Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust
Specialist Social Worker
The closing date is 23 June 2026
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 bringing 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 finding 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.
Person Specification
Education / Qualifications
* CQSW, CSS, DipSW or equivalent.
* Postgraduate / 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.
Knowledge
* 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 autistic 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
* 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 coordination where service users have complex needs.
* Substantial experience of facilitating service user participation in: care planning, service review, training, recruitment and service development.
Skills
* 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.
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.
Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust
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