IPS Employment Specialist

NHS; Glossop; On-site; GBP 31,000 - 38,000; Full time

Job summary

A public healthcare provider in Derbyshire is seeking a Mental Health IPS Employment Specialist to support individuals with mental health needs in finding fulfilling employment. You will provide essential support and guidance to clients, helping them access job opportunities and maintain employment. This role comes with comprehensive training and offers a range of benefits including annual leave and NHS pension scheme.

Benefits

27 days annual leave plus bank holidays

Free car parking

Generous NHS pension scheme

Health service discounts

Qualifications

• Experience of working with employers and DWP.
• Working knowledge of IPS.
• Ability to engage service users towards vocational goals.

Responsibilities

• Supporting individuals with mental health needs to access paid employment.
• Providing in-work support and assessing work-related needs.
• Engaging with employers to promote the IPS service.

Skills

Employment advisory experience

Strong administrator

Communication skills

Organisational skills

Empathy

Ability to plan and prioritise

Education

Experience working with people with mental health problems

Understanding of work as a recovery tool

Job description

Job summary

Job overview

Mental Health IPS Employment Specialist

Do you want to make a genuine difference and transform someone's life?

As a result of service expansion, we have 1 full time vacancy for IPS employment specialists to work in one of several locations in Derbyshire including:

Chesterfield, Erewash, Amber Valley, derby City, South Derbyshire

We are looking for motivated, passionate self-starters who wants to kickstart a career in the mental health sector. This position, with on-the-job training, is a fantastic opportunity to make a real difference and support those with mental health needs.

As an Employment Specialist you will play a vital role in helping people with mental health needs find meaningful and fulfilling employment. You'll receive all the training and support you need to take on the role, develop your skills and have access to a broad range of opportunities within Derbyshire Healthcare.

We welcome applications from a range of backgrounds and with all kinds of life experience. What you will need is the ability to empathise and build relationships with clients, strong organisational skills, the resilience and confidence to communicate and engage with a range of employers, and a fundamental belief that anyone with a mental health condition can work.

• Please state which area you would like to work in
• Able to drive for long periods of time

Main duties of the job

What is a Mental Health IPS Employment Specialist?

This is an exciting and dynamic role, where no one day is the same and you'll be making a genuine difference to people's lives. Using the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model you'll be:

• Supporting and motivating individuals with mental health needs to access and sustain paid employment.
• Regularly meeting with clients to listen, help them identify their best job match, reflecting on their skills and aspirations, providing support including CV production, interview techniques
• Provide in-work support, assessing each client's work-related needs, designing a return-to-work strategy, and ensuring job retention with ongoing contact.
• Advocating for your clients by educating and engaging with employers regarding the IPS service.
• Sourcing job opportunities for your clients through regular contact with local employers within the community.
• Work as part of the Derbyshire Healthcare mental health team to promote employment and raise expectations around the ability of service users to access paid employment, breaking down the barriers for them.

About us

Join 'Team Derbyshire Healthcare' and become part of a talented, compassionate and enthusiastic workforce committed to a vision of 'making a positive difference in people's lives'.

CQC rated us as 'GOOD' overall, commenting on how our colleagues "treated patients with compassion and kindness" and "felt positive and proud about working for the trust."

Benefits include:

• 27 days annual leave/year plus bank holidays, increasing to 29 days after 5 years & 33 days after 10 years' service pro rata for part time
• Free car parking
• Yearly appraisal and commitment to ongoing training
• Generous NHS pension scheme
• Good maternity, paternity and adoption benefits
• Health service discounts and online benefits
• Incremental pay progression
• Free confidential employee assistance programme 24/7
• Access to our LGBT+ network, BAME Network and Christian Network
• Health and wellbeing opportunities
• Structured learning and development opportunities

Details

Date posted: 06 October 2025

Pay scheme: Agenda for change

Band: Band 5

Salary: £31,049 to £37,796 a year pa

Contract: Permanent

Working pattern: Full-time

Reference number: 383-ACC-6137-25

Job locations: Derbyshire, Various sites around Derbyshire, DE22 3LZ

Job responsibilities

Who are we looking for?

We are looking for an individual who is passionate in joining us to develop the service and transforms someone's life. This role calls for empathy and the ability to initiate and develop relationships with a variety of individuals and be able to engage employers using a variety of methods such as via the telephone or face-to-face in the community. Alongside having strong and persuasive communication skills, excellent time management, and exceptional IT and administration skills.

It is desirable, to have experience of working with people with mental health support needs or similar groups, OR experience working in employment support services or equivalent, including working with people on a one-to-one basis, offering motivation and support.

We are also actively interested in individuals with transferrable skills for this role such as experience in using a persuasive communication style, data collection, motivational interviewing or promoting a service to a variety of audiences, this can include, but not limited to, coaching, recruitment, sales, education, training, mentoring, or sales roles.

Person Specification

Experience/Knowledge

Essential:

• Employment advisory experience
• Understanding of the impact of work as a recovery tool
• Working knowledge of IPS
• Experience of working with people with mental health problems implementing individual programmes and interventions
• Experience of working with employers and DWP
• Excellent admin skills
• Able to work autonomously

Desirable:

• IPS training
• Mental health knowledge
• Employability experience
• Supporting disadvantaged people into employment
• Accurately recording data
• Excellent organisational skills
• Excellent presentation skills

Skills

Essential:

• Enthusiasm & understanding towards supporting people with mental health problems find employment
• Engage service users towards vocational goals
• Strong administrator
• Ability to plan and prioritise
• People person who builds rapport
• Understands the importance of audits

Desirable:

• Able to build rapport
• Able to demonstrate empathy
• Record data in a timely manner
• Uses tools for organisation
• Accurate data collection
• Understanding of MH services

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.