Employment Specialist

AKG UK; Morecambe; Hybrid; GBP 29,000 - 31,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

26 days annual leave + Bank Holidays (

Company Pension Scheme

Sick Pay

Job summary

Intuitive Thinking Skills in Lancashire North (Lancaster/Morecambe) is recruiting Employment Specialists to help people with disabilities or health-related barriers into sustainable paid work. The role combines working with participants and employers in a hybrid model.

You will assess needs, create personalised action plans, engage partners, and monitor performance against quality standards. Travel and driving licence are expected, with a salary of £29,000–£31,000 and benefits including pension.

Qualifications

• Experience helping people with multiple and complex needs.
• Proficient IT skills, including Microsoft 365 and Teams.
• Experience in target-driven service delivery with quality outcomes.
• Knowledge of IPS/Connect to Work standards.

Responsibilities

• Meet and exceed personal performance targets and quality measures.
• Manage a caseload of customers with learning disabilities.
• Carry out in-depth assessments of barriers to progression.
• Develop SMART action plans with customers and employers.
• Engage with local services and employers to source opportunities.
• Directly market to employers and conduct pre-screens.
• Co-produce in-work support plans and explore job carving.
• Maintain safety and compliance, and keep accurate records.
• Work from local hubs and community locations to improve access.

Skills

Local labour market

Multiple complex needs

IT literacy

Target driven

Quality standards

IPS/Connect to Work standards

Level 3 Award in Employability

Employability industry knowledge

Recruitment industry knowledge

Driving licence

Education

Level 3 Award in Employability Services Sector or equivalent

Job description

Job Title: Employment Specialist (Connect to Work)

Location: Lancashire North (Lancaster/Morecambe). There will be a hybrid approach to working (65/35% split community/hub based)

Hours: 37.5 pw Monday to Friday

Accountable to: Team Lead / Head of Supported Employment Operations

Closing Date: 12th October 2026

We’re currently recruiting Employment Specialists to join our dedicated Lancashire Connect to Work team. This role forms part of a specialist programme designed to support individuals with disabilities and/or health conditions or other barriers to work into sustainable paid employment.

As one of our Employment Specialists, you’ll play a pivotal role in helping our participants achieve their employment goals. Working primarily with individuals who have health-related support needs, you’ll identify suitable job opportunities and provide tailored guidance to help them secure, meaningful, sustainable employment.

You’ll offer bespoke advice and support to each client, alongside developing strong relationships with referral partners and local employers, that will be key to enabling successful employment outcomes.

To succeed in this role, you’ll bring proven experience supporting individuals with multiple and complex needs. You’ll have a track record of working in target-driven environments while consistently delivering services standards that meet contractual and quality standards.

Key Responsibilities

• Meet, and strive to exceed personal performance targets, Key Performance Indicators and all Quality and Compliance measures.
• Progressively manage a caseload of referred customers with a learning disability.
• Learning disability awareness and self development/knowledge to provide specialist support to customer group
• Undertake in-depth assessments using a suite of tools to fully understand a customer’s circumstances, preferences and holistic barriers to progression to employment
• Achieve the Customer Service and Quality Standards required on the programme.
• Co-produce personalised tailored Action Plans featuring SMART targeting to enable positive and timely progression.
• Use an integration framework of local specialist services to obtain support to address specific issues (e.g. substance misuse, anger management, debt advice, health and vocational training).
• Use social prescribing to develop and improve customer circumstances
• Work with multiple agencies to develop holistic approaches to support customers. With customer consent undertake case conferences with external agencies to jointly optimise support packages.
• Fully understand the local labour market to source suitable job opportunities
• Undertaking direct marketing to employers using digital and electronic formats e.g. email, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter etc.
• Identify the specific recruitment needs of each employer and undertake tailored pre-screens and group assessments.
• Co-produce effective in-work support plans with participants and employers, based on an assessment of need, providing practical support to ensure a smooth transition into work. When appropriate facilitate job carving opportunities.
• Be mindful of Health & Safety within the customer’s workplace and actively promote and report (if appropriate) to ensure a safe working environment for all customers.
• Develop an understanding of specialist signposting services in the county, building knowledge in areas such as specific disabilities, housing, benefits etc.
• Maintain IT files and customer records to the required compliance and quality standards.
• Work from local hubs and community outreach locations (sometimes alongside other services e.g. housing, health and primary care centres) to increase service accessibility.

Skills and Experience

• A good working knowledge of the local labour market in the specified geographical locations
• Experience of working with people with multiple and complex needs in particular those with learning disabilities.
• Fully IT literate in using a range of Microsoft Office programmes to include 365 products and modern digital technologies, i.e. Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business
• Experience of working in a target driven environment
• Experience of delivering services to meet contractual and quality standards
• Knowledge of fidelity/IPS or Connect to Work standards
• Level 3 Award in Employability Services Sector or equivalent
• Knowledge of the employability industry
• Knowledge of the recruitment industry
• Full driving licence

In return for all you’ll bring to Intuitive Thinking Skills, we’re offering a competitive salary range of £29,000 to £31,000 per annum (dependent on experience) along with these benefits:

• 26 days annual leave + Bank Holidays (opportunity to buy/sell additional days)
• Company Pension Scheme
• Sick Pay

Additional Information

Dependent on the role applying to you may be required to process a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS/DS) check.

• Additional leave
• Company events
• Company pension
• Sick pay

Intuitive Thinking Skills is committed to creating an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. We welcome applications from candidates with a range of backgrounds, experiences and working styles. Candidates are encouraged to let us know if they require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process.

Applicants do not need to meet every desirable criterion to apply; we are interested in relevant skills, potential and values alignment as well as direct experience.

It is the responsibility of all staff to abide by organisational policies to ensure compliance with relevant standards e.g. ISO 27001 (Information Security), ISO 9001 (Quality) and ISO 14001 (Environmental) as well as adhering to statutory duties in relation to safeguarding, Prevent and health and safety.