# Specialist Social Worker > NHS job listing from Job Clerk for Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust. ## Canonical URLs - **HTML:** https://www.jobclerk.com/job/specialist-social-worker/b00b8507-8748-4502-b9ca-6f75a94d0d58 - **Markdown:** https://www.jobclerk.com/job/specialist-social-worker/b00b8507-8748-4502-b9ca-6f75a94d0d58.md ## Summary - **Status:** Live - **Employer:** Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust - **Town:** Preston - **Region:** North West - **Country:** England - **Profession:** Healthcare support worker - **Grade:** Band 7 - **Salary:** £49,387 - £56,515 pa - **Contract type:** Permanent - **Employment type:** Full time - 37.5 hours per week - **Closing date:** 2026-06-23T23:59:00.000Z - **Posted:** 2026-06-09T10:12:55.487Z - **Source information URL:** https://www.healthjobsuk.com/job/-v8068739 - **Application URL:** https://apps.trac.jobs/job-advert/8068739?ShowJobAdvert=&feedid=9002 - **Employer website:** https://www.lscft.nhs.uk ## Job Content ### Job overview An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 7 Social worker to join the Specialist Autism Team, a unique and continuously developing service which works closely with secondary mental health care services to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions for autistic individuals. This role is to lead within the discharge and intervention pathway bring expert knowledge of social work issues relating to the discharge of autistic adults from acute mental health services. This post is an opportunity for a creative and innovative practitioner with a passion for delivering person-centred care, which is driven by the individuals whom we support. The Specialist Autism Team adopts a multidisciplinary team approach to working which supports the evolutionary scope of the service. The MDT is made up of Occupational Therapists, Nurses (RMN & RLD), Speech and Language Therapists, Social Workers , Therapy Assistants & Clinical Psychologists.  Through such an approach we are continually learning, developing and findings different ways of working in order to meet the needs and wishes of the individuals we work with. For this reason we have regular team development sessions and each team member plays a vital role in sharing knowledge and information. We work as a tertiary service between the core hours of 9am until 5pm (Monday-Friday), with some flexibility required on occasion to meet individual need and preferences. ### Main duties of the job The Service aims to deliver innovative, high-quality services through effective collaboration with partner agencies. In addition to supporting individuals with autism and their families, the team is committed to promoting public health, safeguarding, and risk management through ongoing service development and training initiatives. The team comprises experienced and dedicated professionals. The successful candidate will be a registered Social Worker with current knowledge of health policies and legislation relevant to autistic individuals. Adaptability, excellent communication skills, and self-motivation are essential attributes. The role requires an experienced clinician with proven expertise in working with individuals presenting complex health needs, challenging behaviours, and autism, employing evidence-based and innovative practice approaches. The post holder will manage a caseload of service users, supporting them in achieving timely discharge from mental health hospitals. Additionally, they will provide autism-specific interventions, offer guidance and advice to clinical teams supporting the individuals, and share relevant information with key stakeholders involved in the patient’s care. ### Detailed job description and main responsibilities Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role. ## Job Details An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Band 7 Social worker to join the Specialist Autism Team, a unique and continuously developing service which works closely with secondary mental health care services to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions for autistic individuals. This role is to lead within the discharge and intervention pathway bring expert knowledge of social work issues relating to the discharge of autistic adults from acute mental health services. This post is an opportunity for a creative and innovative practitioner with a passion for delivering person-centred care, which is driven by the individuals whom we support. The Specialist Autism Team adopts a multidisciplinary team approach to working which supports the evolutionary scope of the service. The MDT is made up of Occupational Therapists, Nurses (RMN & RLD), Speech and Language Therapists, Social Workers , Therapy Assistants & Clinical Psychologists. Through such an approach we are continually learning, developing and findings different ways of working in order to meet the needs and wishes of the individuals we work with. For this reason we have regular team development sessions and each team member plays a vital role in sharing knowledge and information. We work as a tertiary service between the core hours of 9am until 5pm (Monday-Friday), with some flexibility required on occasion to meet individual need and preferences. ## Job Description The Service aims to deliver innovative, high-quality services through effective collaboration with partner agencies. In addition to supporting individuals with autism and their families, the team is committed to promoting public health, safeguarding, and risk management through ongoing service development and training initiatives. The team comprises experienced and dedicated professionals. The successful candidate will be a registered Social Worker with current knowledge of health policies and legislation relevant to autistic individuals. Adaptability, excellent communication skills, and self-motivation are essential attributes. The role requires an experienced clinician with proven expertise in working with individuals presenting complex health needs, challenging behaviours, and autism, employing evidence-based and innovative practice approaches. The post holder will manage a caseload of service users, supporting them in achieving timely discharge from mental health hospitals. Additionally, they will provide autism-specific interventions, offer guidance and advice to clinical teams supporting the individuals, and share relevant information with key stakeholders involved in the patient’s care. ## Responsibilities Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role. ## Person Specification ### Skills **Essential** - Excellent organisational and time management skills. - Excellent communication and relationship skills. - To be able to pre-empt the need for documents and reports, eg funding requests - Ability to produce high quality, accurate and concisely written reports / clinical correspondence. ### Knowledge **Essential** - In-depth knowledge of social care issues and how this relates to care delivery. - Highly developed specialist knowledge across a range of interventions, legal frameworks and assessment methods which are relevant to Autisic people. - Working knowledge of current legislation and national initiatives - Highly developed knowledge of autism and vulnerability - Highly developed knowledge of mental capacity Act, DOLs and restrictive practices - Good understanding of risk management of challenging behaviour in the community. ### Experience **Essential** - Substantial post registration experience. - Substantial experience of working across health/social care/education boundaries - Experience of working with people with mental health needs. - Experience of working with individuals and with groups. - Experience of multi-agency co-ordination where service users have complex needs. - Substantial experience of facilitating service user participation in: care planning, service review, training, recruitment and service development. ### Education/ Qualifications **Essential** - CQSW, CSS, DipSW or equivalent. - Post graduate /registration training (which is relevant to the post) to Masters Degree level or the equivalent experience / training. - Evidence of post registration training in Autism - Professionally registered with Social Work England - Good understanding of the PCF ## Documents - [jdps (pdf, 528.3kb)](https://www.healthjobsuk.com/documents?vdoc=10359923) - [we do more at lscft (pdf, 654.2kb)](https://www.healthjobsuk.com/documents?ddoc=2256) ## Agent Notes - This Markdown page is generated from the same Job Clerk job record as the HTML job detail page. - Use the canonical HTML URL for user-facing references. - Use the application URL when the user wants to apply on the source NHS site.