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Eastleigh & Romsey, Basingstoke, Fareham, Bordon & Petersfield, Isle of Wight, Andover, Gosport & Winchester | Shaw Trust

Permanent contract

Join Shaw Trust as an IPS Employment Specialist across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Support individuals with mental health needs to achieve meaningful employment and improved wellbeing through the IPS model. If you’re passionate about inclusion and recovery, this is your chance to change lives.

Deadline: 5th January 2026

• South East
• Full-time

At Shaw Trust we believe everyone has the right to live a decent and dignified life and an opportunity for rewarding work. We are a social purpose organisation challenging inequality and breaking down barriers to enable social mobility.

For us being part of the solution is about creating the conditions for this to happen, advocating and delivering services that make a real difference. Working in partnership not competition, we are part of an eco-system of purpose-led organisations, striving for a fairer, more equal society centred on opportunity for all.

Working with clients, health professionals, service providers and employers, IPS Employment Specialists are focused on making sure a person’s journey into employment, with associated improved social inclusion and wellbeing, is as easy as possible. 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. Your role will be to deliver the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) approach (for which training will be given), providing person-centred advice 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 primary care network, community mental health team and/or early intervention psychosis team or Improving Access to Psychological Therapy (IAPT) team, maintaining positive and integrated relationships, fostering a holistic approach to recovery through employment.

As an IPS Employment Specialist, you will need to be an able communicator, passionate about getting it right and focused on transforming individual lives through sustainable solutions.

You will work with people on their individual employment journey from vocational profiling to the point where they no longer require face-to-face in-work support. The six key stages on a typical journey are: outreach/referral; vocational profiling; action planning; job search activities (including working on a one-to-one basis with employers to match people with appropriate employment); job placement and coordinating support whilst in employment; managing withdrawal of support as the in-work support is no longer required.

• Manage a caseload of around 20 clients who have mental health support needs who are motivated to start/return to work.
• Deliver the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) approach for which training will be given.
• Work in the community 65% of your working week and then spend the other 35% of your working week in a clinical setting collocating.
• Work towards a set of agreed key performance indicators which are agreed in advance by you and your line manager. These KPI ’s contribute to our overall contract with the commissioner and must be achieved within the given time.
• Strict adherence to all the phases of the IPS journey and the 25 fidelity anchor points. You will contribute to any formal or information IPS fidelity reviews.
• Meet and support clients to understand their key skills, aspirations and goals through completing a Vocational Profile and produce an Action Plan to help them obtain and sustain competitive employment. This includes support with their job search, CV production, application forms, interview techniques and career development.
• Assess client’s support needs related to work which may include benefits/welfare advice, disclosure of mental health symptoms etc., and provide support & guidance.
• Attend weekly clinical team meetings as an embedded IPS practitioner.
• Source job opportunities for clients through tailored job search and regular contact with local employers to explore hidden as well as advertised employment opportunities.
• Provide education and support to employers, as agreed with the individual, which may include negotiating adjustments, return to work strategy and ongoing contact with the employer to ensure job retention.
• Build relationships with colleagues in clinical teams to engage and generate referrals and create collaborative working partnerships with clinical staff (promoting employment as a positive intervention in the recovery journey).
• Once employment has been secured continue to provide quality service through conducting regular visits, effective monitoring and in-work support to clients and employers to help sustain employment.
• Updating Shaw Trust client data base regularly with meeting notes and relevant documents.
• If required update NHS systems within the service level agreement (systems include RIO, Care Notes, IAPTUS, Systm1 and various others)
• Establish positive and integrated relationships with clinical teams, employers and other service providers.
• To build and maintain employer relationships and maintain employer engagement database, including 6 meaningful employer contacts per week.
• Spend time getting to know local employers, to negotiate job opportunities that meet each individual’s strengths, needs, abilities and preferences.
• To challenge inequalities experienced by clients and address existing discrimination, whilst ensuring a process of learning for the organisation
• Work with employers to promote the service, identify job opportunities and ensure appropriate strategies are in place to reduce barriers in the workplace this can include exploring ‘job carving’ i.e. carving small slices of work from the duties other staff do not have time to do.
• To develop effective working relationships with a range of external agencies who can help individuals to achieve their employment goals. This may include local colleges and training providers.

• Trained in IPS approach (D)
• Level 3 Diploma in Employability Services Sector Qualification or equivalent experience (E)
• QCF in Advice & Guidance (Level 3) (D)

• Experience/understanding of working with people with mental health support needs, or a similar client group within health, social services or the voluntary sector (E)
• Experience of working with someone on a one-to-one basis (E)
• Proven experience of meeting and exceeding outcomes and targets (E)
• Experience of managing multiple tasks at any one time (E)
• Previous experience of working assertively to influence decision makers (E)
• Experience of supporting people to obtain or keep work (E)
• Experience of working within mental health services (D)
• Previous experience of delivering a service using the IPS modelD)
• An understanding of the employment needs and challenges faced by people who experience mental health difficulties (E)
• Good understanding of the principles and practice of supported employment (E)
• Working knowledge of a broad range of occupations and jobs (E)
• Able to use IT and tools such as MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel (E)
• Knowledge of the benefits agency and all disability/employment related benefits (D)
• Good motivational, communication and listening skills (E)
• Outstanding interpersonal skills and ability to build rapport with a range of people (E)
• Good organisational ability (E)
• Natural ability to build close, trusting and productive relationships with people (E)
• Team orientated and works collaboratively within a mixed-disciplinary team (E)
• Ability to work independently and use initiative to develop and promote a service (E)