Employment Specialist

Human Resources & Development - Form 35 Version 15- Issued October 2022 JOB DESCRIPTION AND PARTICULARS OF APPOINTMENT ▪ Job Title: ▪ Post Number: ▪ Grade and SCP: Grade 7, SCP 12 - 17 ▪ Directorate: Care and Wellbeing Individual Placement and Support Employment Specialist P27161 Where your role fits at Shropshire Council As Shropshire Council we are rightly proud of our achievements and we have proven to be a resilient local authority in our response to the many challenges we overcome, particularly over recent years. We will be continuing this momentum with ambition and a focus on delivering our four key priorities outlined within the Shropshire Plan: Healthy People, Healthy Environment, Health Economy, and Healthy Organisation. We are committed to achieving this by aligning everything we do to our vision 'Shropshire - living the best life;' to tell everyone that Shropshire Council is a great place to be. We will enable a skilled, happy, healthy, diverse, inclusive, empowered, and proud workforce that influences and leads change, addressing any inequalities. As a member of the Individual Placement and Support for Severe Mental Illness (IPS SMI) Team within Enable, you will support the achievement of these key priorities, making a real difference to the lives of people in Shropshire. Enable is Shropshire Council's employment service for people with health conditions or disabilities and has teams specialising in mental health employment, learning disability and autism employment and employment of young people with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disability). Overview of your role You will work with clients (managing a caseload) who are experiencing barriers to employment and have serve mental illness, to assist them in securing sustainable paid employment in line with their preferences. You will deliver an Individual Placement and Support (IPS) Employment 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 referral team, maintaining positive and integrated relationships with clinical teams, fostering a holistic approach to recovery through employment. Who will your manager be and what will you be responsible for? You will be: ▪ reporting to the IPS team leader who is in turn responsible for your health and safety, training, and development. What will you be doing? Core Duties: • Manage a caseload of around 25 clients who are experiencing barriers to employment as a result of their severe mental illness, who are motivated to start/return to work. • Deliver supported employment through IPS, for which training will be given. • 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 health information etc, and provide support & guidance. • Attend weekly multi-disciplinary team meetings as an embedded IPS Employment 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, into work strategy and on-going 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 staff (promoting employment as a positive intervention). • 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. • Taking an active part in the development of Enable's services to people with disabilities within Shropshire and across Enable's services. • Demonstrating a high level of understanding and awareness of issues related to equal opportunities and anti-discriminatory practice and reflect this in your practice. • Taking an active part in identified training and development and continuing personal and vocational development activities. • Contribute to Enable training and publicity as required. • Ensure safe systems of work in accordance with the Shropshire Council's Health, Safety and Welfare policies and procedures. • These duties are illustrative and not exhaustive. The post holder will be expected to become involved in a range of work to enable the service to respond effectively to the changing requirements of the Council and changes affecting the workforce. Relationship Management: Establish positive and integrated relationships with clinical teams, employers, and other service providers. This includes: • To build and maintain employer relationships and maintain employer engagement database. • Arrange regular meetings with clients to monitor and review progress pre- and post-employment. • 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 clinical teams Other: • To adhere to administrative and data capture protocols which record the progress of individuals, and to keep accurate and complete records of casework. • To work independently, reliably and deliver consistently to deliver effective IPS practice. • Ensure that effective monitoring and evaluation systems are adhered to and keep abreast of changing practice within vocational rehabilitation. • To co-produce service development with clients where possible. • To collect employment recovery stories from people accessing the service. • Ensure that all relevant policies are implemented such as information governance, safeguarding etc. • Partake in continuous learning about housing difficulties, their impact and how they can be managed and undertake mandatory training as required. • Work flexible hours as required. The above duties are an illustrative outline and are not an exhaustive list. You will be expected to become involved in a range of work to enable the service to respond effectively to the changing requirements of the Council and changes affecting the workforce. What we expect of you You will: ▪ adopt a customer focused approach when delivering your service, ensuring engagement with service users and maintenance of an appropriate personal profile, ▪ act as an advocate for your service and work collaboratively with colleagues across the whole Council to meet the needs of the people of Shropshire, ▪ meet individual, service and personal development targets agreed through the Personal Development Plan review process, learn from experience, and are committed to continuous improvement individually and as an employee of the Council, ▪ work with colleagues to meet your team's key performance indicators, support a culture of team working and ensure the team functions successfully in support of the Council's corporate and service objectives. ▪ meet the behaviours and competencies adopted by the Council in the way in which they achieve their objectives and carry out their work. What are your conditions of Service The conditions of service are those laid down by Shropshire Council, which have been adopted and amended as necessary from those laid down by the National Joint Council for Local Government Services. Your primary work base will be in New Zealand House, Shrewsbury SY2 6FD or, Hall Court, Telford, TF3 4NF - to be confirmed, with the requirement to also work from other community settings. Your post is subject to the following: ▪ The post is Fixed Term opportunity until 31/03/2028 for 37 hours per week, ▪ Normal office hours are 08:45am- 5:00pm Monday - Thursday and 08:45am- 4:00pm Friday with a minimum lunch break of 30 minutes. Occasional evening work may be required, ▪ The post is subject to the Council's annualised hours scheme as implemented within the specific work area. This post carries eligibility to join the Local Government Pension Scheme. Information about this will be sent with any formal offer of appointment. Annual leave entitlement is a pro rata flat rate scheme of 207 hours (28 days) annual leave plus bank holidays, with five days extra awarded to those staff with five years local government service giving an entitlement of 244 hours (33 days). Two days of an employee's allowance (pro rota for part time staff) must be taken at Christmas for any potential Christmas closures. Employees who work in a building/service which is required to open over the Christmas period, the two days leave (pro rota) can be carried over into your next leave year but must be used by the end of ...