but not limited to, reablement, personalisation, individual budgets, self-assessment and self-directed care.

Communications

• Contribute to the development of communities to enable the empowerment of vulnerable people with vision needs. Liaising with local, universal and other services to promote vulnerable peoples access to them.
• Share best practice and learning with North Yorkshire Council staff and other professionals working with people with vision loss to promote awareness and understanding of vision loss and the impact on individuals.
• Communicate with adults with care and support needs and carers in an appropriate manner to enable effective written and oral communication in line with Directorate policies and procedures
• Engage with a range of other agencies to maximise choice and resources
• Facilitate 1:1 and group sessions with North Yorkshire Council staff and other professionals working with people with vision loss to promote awareness and understanding of vision loss and the impact on individuals.

Resource Management

• Support the adult with care and support needs and carers to meet their assessed needs within the indicative budget and in a way which maximises resources, where this is not the case you will seek advice from the Team Manager.

Systems and Information

• Maintain clear, concise and timely case records in line with the Directorate's policies
• Assist in the collection of performance data using the appropriate IT systems.