Musculoskeletal (MSK) Employment Advisor

NHS; Luton; On-site; GBP 22,000 - 28,000; Full time

Job summary

A health service provider in Luton seeks a Musculoskeletal Employment Advisor to offer personalized support to individuals facing employment barriers. You will collaborate with clinical teams, develop individualized action plans, and advocate on behalf of participants to ensure effective workplace adjustments. This role requires excellent interpersonal skills and a commitment to fostering equality and diversity in the workplace. Opportunities for professional development are provided, as well as access to NHS benefits.

Benefits

Comprehensive induction and ongoing training

Supportive team environment

Flexible working arrangements

Access to NHS pension and benefits

Qualifications

• Empathetic, good listener, and able to build rapport with people.
• Committed to promoting equality and diversity in the workplace.
• Experience in employment support, health, or community roles.

Responsibilities

• Deliver one-to-one employment support with a person-centred approach.
• Work collaboratively with clinical teams for seamless support.
• Manage a diverse caseload and provide tailored advice.

Skills

Excellent interpersonal skills

Ability to negotiate with employers

Excellent IT skills

Ability to work well under pressure

Understanding of common MSK problems

Education

NVQ level 3 minimum or equivalent

Tools

Microsoft Office

Databases

Job description

Musculoskeletal (MSK) Employment Advisor

As an MSK Employment Advisor, you will provide tailored, person-centred employment support to individuals with musculoskeletal conditions. You will work closely with clinical teams, employers, and community partners to help people overcome barriers, return to, remain in, or find new employment. We welcome applications from people with a wide range of backgrounds, including those with lived experience of managing health conditions or supporting others.

What We Offer

• Comprehensive induction and ongoing training.
• Supportive team environment with regular supervision.
• Opportunities for personal and professional development.
• Flexible working arrangements.
• Access to NHS pension and staff benefits.

Main duties of the job

Deliver one-to-one employment support, using a strengths-based, person-centred approach.

Co‑produce action plans with participants, recognising and valuing their unique experiences and aspirations.

Work collaboratively with physiotherapists, GPs, and the wider multidisciplinary team to ensure seamless support.

Advocate for participants with employers, supporting workplace adjustments and return-to-work strategies.

Maintain accurate records and contribute to service evaluation and improvement.

About You

We are looking for someone who:

Is empathetic, a good listener, and able to build rapport with people.

Values the skills and insights gained through both professional and lived experience.

Is committed to promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion in all aspects of their work.

Can manage a varied caseload and work flexibly across different settings.

Has experience in employment support, health, social care, or community roles (formal qualifications are welcome but not essential if you can demonstrate the required skills).

About us

We are a CQC outstanding rated practice located in Luton and Bedfordshire, across 4 sites. The successful candidate will be joining an innovative and proactive practice.

We are looking for staff who share the same team working ethics to join our team.

We learn from the past but are always looking to the future. This is true for when we look for new staff as well, your skills and experience will be what make you suitable for this role but we are more interested in your ideas for the future! How you want to develop yourself and how that will improve our practice and the service we offer to our patients.

Job responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

To work with people that are unemployed and/or have challenges with their current employment. To encourage them to recognise the importance of productive work to good mental health and to help them plan a route into meaningful activity and employment.

Caseload Management

• Support participants by recognising and building upon their lived experience, empowering them to identify their own goals and overcome barriers to employment.
• Manage a diverse caseload of participants with MSK conditions, providing tailored information, advice, and guidance to address workplace problems and support employment goals.
• Use holistic assessment tools to identify aspirations, needs, and barriers, co-producing action plans with participants.

Primary Care Integration

• Work closely with physiotherapists (First Contact Practitioners) and the multidisciplinary team to ensure seamless support for participants, integrating clinical and employment interventions.
• Attend practice appointments and events to build caseload and promote the service.

Employment Support

• Provide employment coaching, including careers guidance, CV building, interview technique, and job brokerage.
• Advocate for participants with employers, negotiating workplace adjustments and supporting return-to-work strategies.
• Develop in-depth knowledge of the local labour market, local support and new initiatives, taking into account the needs of the client to broker effective interventions, including specialist schemes to help with retaining or finding employment.
• Maintain ongoing support after return to work to help sustain employment.

Health and Wellbeing Promotion

• Deliver wellbeing advice and promote healthy lifestyle changes relevant to MSK conditions.
• Signpost or refer participants to additional support (e.g., universal credit, mental health) as needed.

Service Promotion and Development

• Proactively promote the MSK EA service within general practice and the wider community.
• Meet referral and performance targets in line with service KPIs.

Administration and Data Management

• Maintain accurate and compliant electronic client records.
• Collect and report data to support service performance and evaluation.

Key Working Relationships

Partnership working with commissioning organisations including attending team/network meetings, 1-2-1s and training.

• Build and maintain strong relationships with a range of roles within General Practice including First Contact Practitioners, social prescribers, GPs and other community providers.
• Develop and maintain relationships/links with a range of external agencies that help individuals to achieve employment goals. This may include local colleges and training providers.

Identify, understand and nurture relationships with the wider employment support services in the locale.

Safeguarding Responsibilities

Be able to display an awareness, understanding and commitment to the protection and safeguarding of young people and vulnerable adults.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

• NVQ level 3 minimum or equivalent.
• Evidence of further study in vocational training, careers advice, job retention and presenteeism.
• We welcome applications from individuals with relevant lived experience, even if formal qualifications are not held, provided they can demonstrate the required skills and abilities.

Key Skills/Attributes

Essential

• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work well under pressure and effectively plan and prioritise own workload.
• Ability to assess individual strengths in relation to employment and adapt activities to be appropriate for the needs of individuals.
• Ability to quickly build rapport and strong relationships with a range of participants and stakeholders.
• Ability to use one's own lived experience, where appropriate, to inspire and support participants.
• Ability to collect and report data to support service performance and evaluation.
• Ability to negotiate with employers on behalf of service users.
• Excellent IT skills, including familiarity with Microsoft Office software and previous experience of working with databases.
• Understanding of data protection and information security.

Experience

Essential

• Experience of providing vocational/employment support.
• Ability to manage a caseload of individuals with different needs and goals.
• Experience of working in a service where agreed targets and key performance indicators are in place.
• Experience may include supporting others through personal or lived experience of overcoming barriers to employment, health challenges, or disability.

Desirable

• Experience of working with people suffering from common MSK problems.

Other

Essential

• A car driver or able to travel independently within the local area in accordance with the service needs.
• Ability to work well within a team and foster good working relationships.

Knowledge

Essential

• Understanding of common MSK problems and the potential workplace implications of these conditions.
• Working knowledge of community resources including employment and disability related benefits.

Desirable

• Knowledge of employment law and the Equality Act 2010.
• Knowledge of evidence-based interventions to support people with common MSK problems to gain, return to or retain employment.

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.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

Employer details

Employer name

Lea Vale Medical Group

Address

Liverpool Road Health Centre

9 Liverpool Road

Luton

LU1 1HH

Employer's website

https://www.leavale.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

Depending on experience Equivalent to Band 4 Agenda for Change