Job Introduction
IPS Team Leader - Mental Health Employment Services
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.
The real job
You will be responsible for the day-to-day performance, development and wellbeing of a geographically dispersed team.
Your Employment Specialists will be working in community and mental health settings, meeting participants, clinical teams and local employers. You must therefore be present across the delivery area, as you cannot manage the service entirely through Teams calls, emails and spreadsheets.
You will provide regular supervision, review caseloads, observe practice and help specialists solve difficult employment-related challenges. You will coach them on vocational profiling, rapid job search, employer engagement, job matching and in-work support.
You will also ensure employment support is integrated within mental health services. This requires credible relationships with NHS and clinical teams, effective participation in multidisciplinary meetings and the confidence to challenge barriers that prevent people from accessing employment support.
You will balance encouragement with accountability. Your team must feel supported, but they must also understand what is expected in relation to job outcomes, employer engagement, caseload momentum, record quality and IPS fidelity.
A day in the role
You may start your day meeting an Employment Specialist in one part of South Essex to review their caseload and discuss participants who are not progressing.
You could then attend a clinical meeting at another location, strengthening referral pathways and ensuring employment goals are included within recovery planning.
Later, you might accompany a specialist while they engage local employers, observe a participant appointment or provide coaching on how to develop opportunities within the hidden labour market.
You may finish by reviewing performance data, completing a supervision meeting remotely or agreeing an improvement plan with a team member.
This variety is central to the role. You must be comfortable planning your diary around the needs of a mobile service and travelling between different locations each day.
What you will do
You will:
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Lead and manage remotely based IPS Employment Specialists
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Maintain a regular and visible presence throughout South Essex
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Provide structured one-to-ones, supervision, coaching and performance reviews
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Observe practice in community, clinical and employer settings
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Review caseloads and help specialists maintain purposeful progression
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Drive performance against job-start, sustainment and progression targets
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Coach the team on employer engagement and job-development strategies
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Ensure specialists spend meaningful time meeting employers face to face
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Coordinate employer activity and encourage the sharing of intelligence and opportunities
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Embed the principles of IPS and support Good-to-Excellent fidelity
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Build productive relationships with NHS, clinical and community teams
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Help integrate employment into mental health care and recovery planning
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Use data to identify trends, risks and areas requiring improvement
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Identify individual and team training needs
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Encourage reflective practice, peer learning and continuous improvement
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Maintain safeguarding, GDPR, evidence and audit standards
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Escalate service, performance and safeguarding risks appropriately
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Report clearly to the Contract Manager on delivery, risks and required actions
The parts people can underestimate
This role requires you to be comfortable with:
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Managing more than four people across multiple remote locations
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Travelling throughout the delivery area on a daily basis
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Leading people who spend most of their working time in the community
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Knowing what is happening without relying solely on remote updates
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Setting clear targets and addressing underperformance promptly
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Coaching frontline employability practice, not simply managing administration
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Supporting colleagues handling complex mental health circumstances
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Influencing clinicians and partners you do not directly manage
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Challenging practice that does not meet the required standard
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Using data and case evidence to guide your decisions
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Balancing team wellbeing with responsibility for outcomes
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Working across different community, health, employer and office environments
This will suit a leader who enjoys being out with their team and close to delivery.
What you need to bring
Essential experience
You must be able to evidence:
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Experience working within employability, employment support or welfare-to-work services
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Experience managing a team of more than four people
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Experience leading colleagues who work remotely or across multiple locations
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Performance management in a target-driven service
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Coaching colleagues to improve participant progression and employment outcomes
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Experience of careers advice, information, advice and guidance, employability coaching or similar participant support
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Confidence reviewing caseloads, action plans and quality of delivery
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Experience building relationships with employers, partners or external services
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Strong organisation, record keeping and data-led decision-making
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Safeguarding awareness and sound professional judgement
Advantageous experience
It would be an advantage if you have:
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Previous experience delivering or leading an IPS service
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Knowledge of the IPS Fidelity Model
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Experience working with NHS or clinical mental health teams
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Experience supporting people with serious mental illness or complex health barriers
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A qualification in Information, Advice and Guidance, employability, coaching or leadership
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Experience of employer engagement and developing opportunities within the hidden labour market
Direct IPS experience is not essential if you bring strong employability leadership and can demonstrate the ability to learn and apply an evidence-based delivery model.
IPS training, fidelity guidance and ongoing development will be provided.
Driving and travel requirements
This is a mobile role covering South Essex. You must:
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Hold a valid driving licence
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Have reliable access to a vehicle
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Be able to use that vehicle for business travel
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Ensure appropriate business-use insurance is in place
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Be comfortable driving and travelling across the delivery area every working day
This is an essential operational requirement because your team and delivery partners are based across multiple locations.
What success looks like
Within your first 90 days, you should have:
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Built trusted relationships with all Employment Specialists
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Established a visible working pattern across the delivery area
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Understood the strengths, risks and development needs within the team
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Introduced consistent supervision and caseload reviews
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Built credibility with clinical teams and local partners
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Established clear oversight of referrals, employer activity and outcomes
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Identified practical actions to improve performance and IPS fidelity
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Created a culture where support, learning and accountability work together
Over time, your impact will be visible through stronger practice, improved fidelity, effective clinical integration and more people moving into sustainable paid employment.
The person we are looking for
You are likely to succeed in this role if you:
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Understand how high-quality employability support changes lives
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Enjoy coaching people and improving frontline practice
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Are comfortable leading a geographically dispersed team
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Prefer to be visible and involved rather than managing from a distance
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Can challenge underperformance clearly and constructively
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Build credibility with employers, clinicians and delivery partners
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Use evidence and data rather than assumption
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Remain calm when cases or operational circumstances become difficult
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Take ownership and follow actions through
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Believe employment can be an important part of mental health recovery
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?
You will lead a specialist service that creates measurable change in people’s lives.
You will have the opportunity to develop eight Employment Specialists, strengthen relationships between employment and mental health services and establish consistently high standards across South Essex.
You will receive IPS training and fidelity support, alongside opportunities to continue developing your leadership career.
Benefits include:
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25 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays
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Pension contributions
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Employee ownership share scheme
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Wellbeing support including GP access, counselling and Headspace
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Discounts and salary-sacrifice options
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Enhanced benefits with service
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Learning, development and progression opportunities
About Get Set UK
Get Set UK delivers employment, skills, apprenticeships, health and justice programmes and is part of Palladium, a global group operating across more than 90 countries.
We help people overcome barriers, recognise their potential and move towards meaningful, sustainable employment.
Before you apply
Please review your CV carefully before submitting it.
As a Team Leader, you will assess evidence, improve standards and give constructive feedback to other people. Your own application should demonstrate the quality and attention to detail you will expect from your team.
Your CV should clearly show:
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Your employability or employment-services experience
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The size of the teams you have managed
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How you led people working remotely or across multiple locations
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The employment outcomes or performance improvements you delivered
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How you coached and developed colleagues
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Your experience of advice and guidance, employer engagement or caseload delivery
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Any IPS, mental health or clinical-partnership experience
Please focus on achievements and evidence rather than listing duties alone.
Our recruitment process
Our process includes an application questionnaire, CV review, recruiter conversation, online role assessment and hiring-manager interview. The interview will include a realistic leadership exercise exploring how you would manage a dispersed IPS team, improve performance and maintain service quality.
Eligibility and inclusion
You must have the full right to work in the UK. Visa sponsorship is not available for this role.
A DBS check will be required. Any offer will be subject to satisfactory references, right-to-work checks and the safeguarding or vetting checks appropriate to the service.
Get Set UK is a Disability Confident and Equal Opportunity Employer. Disabled applicants who evidence the minimum essential criteria will be offered an interview. Reasonable adjustments are available throughout the recruitment process.
If you have strong employability leadership experience, enjoy developing teams and want to help make paid employment part of mental health recovery, we would like to hear from you.
Get Set to lead employment support that changes lives. Apply today.
Additional information
We reserve the right to close applications early, so we encourage early applications.
Get Set UK is a Disability Confident and Equal Opportunity Employer. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified individuals and are committed to supporting physical and mental wellbeing at work. Reasonable adjustments are available throughout the recruitment process if required.
This role is subject to satisfactory recruitment checks and a commitment to safeguarding learners and clients.
Get Set UK does not accept unsolicited CVs from agencies.
