IPS Team Lead - Basildon

Lead a team that helps employment become part of recovery. Paid employment can rebuild confidence, independence and purpose for someone experiencing serious mental ill health. As our IPS Team Leader, you will lead a number of Employment Specialists supporting people to find and sustain jobs that reflect their individual skills, preferences and ambitions. You will coach your team, manage performance and ensure the Individual Placement and Support approach is delivered with quality, pace and compassion.

This is a visible, hands-on leadership role. It is not a work-from-home position and it is not based permanently in one office. You will travel throughout South Essex every working day, meeting your remotely based team, observing their work, supporting clinical relationships and maintaining a clear understanding of delivery across the region.

Your Responsibilities:

• Lead and manage remotely based IPS Employment Specialists
• Maintain a regular and visible presence throughout South Essex
• Provide structured one-to-ones, supervision, coaching and performance reviews
• Observe practice in community, clinical and employer settings
• Review caseloads and help specialists maintain purposeful progression
• Drive performance against job-start, sustainment and progression targets
• Coach the team on employer engagement and job-development strategies
• Ensure specialists spend meaningful time meeting employers face to face
• Coordinate employer activity and encourage the sharing of intelligence and opportunities
• Embed the principles of IPS and support Good-to-Excellent fidelity
• Build productive relationships with NHS, clinical and community teams
• Help integrate employment into mental health care and recovery planning
• Use data to identify trends, risks and areas requiring improvement
• Identify individual and team training needs
• Encourage reflective practice, peer learning and continuous improvement
• Maintain safeguarding, GDPR, evidence and audit standards
• Escalate service, performance and safeguarding risks appropriately
• Report clearly to the Contract Manager on delivery, risks and required actions

Essential Experience:

• Experience working within employability, employment support or welfare-to-work services
• Experience managing a team of more than four people
• Experience leading colleagues who work remotely or across multiple locations
• Performance management in a target-driven service
• Coaching colleagues to improve participant progression and employment outcomes
• Experience building relationships with employers, partners or external services
• Strong organisation, record keeping and data-led decision-making
• Safeguarding awareness and sound professional judgement

Advantageous Experience:

• Previous experience delivering or leading an IPS service
• Knowledge of the IPS Fidelity Model
• Experience working with NHS or clinical mental health teams
• Experience supporting people with serious mental illness or complex health barriers
• A qualification in Information, Advice and Guidance, employability, coaching or leadership
• Experience of employer engagement and developing opportunities within the hidden labour market

This is a mobile role covering South Essex. You must hold a valid driving licence, have reliable access to a vehicle, be able to use that vehicle for business travel, and ensure appropriate business-use insurance is in place.

What Success Looks Like:

• Built trusted relationships with all Employment Specialists
• Established a visible working pattern across the delivery area
• Understood the strengths, risks and development needs within the team
• Introduced consistent supervision and caseload reviews
• Built credibility with clinical teams and local partners
• Established clear oversight of referrals, employer activity and outcomes
• Identified practical actions to improve performance and IPS fidelity
• Created a culture where support, learning and accountability work together

You are likely to succeed in this role if you understand how high-quality employability support changes lives, enjoy coaching people and improving frontline practice, and prefer to be visible and involved rather than managing from a distance.

At Get Set UK, we are Ambitious, Proud and Considerate; we Own It and we Inspire. We are looking for a leader who demonstrates those values through their everyday decisions and actions.

Why Join Get Set UK?

• Lead a specialist service that creates measurable change in people's lives
• Opportunity to develop eight Employment Specialists
• Strengthen relationships between employment and mental health services
• Establish consistently high standards across South Essex
• Receive IPS training and fidelity support
• Benefits include 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays, pension contributions, employee ownership share scheme, wellbeing support, discounts and salary-sacrifice options, enhanced benefits with service, and learning, development and progression opportunities