Ips employment specialist jobs

Job Type: Permanent, Part Time 21 Hours
Location: Field Based, covering Thanet, Folkestone, Hythe & Romney Marsh, Canterbury, Dover, Deal and Ashford
Salary: £14,726.95

Make a real difference every day

At Rethink Mental Illness, we believe that everyone severely affected by mental illness deserves the opportunity to live a fulfilling life — and having meaningful employment can be a crucial part of that journey.

We’re looking for an IPS Employment Specialist to join our East Kent IPS Service covering Thanet, Folkestone, Hythe & Romney Marsh, Canterbury, Dover, Deal and Ashford. You’ll work one‑to‑one with people who want to find or return to paid employment, helping them identify their goals, build confidence, and secure roles that align with their skills and aspirations.

This is a Part Time (21 Hours) role with a salary of £14,726.95 pro rata.

This is a rewarding, dynamic role where no two days are the same. You’ll work in the community, meet people where they are, and build strong relationships with employers and local partners to open real opportunities within the hidden labour market.

What you’ll do

As an Employment Specialist, you will:

• Work alongside individuals to understand their employment goals and create personalised vocational plans.
• Support people to find and keep paid work that reflects their strengths, interests and ambitions.
• Build and maintain relationships with employers, identifying opportunities and advocating for reasonable adjustments where needed.
• Provide in‑work support to help individuals thrive in their roles.
• Collaborate with colleagues across the IPS team and local services to ensure consistent, recovery‑focused support.
• Promote the value of employment in mental health recovery across your allocated East Kent area.
• Maintain effective records, manage referrals, and contribute to the smooth running of the service.

What you’ll bring

We’re looking for someone who:

• Has experience supporting people into employment or helping others overcome barriers to work.
• Understands mental health challenges and has experience in social care, support services or community-based roles.
• Can build positive relationships with a wide range of people, including employers, colleagues and service users.
• Is empathetic, proactive and comfortable working independently across a dispersed geography.
• Is organised, flexible and able to respond calmly to unexpected challenges.
• Has strong awareness of risk management, safeguarding and confidentiality.
• Holds — or is working towards — a Level 3 qualification relevant to care, community mental health or social support (or equivalent experience).

Experience delivering community projects, facilitating training, or developing workshops is desirable but not essential.

Why join us?

Joining Rethink Mental Illness means becoming part of a charity that believes in people’s potential. You’ll receive:

• Regular supervision and access to learning and development
• Supportive, values-driven colleagues
• Opportunities to shape services and empower individuals
• The chance to make a direct, life‑changing impact

Ready to make a difference?

If you’re passionate about supporting people with mental health challenges to achieve their employment goals, we’d love to hear from you.

Apply today and help create a better future for people living with mental illness in East Kent.

Hillside Clubhouse is recruiting an IPS Employment Specialist to join our dynamic Islington team, supporting people with mental health conditions to gain and retain employment.  The IPS Employment Specialists within the Islington IPS Service work within the nationally recognised IPS (Individual Placement and Support) model within NHS secondary and primary care mental health teams, based in the heart of Islington.

Who We Are: 

Hillside Clubhouse is a co-produced mental health employment support charity working across Islington. We support people with mental health conditions into training, volunteering, and employment opportunities. People can access our services via our Clubhouse, where they can share their skills and expertise with others and support the running of the charity.  Alternatively, they can receive support out in the community from one of our Employment Specialists based within NHS mental health teams.

The Role: 

We are recruiting for one IPS Employment Specialist role within our Islington IPS Service. This position will be based within the North London NHS Foundation Trust mental health services in the borough of Islington.

As an IPS Employment Specialist, you’ll play an important role in supporting people with lived mental health experience on their recovery journey by supporting them back into paid employment. This is an opportunity to offer ongoing support, to motivate and provide people with hope, while developing the tools and skills required to recover – ultimately transforming their lives.

A variety of skills are needed in this post including but not limited to: a strong ability to develop empathy and rapport with clients; a determined approach to seeking out job opportunities; a person centric-approach to working with people; strong communications skills to motivate clients; strong administrative capabilities and an attention to detail engage with prospective employers via business development and face-to-face meetings, as well as to be able to challenge some perceptions around mental health. 

The postholder will be directly employed by Hillside Clubhouse but work under an Honorary Contract from the North London NHS Foundation Trust.  They will be managed directly by the IPS Operations Manager but work as team member within the clinical team. The role is dynamic and involves being integrated in a clinical team, working within the community, and we operate a flexible working policy where working from home is also permitted up to two days per week.

Overall Aim: 

To enable people with mental health issues to gain and sustain competitive employment by working within the evidence-based Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model.

Duties: 

Please see the Job Description and Person Specification attached for a full description.

Application Instructions:
We are a Disability Confident employer and actively encourage applications from people with lived experience of mental health conditions.

Hillside Clubhouse is committed to building a diverse and inclusive team and strongly encourage applications from those who experience discrimination and / or prejudice based on their race, ethnicity or immigration status, women, new parents, people with disabilities and LGBTQI+ people.

All job offers are dependent on satisfactory references and a DBS check. The successful candidate will also be required to attend mandatory Safeguarding Adults, Children & Young People training.

The recruitment process will be an assessment centre approach, including a task, role play and individual interview. We envision the whole process lasting no more than 90 minutes.

IPS – Employment support

For people who need mental health support, getting back into work is a vital step on their recovery journey. The evidence backs this up, but although 90% of people with severe mental illness want to work, only 8% of them are in paid employment.

If you would like to join our team and champion our mission and help people who need employment support to get back into work. You will be supporting clients who are under the care of Secondary Mental Health services to gain and retain paid employment and will be based within a clinical team.

This is an incredibly rewarding role.  You'll have the opportunity to transform the lives of clients, to give them hope, direction and support with their recovery journey alongside other key professionals. This is also a challenging role, so you’ll need to be empathetic, adaptable and dedicated to finding clients a role that’s right for them.

As an Employment Specialist, you’ll build a good rapport with your clients, gaining a real understanding of their key skills, their aspirations and their career goals and finding them opportunities to match. You'll also spend time building productive relationships with employers in order to identify and negotiate job opportunities in the hidden labour market.

Successful applicants for this post will receive training in the IPS approach, giving you the tools, you need to provide expert support and advice to clients, staff within your clinical team (e.g. Psychiatrist, Social Workers or Mental Health Nurse), while also building positive relationships with employers, opening doors and changing perceptions around mental health.

We welcome applications from people with personal experience of using mental health services.

Job Summary

To provide support into employment for people with mental health problems including:

· Managing a caseload of clients who wish to return to paid work, enabling them to find or retain employment by liaising with work and training providers, accessing benefits advice and by personally providing on-going support to clients in job search and after gaining employment, in accordance with evidence based supported employment practice such as the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model of supported employment.

· Link with local employers and voluntary bodies in order to secure employment opportunities within the community

· Pro-actively support and motivate clients in obtaining employment opportunities

· Provide on-going support according to both the employee’s and employer’s needs to enable clients to both gain and retain employment.

Key responsibilities

 · To work in partnership with individuals to support them in finding paid employment, or taking steps towards this.

· To develop strong links with other agencies such as voluntary, statutory and businesses in the development of work opportunities for clients.

· To support Community Mental Health Team colleagues with information about work and training opportunities.

· To report on outcome measures for the service.

· To provide monitoring/audit information to the Senior IPS Employment Specialist responsible for Employment Services.

Main duties

 · Manage a caseload of people who have experienced mental health problems who wish to work.

· Prepare individuals for employment by assessing each person’s individual vocational needs which might typically include identifying strengths, help with benefits, support networks, travel to work plans, etc.

· Co create employment action plans with the individual, and provide this to the care co-ordinator and other professionals where appropriate.

· Assist individuals in job search and prepare them to apply for employment/education, liaising with colleagues as required e.g. Disability Employment Advisors, Jobcentre Plus, DWP contract providers and local colleges.

· Contact and meet with employers to identify job opportunities for individual clients.

· Have a proactive approach in developing jobs tailored to suit individual clients’ needs by contacting local employers, discussing mutual requirements and negotiating opportunities.

· Accompany job seekers to interviews if required.

· Provide education and support to employers, as agreed with the individual and provide job retention interventions to people at risk of losing their employment, negotiating adjustments to the job role with employers to enable the person to retain their employment.

· Support clients in the workplace by supporting them to learn the job role if necessary, and/or negotiating with employers to adapt the role at the start of employment or if difficulties arise in the workplace.

· Identify any barriers for return to work and develop appropriate strategies to overcome those barriers for clients who wish to gain or retain open employment maintaining a positive attitude to addressing challenges.

· Contribute to the opportunities for an individual’s increased social inclusion by developing partnership working with voluntary sector agencies, and linking with primary care employment and job retention initiatives.

· Promote the Mindful Employer initiative and best practice in mental health and employment within the mental health services and in other organisations in the local area.

· Maintain and develop close links with referrers, care co-ordinators and Community

· Regularly attend Team meetings.

· Complete data monitoring sheets and keep accurate caseload records.

· Maintain high standards of personal development and undertake further training as may be required.

· Undertake regular supervision and annual appraisal.

· Undertake other duties as may reasonably be required by the organisation

Person specification

Qualifications and experience

Essential

· Educated to degree level or equivalent experience

· Experience/understanding of working with people with mental health support needs, or a similar client group within health, social services or the voluntary sector

· Experience of working with someone on a one-to-one basis

· Experience of managing multiple tasks at any one time

Desirable

· Trained in IPS approach

· Experience of supporting people to obtain or keep work

· Experience of working within health, social services or voluntary sector with people who have experienced mental health problems.

· Experience of working assertively to influence decision makers

· Own personal lived experience of recovery from mental health difficulties

· Previous experience of delivering a service using the IPS model is a bonus

· Proven experience of meeting and exceeding outcomes and targets

Skills and knowledge

Essential

· An understanding of the employment needs, and challenges faced by people who experience mental health difficulties

· Developing a knowledge of a broad range of occupations and jobs

· Able to use IT systems, databases and tools such as MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel

· Strong motivational, communication and listening skills

· Outstanding interpersonal skills and ability to build rapport with a range of people

· Good organisational ability

· Natural ability to build close, trusting and productive relationships with people

· Team orientated and able to work collaboratively within a mixed-disciplinary team

· Ability to work independently and use initiative to develop and promote a service

Desirable

· Knowledge of DWP and disability/employment related benefits

· Knowledge of good practice in employment legislation protecting Disability and Equality

About Working Well Trust

Working Well Trust is a mental health and employment charity in London. All of our projects share the aim of improving the lives of people with mental health support needs, learning disabilities and/or complex issues through training and employment.

We are expanding our team of IPS Employment Advisors in our IPS service in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. You will be based in one of NHS mental health treatment teams in Bethnal Green, Isle of Dogs or Stepney and Wapping areas, working 35 hours per week. This IPS services at Working Well Trust has been awarded the IPS Grow quality mark and adheres to the principles of the IPS model in supporting people in to employment. This role will be working with clients who have mental health support needs, wanting to gain paid employment. 

Experience of employment support is not essential, it is more important that you share our passion and commitment to employment as an integral aspect of wellbeing and supporting people to find the right job for them. You will receive training on the IPS model and in supporting people with mental health issues. We welcome applications from people with lived experience of mental health, either personally or through a close contact.

You need to have a desire to support people to achieve their employment goals, and the ability to multitask and manage your workload effectively. Good organisation skills are essential for this role, in addition to an interest in mental health, and the role it plays in the workplace. The successful candidate will need to become comfortable in approaching employers, and showcase the advantages of our service in order to work with them to recruit our clients to fill vacancies and sustain employment.

What you’ll be doing

You will work with clients (managing a caseload) who have mental health support needs, to assist them in securing sustainable paid employment in line with their preferences. You will deliver the IPS approach (for which training will be given); providing person centred support and guidance to clients, whilst building positive relationships with local employers to enable clients to move into suitable employment.

You will work as part of a mental health team (NHS Trust) maintaining positive and integrated relationships, fostering a holistic approach to recovery through employment. You will work closely with clinical teams, providing a coordinated approach that always remains client led.  

You will spend up to 65% of your week working in the community of Tower Hamlets to provide localised support to residents of the Borough.

You will also be working to contract targets whilst maintaining a high-quality service. 

What you’ll need

Experience in employment support is not essential. We are looking for someone who brings:

• A genuine desire to support people into meaningful employment.
• Commitment to person-centred work and either experience of or enthusiasm to learn the IPS approach.
• Confidence engaging with employers and promoting the benefits of our service.
• Good organisation skills and the ability to manage a caseload effectively.
• Beneficial (but not essential): experience working with people with mental health difficulties.
• Beneficial (but not essential): local knowledge/ experience of the Borough

What we offer

• £33,000 per year
• 30 days annual leave plus public holidays, (FTE)
• Employer pension contribution of 6%
• Supportive environment within a growing, dedicated team
• Meaningful, rewarding work supporting people into employment
• Expenses paid for mandatory travel during work hours.
• Flexible, paid Wellbeing Hour every fortnight (FTE) ​

What’s next 

Before you apply, please note the following: 

• We actively recruit and carefully review all applications. Due to rapid service expansion, we have onboarded 20 external hires in the last six months. 

• To ensure we can best support the people and communities we serve, we progress applications only where candidates provide meaningful answers to the screening questions. 

• Career development is real here: in the past year, 10 colleagues have progressed internally into Senior roles, Project Lead, Team Lead, and Operations Manager positions. We value ambition and celebrate progression. 

• If you require any reasonable adjustments at the interview stage, for example due to a disability, learning difficulty or health condition, please let us know in advance so that we can make appropriate arrangements.

Working Well Trust is an equal opportunities employer and Confident about Disabilities.​

If you are ready to help us build a service that supports people into meaningful work, click Apply to submit your CV and answer the screening questions. 

Start your application today and take the next step in a rewarding career. 

Closing date: Friday 31st July 2026 (23:00)*. Please note, we may be actively interviewing during this time and may close the vacancy early.

First stage interviews (telephone): 22nd - 29th July 2026

Final Stage interviews: 3rd- 4th August in person in Bethnal Green.

*Please note, any applications submitted after the 19th July will be considered for additional interview dates.

About Working Well Trust 

Working Well Trust is a mental health and employment charity in London. All of our projects share the aim of improving the lives of people with mental health support needs, learning disabilities and/or complex issues through training and employment. 

We are recruiting an IPS Operations Manager to support the delivery and development of our IPS services across London. The postholder will manage two IPS service sites from the following areas: Tower Hamlets, Newham, Barking and Dagenham, and Enfield. The final allocation of sites will be discussed with the successful candidate and agreed based on service needs, experience and working arrangements. 

What you’ll be doing 

If you were working with us, you would provide operational leadership across two of our IPS services. These sites will be agreed with you based on service needs, your experience and working arrangements.

You would support Team Leads and frontline teams to deliver high-quality IPS services that are client-led, evidence-based and aligned with contractual outcomes. You would help ensure services run smoothly day to day, while also supporting service development, quality improvement and strong performance.

You would:

• Provide leadership oversight across two IPS service sites, supporting Team Leads with operational delivery, planning and problem solving.
• Ensure services meet contractual outcomes, delivery timeframes and quality standards.
• Support Team Leads to manage performance, caseloads, attendance, safeguarding, risk and service delivery.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with NHS partners, funders, community organisations and other key stakeholders.
• Lead on IPS fidelity across the services, supporting teams to deliver high-fidelity IPS and develop quality improvement plans.
• Use data, audits, client feedback and service reviews to identify what is working well and where improvements are needed.
• Complete contract monitoring requirements, represent WWT at contract performance meetings and attend quarterly service review meetings with IPS Grow.
• Work with NHS colleagues to support integration, clinical co-location, steering groups, data flow and appropriate escalation of clinical risks or safeguarding concerns.
• Support staff wellbeing by ensuring regular wellbeing check-ins and welfare conversations are embedded in supervision and one-to-one meetings.
• Work with HR and Team Leads to recruit, onboard, train and retain Team Leads, Employment Specialists and support staff.
• Support budget holders and work with the Finance Manager to ensure budgets are managed effectively.
• Work with other Operations Managers, the Operations Director and Head Office colleagues to develop consistent systems, improve services and support wider organisational priorities.

You would also provide direct supervision to project leads and help build a positive learning culture where staff feel supported, clear about expectations and able to develop their skills.

What you’ll need 

We are looking for someone with strong operational leadership experience and a good understanding of IPS, employment support or mental health services.

You will need to bring:

• Experience of IPS or equivalent team leadership.
• Experience of managing teams, performance and service delivery.
• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage a complex and demanding workload.
• Experience of monitoring, contract reporting and using data to support service planning.
• The ability to build positive relationships with funders, NHS partners, community organisations, clients and staff.
• Confidence supporting Team Leads with performance, quality, safeguarding, risk, wellbeing and day-to-day operational issues.
• Good writing skills and the ability to communicate clearly with a range of audiences.
• Good IT skills, including Microsoft Word, Excel and online systems.
• A strong commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.
• Knowledge of legislation relevant to employment, including the Equality Act.
• The ability to work across boroughs and provide leadership in more than one service location.
• Tact, diplomacy, discretion and the ability to build rapport with different people.
• A proactive, collaborative and flexible approach, including willingness to work occasional evenings when needed.

It would also be helpful if you have experience of:

• Managing multiple teams across boroughs.
• IPS Grow systems and fidelity reviews.
• Mental health services.
• Quality standards or accreditation.
• Project and service development.
• Budget management.
• Working with GP practices, NHS teams or other health and community partners.
• A postgraduate degree.

What we offer 

• 30 days annual leave plus public holidays (FTE) 

• Paid company closed days at the end of the year (FTE) 

• Flexible, paid Wellbeing Hour every fortnight (FTE) 

• 6% employer pension contribution 

Working Well Trust is an equal opportunities employer and Confident about Disabilities. 

What’s next 

Before you apply, please note the following: 

• We actively recruit and carefully review all applications. Due to rapid service expansion, we have onboarded 20 external hires in the last six months. 

• To ensure we can best support the people and communities we serve, we progress applications only where candidates provide meaningful answers to the screening questions. 

• Career development is real here: in the past year, 10 colleagues have progressed internally into Senior roles, Project Lead, Team Lead, and Operations Manager positions. We value ambition and celebrate progression. 

• If you require any reasonable adjustments at the interview stage, for example due to a disability, learning difficulty or health condition, please let us know in advance so that we can make appropriate arrangements.

If you are ready to help us build a service that supports people into meaningful work, click Apply to submit your CV and answer the screening questions. Telephone and final interviews will be confirmed. 

Start your application today and take the next step in a rewarding career. 

Please note, we may close this advert early if we receive a high number of applications, so we encourage early applications.

Are you passionate about supporting individuals back into employment?

Job Title: Employment Specialist – Connect To Work
Salary: £28,951 – £32,316 per annum
Hours: Full Time – 37 hours per week
Contract: Fixed Term initially until March 2028
Location: Newcastle

About us

Groundwork NE & Cumbria is a long‑established environmental and community charity with over 30 years of experience creating greener, healthier and more resilient places across the region. Our mission centres on Creating Better Places, Improving People’s Prospects, and Promoting Greener Living, helping communities thrive no matter the challenges they face.

We deliver hundreds of locally‑led projects each year, including initiatives that support young people into education, training and employment, helping them overcome barriers, build life skills, and reach their full potential.

About the role

We are looking for a passionate individual who will support individuals with health conditions to move into and sustain meaningful employment through the Connect to Work programme.

We’re looking for an Employment Specialist to support the delivery of our Connect to Work programme. You’ll use the Individual Placement & Support (IPS) model to provide person‑centred IAG support to a caseload of around 25 clients, helping them move into and sustain meaningful employment.

You’ll build strong employer relationships to source suitable vacancies and work closely with partners including health providers, mental health services, JCP, and other employment organisations to ensure joined‑up support.

About You

We’re looking for someone who is:

• Passionate in supporting young people to overcome barriers and achieve their potential.
• A strong communicator, confident engaging with clients, employers and partners.
• Equipped with strong analytical and problem‑solving ability, able to assess needs and identify effective employment solutions.
• Person‑centred, empathetic and passionate about helping others succeed.
• Skilled at building positive, trusting relationships.
• Highly organised with the ability to manage a varied caseload and meet deadlines.
• Confident working independently and collaboratively.

Closing date: Friday 31st July 2026
Please note, should we receive a high volume of applications, we may look to close the role early, therefore we recommend an early application.

Interested?

If you would like to find out more, please click the apply button. You will be directed to our website to complete your application for this position.

This role is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure endorsed by the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Make yourself at home
We want you to be yourself at Groundwork and we value everything that makes you unique. We recognise and celebrate your difference and together we make Groundwork a special and great place to work. As a Disability Confident employer we offer a guaranteed interview to applicants with a disability who meet the essential criteria for the role.

At Groundwork we ensure that we provide a safe environment for adults, children and young people to take part in any activity or service that we organise. We are committed to creating a culture that promotes safeguarding and the welfare of all children, young people and adults at risk. Our safer recruitment practices support this by ensuring that there is a consistent and comprehensive process of obtaining, collating, analysing and evaluating information from and about candidates to ensure that all the people we appoint are suitable to work with our children, young people and adults

This role is not eligible for UK Visa Sponsorship - the successful applicant will need to have a pre-existing Right to Work in the UK in order to be offered an employment contract.

No agencies please.