Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
Employment Specialist
The closing date is 23 February 2026
Do you want to be part of a friendly and dynamic team of Employment Specialists committed to delivering excellent employment support to our service users? If you believe passionately that anyone with mental health difficulties can work and would like to be part of that journey, then this could be the role for you.
We are currently seeking two Employment Specialist to join our well established Individual Placement and Support Team. The post will be based in the Peterborough Adult Locality Team at Peterborough Town Hall.Please state on your application whether you are applying for the full time role (37.5 hours), part time role (18.75 hours) or both.
This is an incredibly rewarding role - you'll have the opportunity to transform the lives of service users, to give them hope, direction and support their recovery journey. This is also a challenging role, so you'll need to be resilient, empathetic and dedicated to supporting service users find a role that's right for them.
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.
Main duties of the job
* Building the profile of employment within the mental health teams, and raising expectations around the ability of service users under those teams to find employment.
* Preparing people who have experienced mental health problems to find paid work and supporting them to the practicalities of job searching and applications.
* Building effective working relationships with external employers to secure employment opportunities for people who have experienced mental health problems.
* Providing ongoing support according to needs of both employer and employee in order to enable people who have experienced mental health problems to retain employment.
* Helping those currently employed but struggling to get appropriate support at work.
* Ensuring the service follows evidence-based Individual Placement and Support (IPS) practice.
Please note, this is not an administrative role, it is a client facing role which includes working to achieve set KPIs and targets.
About us
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust is a health and social care organisation dedicated to providing high-quality care with compassion to improve the health and wellbeing of the people we care for, as well as supporting and empowering them to lead a fulfilling life.
Our clinical teams deliver many NHS services, not only via inpatient and primary care settings, but also within the community. These services include children’s, adult and older people’s mental health, forensic and specialist mental health, learning disabilities, primary care and liaison psychiatry, substance misuse, social care, research and development.
To achieve our goal, we look to recruit high-calibre candidates who share our vision and values. As an equal opportunities employer, we encourage applications from all sectors of the community, particularly from under-represented groups including people with long term conditions and members of our ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ communities.
Please be advised we reserve the right to close adverts earlier than the closing date should we receive sufficient applications.
Regrettably, we cannot offer sponsorship for all our job roles. If you apply for a role that we cannot offer sponsorship for, unfortunately, your application form will be rejected from the process.
For further information on CPFT, please visit our website at www.cpft.nhs.uk
Job responsibilities
Please refer to the attached job description and person specification for full details of responsibilities.
* Support service users to identify and meet their vocational goals by providing individually tailored programmes using a person-centred approach.
* Complete initial assessments of service users vocational needs, working collaboratively with service users to complete a Vocational Profile. Support service users to complete job applications and compile CVs.
* Actively and regularly engage with employers and employment providers and seek out employment opportunities for service users.
* Proactively address barriers to education, training and employment through partnership working with services.
* Ensure effective communication with clinical team colleagues and relevant organisations internal and external to the Trust.
* Ensure that service users are supported to progress through the service in a timely manner and are discharged / signposted / referred on at appropriate stages of their treatment.
* Make regular written and verbal reports concerning the progress of service users, and maintain written and electronic records as per Trust policy.
* Contribute positively to the achievement of service targets and outcomes to achieve commissioners requirements and target.
* Complete required records for caseload and service activity and achievement of outcomes.
Please note for this role you will be required to travel independently around the county meeting strict time deadlines. You will need to hold a full UK driving licence and have use of a vehicle. You cannot use public transport for this role as this is not a reliable form of transport and will not allow you to meet service needs. Please confirm in your application that you meet the specified criteria.
*DVLA have a number of reciprocal arrangements with overseas countries, for further information please visit the DVLA website
Person Specification
Education / Qualifications
* Educated to degree level or equivalent experience in the field of supported employment - to degree level
* Or NVQ Level 3/equivalent relevant training to diploma level and/or experience relevant to the duties of the post to degree level
* Occupational Therapy, Social Work, Psychology or Employment qualifications
* IPS training
* Motivational interviewing training
Experience
* Experience of initiating, liaising and collaborating with a wide range of individuals and organisations promoting and developing employment, education and training opportunities on behalf of service users.
* Experience of working with a range of mental health service users (in health, social care and/or voluntary sectors) implementing individual programmes and interventions.
* Experience of actively and regularly engaging with employers and employment providers to seek out employment opportunities on behalf of service users.
* Knowledge of vocational assessment & profiling of service users' vocational needs.
* Recent experience of working with service users to help them meet their employment-related goals.
* Experience & knowledge of the benefits agency and all disability employment related benefits.
* Personal experience of using Mental Health services.
Knowledge and Skills
* Enthusiasm and commitment towards supporting people with mental health problems find paid employment.
* Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
* Ability to work autonomously and use own initiative.
* Knowledge of relevant welfare benefits and benefits rules.
Personal Qualities
* Good time management skills to balance the coordination of own diary making best use of time, efficiently and effectively.
Other
* Ability to travel independently around the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough area meeting required timescales. A full driving licence and access to a vehicle is essential.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
Address
Peterborough Locality Team, Peterborough Town Hall
£31,049 to £37,796 a year per annum pro rata
Contract
Permanent
Working pattern
Full-time, Part-time, Flexible working, Compressed hours
Reference number
310-ASMH-7742092
Job locations
Peterborough Locality Team, Peterborough Town Hall
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