Days: Monday to Friday
Hours: 32 Hours per week – core hours to be agreed
Evening work on occasion
Salary: £27,300
Start date: Sept 2025
Reporting to: IPS Team Lead
Location: Based at home or in the community working across Hertfordshire but locations will be considered based on proximity to home address.
What is an Employment Specialist and what is the IPS Model?
Who we are:
SPS Training Solutions Ltd was launched in 2003. The core aim was to become one of the leading skills providers in the East of England and London. To aid its development, SPS Training Solutions partners with some of the most nationally recognised training brands in the country.
SPS Training is proud of its achievements and impact in the local communities of Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire and London over the past few years.
We will be commissioned and engaged on the governments “Get Britain Working” campaign by supporting one of their first projects, called Connect to Work. The Connect to Work programme is a voluntary employment support initiative in England and Wales, launched under the UK Government’s Get Britain Working strategy. It helps disabled people, those with health conditions, and individuals facing complex barriers to employment find and stay in work. Delivered through local authorities, it integrates work, health, and skills support using the Supported Employment model.
We focus on five main areas:
Employment Support – offering support that meets the individual’s needs using both the traditional stepped approach and the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model.
Employer support – enabling the recruitment and retention of their employees.
Social Enterprises – we offer training for people who want to gain a new skill, increase their confidence and be part of a team.
Co-production – Working Well remains committed to the principles of the recovery model and continuously improve its services through co-production.
What you will be doing:
Working with clients who are eligible for the Connect to Work programme to find and sustain employment according to the principles of Individual Placement and Support. It is a community-based role with co-location in a clinical setting.
Your focus:
General
Manage a caseload of 20-25 clients affected by mental health issues to secure and sustain paid employment
- Working towards project targets, covering job outcomes, job sustainment and weekly employer contacts inclusive of monthly reporting
- Discuss and provide support to clients around disclosure of mental health problems to prospective employers
- To support clients prior to or when in work by providing information on permitted working, work allowances under Universal Credit, better-off calculations and budgeting
- To work collaboratively with other teams in SPS Training and the local authority
- To work with key stakeholders including the DWP, job brokerage agencies, local authorities and training providers
- Actively participate in team meetings, individual supervision, case discussions, training and performance appraisals
- Keep accurate and up to date records of support provided using the projects specific reporting systems
- Maintain own mechanisms for time and caseload management
Employer relations
- Spend time developing long-term working relationships with employers to promote the service, identify job opportunities relating to client preferences, and ensuring appropriate strategies are in place to reduce barriers in the workplace
- Provide education and support to employers, as agreed with the individual, which may include negotiating adjustments, return to work strategy and on-going contact with the employer to ensure job retention
Mental health services
- Participate with local services and build relationship to attend clinical team meetings and communicate individually with mental health services in order to coordinate services and keep employment on the agenda
Job sustainment
- Provide individualised follow-along supports to assist clients in maintaining employment, including frequent in-person supports during the first month of a new job and at least monthly after or as desired by the client
- Deliver actions to promote job retention, such as meeting with the employer to negotiate reasonable adjustments in order for a return to work to be achieved and mediating in cases where there is potential or actual conflict between the employer and employee (i.e the client)
If you have any questions regarding this position, please contact Mehul Shah, SPS Training, mehul.shah@sps-training.com
PERSON SPECIFICATION
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