Senior Employment Specialist (Individual Employment and Support)

Overview

Change Grow Live are a charity dedicated to the belief that we can make a difference to our Service Users lives, offering support and respect in a safe environment, treating each service user as an individual and working with them to find the right treatment and care options.

Our core values are ‘Be open, be compassionate and be bold,’ and our team members apply these daily to achieve our mission of helping people change the direction of their lives, grow as individuals, and live life to its full potential.

We have an exciting opportunity in Manchester for an Individual Placement and Support (IPS) Senior Employment Specialist with the skills and experience to lead a team of Employment Specialists to deliver a high fidelity IPS service enabling Service Users to access and sustain paid employment as part of their recovery goals.

The IPS Senior Employment Specialist will manage a team of IPS Employment Specialists integrated into the Manchester Drugs and Alcohol Service. The Senior Worker will ensure IPS service provision is delivered with high fidelity to the IPS model. They will provide IPS leadership, supervision, training, caseload management, and role modelling of the evidence based IPS approach, as part of the holistic recovery plan for people in structured treatment for drug and/or alcohol use.

You will be an excellent team player with the ability to build effective working relationships with a range of stakeholders including service users, commissioners, treatment service managers and staff, benefits agency staff, local employers and ETE providers.

Location:Manchester

Hours: Full time 37.5h per week

Full Time Salary: £35,220.59 – £37,184.91 Dependent on experience (based on full time hours, pro rata for part time).

Full-time hours at Change Grow Live are 37.5 hours per week. For part-time roles, the salary and payments will be pro rata based on contracted hours.

Responsibilities

About the role:

• Effectively manage a high-quality service that adheres to the core principles of IPS best practice.
• Monitor and manage performance of the IPS Employment Specialists – guide them on best practice and achieving individual and team job outcome targets.
• Ensure service delivery achieves a high fidelity to the IPS model.
• Create a team culture of continuous improvement.
• Produce and maintain systems and processes to monitor and report on service KPI’s.
• Identify training needs of staff and arrange appropriate training to support continuous professional development.
• Involve service users in co-production of service developments where possible.
• Compile and present regular service reports to commissioners, steering group and funders as required.
• Coordinate the work of Employment Specialists in relation to building relationships with employers to effectively access the hidden labour market.
• Lead the team to ensure Employment Specialists spend enough time in face-to-face meetings with employers to find the right job match.
• Manage a small caseload of between 5 -10 clients at any one time.
• Work with a range of internal and external stakeholders to access opportunities for service users to maximise their income and increase their employability.
• Promote the IPS service within the treatment service to drive quantity and quality of referrals to the service.

About you:

• A passion for supporting people to maximise their potential and achieve their goals.
• Experience of working in an outcomes-focused environment and working with multiple demands.
• Ability to communicate complex information to individuals and groups in a way that is easily understood.
• The ability to accurately update and maintain records in a timely fashion and to work to deadlines for the submission of information, e.g. reports
• Excellent time management skills, and an ability to work on own initiative, prioritising accordingly.

We offer:

• 25 days of annual leave, plus bank holidays. Additionally, you\’ll receive one extra day of annual leave for each year of service during your first five years, therefore you will enjoy 30 days of leave after five years with us.

• Paid ‘Wellness’ hour each week along with a ‘Wellness’ hub and Employee Assist Programme
• Contributory pension scheme
• Several employee benefits inc. discounts for shopping, cinema, holidays etc
• A friendly and supportive team
• Training, career development and progression opportunities
• Participation in our organisations Refer-a-Friend scheme

Please note: This role is not eligible for visa sponsorship. Applicants must already have the right to work in the UK at the time of application. For applicants with time-limited visas, unfortunately, we are unable to support new visa applications or extensions. More information about eligible roles and occupations can be found here:Skilled Worker visa: Overview – GOV.UK

If you think this sounds like your ideal job, we would love to hear from you.

We reserve the right to close the vacancy early if we receive a high number of applications, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

Direct applications only — we will not be engaging agencies for this vacancy.

Salary Range (pro rata if part time)

CGL points 31 to 33 (£35,220.59 – £37,184.90)

ILW / OLW /Fringe

N/A – Outside London Weighting Area

Interview Date

19/8/2025

Closing Date

11/8/2025

If you have any questions on this opportunity that you would like to talk through please contact us using the below details:

Claire Arkwright | Claire.Arkwright@cgl.org.ukThis post is subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check at an enhanced level. #J-18808-Ljbffr