Organisation: Leicestershire County Council 

Work Location:  Herschel Prins Centre on the Glenfield hospital site in Leicester

Worker Category: Hybrid Worker

Salary: £41,208 - £45,054 per annum (pro rata for part-time) plus a market supplement of two increments (currently awarded to 30/09/2024) taking salary to £43,671 to £47,808 per annum (pro rata for part-time).

Working Hours: 18.5 hours per week

Contract Type: Permanent

Closing Date: 06/05/2024

Do you have a positive and flexible can-do attitude? Do you enjoy supporting a range of adults to overcome challenges and reach their full potential?

About the Role

We have the rare opportunity to offer a full time permanent AMHP position within the Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland integrated Forensic Mental Health Service. This well established and supportive specialist team offers both community and low secure inpatient services and the successful post holder will link in with both areas, as well as people placed nationally in specialist care and prison.             

The role is usually based at the Herschel Prins Centre on the Glenfield hospital site in Leicester and will be for 18.5 hours a week, working pattern to be agreed. Hybrid and flexible working arrangements/ reasonable adjustments can be discussed.        
                    

The forensic team currently consist of AMHP’s from both Leicestershire County and Leicester City, CPN’s, Forensic Psychologists, Healthcare Support Workers, Occupational Therapists and Consultant Forensic Psychiatrists/ Associate Specialists (as well as our ward colleagues on the Phoenix low secure ward which is based on the same site).

This role will consist of:

• Working as part of a specialist integrated social care and health team to provide social work assessment under the Care Act 2014/ s117 of the Mental Health Act 1983 to a caseload of community and inpatient forensic service users across Leicestershire, with the aim of identifying and meeting their eligible needs (including commissioning packages of care) and managing/ reducing the risks that their mental health poses to others. This will include people currently under part III of the MHA (including under s37, s37/41 and s47/49) and those subject to criminal justice requirements.

• Involvement in the care of Leicestershire service users who are currently in hospital/ placed out of area, and supporting their discharge as appropriate. This can include nationwide travel at times as agreed with the Forensic service manager.

• Working in partnership with colleagues from NHS England, CCG’s, the Police (including MOSOVO/ IOM services), Probation, Prisons, the Criminal Justice Liaison Services, children’s services, specialist substance misuse services and other 3rd sector agencies.

• Acting as a social supervisor for conditionally discharged patients, including the completion of monitoring reports to the Ministry of Justice.

• Contributing to and supporting the MAPPA process/ attending MAPPA meetings.

• Completing social circumstances reports for detained patients, and attending Tribunals/ Managers Hearings.

• Completing MHA 1983 assessments, including CTO's and Guardianship.

• Attendance at ward rounds at Phoenix Ward (low secure), and providing social work support to the inpatient team.

• Supporting Transforming Care eligible service users, and contributing to/ attending Care and Treatment Review meetings.

• Undertaking applications to the Court of Protection as required.

• Undertaking Safeguarding Adults enquiries and implementing/ engaging in the VARM (vulnerable Adults Risk Management) process as needed.

• Contributing to HCR-20 v3 specialist risk assessments for community patients.

• Involvement in assessing team referrals, supporting lone working within the team and attending integrated team meetings.

The successful candidate will also be expected to participate on the Countywide AMHP rota on a monthly basis, as well as any MHA 1983 considerations needed for those on their caseload. 
     
Forensic experience is desirable but not essential as full training will be given, and ongoing support will be available. This is a fascinating role and as forensic vacancies continue to be rare it's hoped that experienced staff and those wishing to gain experience in this area will consider taking advantage of this opportunity.

A DBS enhanced check for a regulated activity is required for this post.

About You

To apply for this post, you must:

 Be a registered social worker, mental health nurse, occupational therapist or clinical psychologist and have completed the required approved mental health professional training. 

• Have experience of assessing a range of complex needs in the fields of mental health and/or learning disability, and/or brain injury and/or older and disabled adults.
• Have highly developed analytical skills and experience of providing effective assessment and risk management and of person-centred, solution focussed and resource efficient options.
• Have knowledge of social work methodologies, social care policies such as asset based social work, and relevant legislation including The Care Act, Mental Health Act, and Mental Capacity Act. 
• Be a confident communicator who is skilled in diplomacy, persuasion, assertiveness, and conflict management and able to build effective working relationships.
• Be able to work proactively both as an individual and as part of a team and know when to seek advice and support from others. 
• Be able to supervise, coach and mentor less experienced social care practitioners. 

We also expect you to share our commitment to our values and will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the interview process.

Interested in Flexible Working?

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual’s personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below. This may include requests for term-time working, part-time hours, compressed hours, flexible start and finish times, home/remote working, etc. 

Every role within the Council has a defined working style which determines where they can work. The worker category applicable to this post is detailed in the above advert. You can find out more about our worker categories in the Our Working Styles page on our career site. 

For more information or an informal discussion, please contact:

Andy Dengate – Resourcing Co-ordinator

Telephone: 0116 305 0914

Email: andy.dengate@leics.gov.uk

How to Apply

Leicestershire County Council is an inclusive organisation which is on a journey to embed and celebrate equality, diversity, and inclusion at every level. We warmly welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, as having a diverse workforce with different perspectives and ideas is fundamental to our values and enriches the services, we offer our communities. We particularly welcome applicants from Ethnically Diverse and LGBTQ+ communities and people with disabilities to create a balanced workforce and one that reflects the communities we serve. Applicants with a disability who meet the criteria listed in the ‘About You’ section above will be offered an interview under the Disability Confident Employer Scheme.

To apply for this job, please click ‘Apply Now’. You will need to upload a supporting statement as part of your application which explains how you meet the criteria listed in the ‘About You’ section above. For more information, see the How to Apply section on our career site.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Employee Service Centre: https://emss.freshdesk.com/support/home.

By applying for this post, you agree to our Terms and Conditions.

About Leicestershire County Council

Leicestershire County Council is a Stonewall Top 100, Disability Confident, Menopause Friendly, Mindful Employer, Fostering Friendly, Forces Friendly, and Cycle Friendly organisation. In August 2021, we also signed up to the Race at Work Charter. We are strongly committed to promoting equality and opportunity, championing employee wellbeing and investing in staff training and development.

Our aim is to work with communities and partners to deliver public services that make Leicestershire the best possible place to live and work for everyone. Our employees play a key role in supporting this goal and helping us deliver the vital services we provide to the people of Leicestershire.

For further information on what it’s like to work for us and the benefits we offer, please refer to the following:

Our Recruitment Process
Our Organisational Values
Our Employee Benefits
Working for Us