IPS Employment Specialist | Connect

Wolverhampton and Walsall | Shaw Trust

Permanent contract

Could you help people with mental health support needs achieve their employment goals and improve their health and wellbeing through meaningful work? Join Shaw Trust as an IPS Employment Specialist and support people across Wolverhampton and Walsall to secure and sustain employment through the evidence-based Individual Placement and Support (IPS) approach.

Deadline: 22nd October 2026

• West Midlands
• Full-time

“Shaw Trust promotes team spirit, inclusiveness and it is an organisation where everybody is somebody. I am proud to be part of this great organisation.”

At Shaw Trust we believe everyone has the right to live a decent and dignified life and an opportunity for rewarding work. We are a social purpose organisation challenging inequality and breaking down barriers to enable social mobility.

For us being part of the solution is about creating the conditions for this to happen, advocating and delivering services that make a real difference. Working in partnership not competition, we are part of an eco-system of purpose-led organisations, striving for a fairer, more equal society centred on opportunity for all.

Working with clients, health professionals, service providers and employers, as an Supported Employment or IPS Employment Specialist you will be focused on making sure a person’s journey into employment, with associated improved social inclusion and wellbeing is as easy as possible. You will work with clients (managing a caseload) who have mental health support needs, to assist them in securing sustainable paid employment in line with their preferences.

Your role will be to deliver the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) or Supported Employment approach (for which training will be given); providing person centred advice and guidance to clients, whilst building positive relationships with local employers to enable clients to move into suitable employment.

This is a performance-focused role, with clear targets aligned to our contractual commitments. These include supporting participants to enrol on programme, enter employment and sustain their new/existing job role, as well as adhering to the Individual Placement and Supported Employment Models.

The IPS delivery model you will be expected to delivery is underpinned by 8 key principles and 25 Items under the Fidelity Scale. The six key stages on a typical journey are: outreach/referral; vocational profiling; action planning; job search activities (including working on a one-to-one basis with employers to match people with appropriate employment); job placement, job coaching and coordinating ongoing support whilst in employment.

Download the Job Description for full details.