Counselling/Clinical Consultant Psychologist - Clinical Lead Autism in Newport

Main area Autism Grade Band 8c – Annex 21 Development Post Contract Permanent Hours Part time – 30 hours per week (Monday to Friday (flexible across the working week)) Job ref 110-PST090-1125

Employer Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board Employer type NHS Site Ysbyty George Thomas Town Treorchy Salary £78,120 – £90,013 per annum pro rata annex 21 applies Salary period Yearly Closing 02/12/2025 23:59

Counselling/Clinical Consultant Psychologist – Clinical Lead Autism

Band 8c – Annex 21 Development Post

Thank you for your interest in joining Cwm Taf Morgannwg (CTM) University Health Board.

Located in the heart of South Wales, we’re central to Cardiff, Newport, and Swansea. Deeply rooted in our community, as an NHS organisation we are dedicated to providing compassionate patient care and building healthier communities together.

At CTM, you’ll be part of a supportive, inclusive team from diverse nations, cultures, and backgrounds. Every role counts, every person matters, and together, we’re creating a space where everyone can thrive.

Discover more about working with us here:

This is a training and development role offered under Annex 21 of the Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions – see additional job advert documents for details.

We have an exciting opportunity to be the Clinical Lead for the Autism service within CTMUHB. This is an Annex 21 development opportunity for those who are looking to work towards a Consultant Clinical Psychologist post.

We have a small but friendly integrated team who would welcome the addition of a Clinical Psychologist to provide clinical leadership and strategic forward planning for Autism care within CTMUHB.

Alongside assessments, formulations, consultations, and advising on complex care presentations, the role will provide supervision and clinical leadership to the team.

The post holder will work closely with team managers and the directorate lead Consultant Clinical Psychologist, to develop provision within CTMUHB and will be involved in the strategic future planning for autism and adult Neurodiversity care in CTMUHB. The post sits within the broader adult specialised services directorate and will be supported by the directorate lead consultant clinical psychologist.

Main duties of the job

This role requires the role holder to provide clinical leadership to the Integrated Autism Service and professional advice and support across wider Neurodiversity services.

The role holder will be involved in the strategic future planning for Autism and adult Neurodiversity care in CTMUHB.

The role holder will be responsible for establishing systems for monitoring the performance of the Autism service.

The role holder will be responsible for ensuring effective joint working and liaison with other services and agencies within the CTMUHB area.

Welsh Skills Desirable: This post is advertised as Welsh Desirable. This doesn’t mean essential; whilst the candidate doesn\’t need to have skills in Welsh, we\’ll consider it an advantage when short‑listing and selecting candidates. This isn’t ‘fluency’, just Speaking & Listening skills at Level 3 (equivalent to CEFR B2) or above. Level 3 means basic conversations with patients about their everyday health. For more information, see ‘Welsh Language Guidance’ in the documents right at the bottom.

Working for our organisation

Cwm Taf Morgannwg (CTM) University Health Board, part of NHS Wales, serves a large population across a diverse and beautiful region, steeped in history and heritage. With nearly 13,500 staff, our health board is one of Wales’s largest employers.

Together, we are Team CTM; a workforce dedicated to offering excellent patient care and support to the 450,000 people across our three regions, Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil, and Rhondda Cynon Taf. We operate three District General hospitals, several community hospitals, primary and community care facilities.

CTM’s location offers the best of South Wales, just 20 minutes from Cardiff’s vibrant city life, the natural beauty of the Brecon Beacons, and the serene coastline at Ogmore. Whether you enjoy lively urban amenities, peaceful countryside, or seaside escapes, our location makes an ideal setting for both work and personal life.

Our CTM 2030 Strategy—Our Health, Our Future—focuses on uniting our region around shared health and wellbeing goals. Our values guide us daily:

• We listen, learn, and improve
• We treat everyone with respect
• We work together as one team

CTM employees enjoy benefits including; a leading pension, generous leave, flexible work, career growth, and access to ongoing learning and development.

At CTM, you’ll find a welcoming, team‑oriented workplace that values diversity and compassion, where you can take pride in your work and the difference it makes.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

See attached JD/PS.

This is a training and development role offered under Annex 21 of the Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions. The post holder will be required to undertake a 12‑month training/development programme upon commencement of this role, with an aim to complete specialist training and obtain knowledge and experience in this field to meet the full competencies of this Job Description. Completion of the identified training/development is a requirement of the contract of employment. National assessors will be involved in reviewing and approving progression in post.

During this training period, salary will be paid in accordance with Annex 21 of the Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions as follows: Months 1‑12 of the training period will be paid at 75% of the top of Band 8c pay scale. Upon successful attainment of the specialist training and relevant knowledge and experience in this field, even if sooner than the 12‑month allocated timeframe, the post holder will automatically move to the bottom of the Band 8c pay scale, as they will then meet the full KSF outline of this role and be expected to undertake all duties within this Job Description as indicated.

NOTE: There will be some circumstances where current staff apply for these posts, and their new trainee salary will be below that of their current salary. To aid both the recruitment and development of staff it is recommended that staff across NHS Wales should have continuity of pay for the duration of the training to avoid financial detriment. This should apply when staff take up training posts both within and across NHS Wales organisations. Following this training, the remuneration will be the bottom of Band 8c, again without financial detriment.

You will be able to find a full Job description and Person Specification attached within the supporting documents or please click “Apply now” to view in Trac.

Person specification

Qualifications & Knowledge

• Honours Degree in Psychology or other HCPC/BPS recognised combined Honours Degree including Psychology.
• Postgraduate Doctorate Degree in clinical or counselling psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996).
• Eligible for Chartered status as a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist (BPS).
• Registered as Practitioner Psychologist with the HCPC.
• Training and qualification in leadership.
• Highly developed knowledge of the range of psychological models in their application to complex presenting problems.
• Knowledge of cognitive and sensory impairment, delayed development, biopsychosocial models and the interaction of health and social care model to inform formulation of issues, assess and treat associated from a psychological perspective.
• Specialist training in the assessment of people with Autistic Spectrum disorders, for example ADOS or DISCO.
• Knowledge of government and national policies, national and local drivers, e.g. NSF, BPS guidance, to inform about re‑structuring within the NHS and impact on delivery of care.
• Awareness of own development needs, proactive in making recommendation for own CPD, and advising about other\’s CPD/training needs.
• Full understanding of issues related to Counselling/Clinical Psychology training.
• Specialist training in Psychological therapy for example; CBT, DBT, MBT, EMDR, Systemic family therapy.
• Record of conference presentations, peer reviewed publications.

Experience

• Significant therapeutic expertise, and development of areas of expertise in a range of therapeutic approaches e.g. CBT, Systemic, Mindfulness based approaches.
• Significant experience of teaching and training.
• Experience of working with clients who may be unpredictable/violent.

Skills & Attributes

• Able to work with extremely distressing situations, e.g., clients that challenge services, clients with impaired communication skills.
• Ability to develop or existing demonstrable clinical supervision and consultancy skills in a multi-disciplinary context liaising with partner agencies.
• Able to work as a member of a Team.
• Competent interpersonal relating, involving complex emotional change at both the client and service/systems level: families, teams, groups.
• Computing skills, word processing and database usage, research review approaches and working knowledge of statistical analysis packages e.g. SPSS.

Other Role Requirements

• Postgraduate level of research skills
• Able to travel in a timely manner to all locations in CTMUHB.
• Flexible to the service.
• Welsh Speaker (Level 1) or willingness to work towards achieving this level.
• Welsh Language Speaking/Listening Skills at Level 3 or above

We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce and welcome applications from individuals within protected groups as outlined in the Equality Act 2010. This includes, but is not limited to, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity/reassignment, race/nationality, religion/belief, disability, pregnancy and maternity, and marriage and civil partnership. We also warmly welcome applications from members of the Armed Forces community.

Applicants who are not UK or Republic of Ireland nationals will require sponsorship to obtain either a Health and Care Visa or a Skilled Worker Visa unless they already hold permission to work via another route. Prospective applicants should self‑assess their eligibility for sponsorship by visiting the UK Government’s Work in the UK guidance. For eligible candidates, the Health and Care Visa offers reduced application costs and exempts payment of the annual Immigration Health Surcharge.

Please ensure you check your email regularly, as all recruitment correspondence will be sent to the email address provided on your application form.

Applications are welcome in either Welsh or English, with no preference given to the language used.

We reserve the right to close a vacancy early or withdraw an advertisement to accommodate the redeployment of internal staff into suitable roles.

All posts are subject to relevant checks, including a Disclosure and Barring Service check and, where required, Professional Registration verification.

We are proud to be a Living Wage Employer.

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.

Name Dr Nia Holford Job title Directorate Lead Consultant Clinical Psychologist Email address nia.holford@wales.nhs.uk