Senior Social Worker

Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust; York and North Yorkshire; On-site; GBP 42,000 - 52,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

NHS Pension Scheme

Flexible working

Remote working arrangements

Job summary

Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust in Leeds and York is seeking a Senior Social Worker for its Forensic Services. The role involves lead social work duties, safeguarding responsibilities and developing care plans for service users with forensic mental health needs, across inpatient and community pathways.

You will work within a multidisciplinary team, supervise junior staff, and engage with partner agencies to manage risk and drive service development.

Qualifications

• Registered Social Worker with relevant professional registration and a minimum of 2 years post-registration experience.
• Experience with complex needs including assessment, care coordination and risk management.
• Experience collaborating with partner agencies and multidisciplinary teams to support service users and manage risk.
• Knowledge of safeguarding, Mental Health Act and contemporary social work practice.

Responsibilities

• Provide specialist social work assessment, care coordination and intervention for service users with complex forensic mental health needs.
• Lead safeguarding practice within the service, contribute to risk assessment and management, and support discharge planning.
• Work with local authorities, housing providers and partner organisations to support transitions and service development.
• Provide professional leadership, supervision, training or support to colleagues; chair and participate in multidisciplinary meetings; prepare statutory reports and contribute to audits.

Skills

Complex needs assessment

Leadership & supervision

Safeguarding & MHA knowledge

Education

Registered Social Worker (professional registration)

Job description

Are you looking for mental health jobs in Leeds, York or with one of our regional services operating across the country? We have a range of NHS Job opportunities, placements and specialities in our clinical, research, and professional support teams across Leeds and York.

At Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LYPFT), we strive to provide high-quality mental health and learning disability services as an employer of choice. We can only achieve this by putting our staff and the people using our services at the centre of everything we do. This starts with the people we employ. We recruit based on values and qualifications (where required) and believe lived experience is an advantage. We look for potential, not perfection, and this means that together, we are as diverse as the communities we care for.

Simply put, we seek out people who care, act with integrity and have the right skills. We want to add to our incredible colleagues, students and volunteers who share these principles, with people like you, who find empathy comes easily and who treat everyone with respect without thinking. Search our latest jobs to start your journey with us.

We are looking for an experienced and motivated Senior Social Worker to join our Forensic Services team at Clifton House. As a key member of the multidisciplinary leadership team, you will provide professional social work leadership, act as the safeguarding lead for the service, and support service users with complex mental health needs through their care and recovery journey. The role involves working across inpatient and community forensic pathways, supporting safe transitions and discharges, providing specialist advice to colleagues and partner agencies, and contributing to the ongoing development of forensic services.

Main duties of the job

The successful candidate will provide specialist social work assessment, care coordination and intervention for service users with complex forensic mental health needs. You will lead on safeguarding practice within the service, contribute to risk assessment and management, support discharge and transition planning, and work closely with local authorities, housing providers and other partner organisations. The role also includes providing professional leadership and supervision to staff, supporting students and junior colleagues, chairing and participating in multidisciplinary meetings, preparing statutory reports, and contributing to service development, quality improvement and audit activities across Forensic Services.

Working for our organisation

The Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LYPFT) is the main provider of Mental Health and Learning Disability services in Leeds. We also provide specialist inpatient services in York and some highly specialised services across the country. As a teaching trust with strong links to local universities, we are a centre of excellence for teaching, research and development.

There are many benefits of working for LYPFT including fantastic employee wellbeing support, 27 - 33 days annual leave, flexible working and remote working arrangements, the NHS Pension Scheme, coaching, support and opportunities for career development and training and education support alongside a range of exclusive discounts and payment schemes including for cars, extra leave days and more NHS Discount Offers.

We also have a bank department, offering variety of roles in nursing, allied health professions, healthcare support worker and administration clerical. Permanent employees are automatically added to bank.

Applicants should be aware that individuals requiring a visa to work in the UK, the Trust only provides sponsorship for registered healthcare practitioner roles(this does not include Healthcare Support Workers). This is an essential requirement, and the Trust is unable to offer you a role if you do not meet Trust requirements for sponsorship and Home Office requirements for a visa.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We recruit people based on their values and qualifications (where required) and believe that their lived experience is an advantage, this means that together we are as diverse as the communities we care for. Simply put, when we employ caring people who act with integrity and have the right skills, we can give those with mental health challenges, learning disabilities and neurodiversity high-quality care and support to live fulfilling lives, and make our staff feel purposeful, happy and valued.
All our information is available in accessible formats. Please contact the Recruitment team [e-mail]
Attached to this advert is our candidates guide to values-based recruitment and supporting guidance on how to make a successful application.
If you require a reasonable adjustment, please contact the Recruitment Team or see the attached candidate guide to reasonable adjustments.
To find out more about the key responsibilities and the specific skills and experience you’ll need, look at the Job Description & Person Specification attachments under the Supporting Documents heading.

So that you’re even more equipped to make an informed decision to apply to us, you’ll need to take time to read the Candidate Guide to Values Based Recruitment. This document provides you with information to help you apply.

Person specification

Qualifications

• Registered Social Worker with relevant professional registration and a minimum of 2 years post-registration experience.

Skills

• Experience of working with individuals with complex needs, including assessment, care coordination and risk management.

Experience

• Experience of working collaboratively with partner agencies and multidisciplinary teams to support service users and manage risk.
• Experience of providing professional leadership, supervision, training or support to colleagues within a team environment.

Knowledge

• Knowledge of relevant legislation, policy and best practice, including safeguarding, the Mental Health Act and contemporary social work practice.

Applications are welcomed from candidates who wish to apply for a position based on a smarter (Hybrid) or flexible working arrangement. Where candidates are successful at interview, flexible working arrangement requests will be taken into consideration and may be accommodated where the needs of the service allow.

Fixed Term Contracts for existing NHS Employees – temporary contracts for employees of LYPFT, or colleagues joining from another NHS Trust, will be offered on a secondment basis wherever possible. In the event this is not possible, an FTC would be issued and this would require a break in service of two weeks.

The purpose of a temporary is role could be for maternity cover, temporary funding or some other reason. At the end of which the need for the temporary work will cease. Temporary roles can stop, be extended and/or made permanent at any point during the period of work. Should the role become permanent then the post-holder will be informed of the process to be followed to convert the position to a permanent one.

All new employees are required to subscribe to the DBS Update Service.

Patient Safety is a priority at LYPFT with a focus on system-based improvement and creating opportunities for learning. We will ensure compassionate engagement with all those involved in an incident and all incidents are met with a proportionate response. LYPFT is committed to upholding its’ statutory responsibilities in relation to safeguarding adults and children. Please refer to job description for further information.

LYPFT is a member of the Disability Confident scheme and is committed to providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process.

As part of the Trust's commitment to its Gold Standard Armed Forces Covenant status, members of the Armed Forces Community are entitled to a guaranteed interview subject to meeting the role criteria.

We welcome applicants with lived experience of providing unpaid care and/or support to a family member or friend with a disability, health condition, frailty, mental health problem, addiction or other health needs.

Please note that the Trust reserves the right to close the vacancy before the closing date if enough applications are received. It is in the candidate’s best interest to apply as soon as possible. In submitting an application form, you authorize Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust to confirm any previous NHS service details via the ESR IAT process should you be appointed to the post.

In applying for a role please ensure that you only declare qualifications that are relevant to the role itself. We reserve the right to check all declared qualifications on an application form, whether they are directly relevant to the role or not.

Please note: The Trust does not offer reimbursement of interview expenses.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

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