Recovery Focus
IPS Employment Specialist (London)
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IPS Employment Specialist (London)
IPS Employment Specialist (London) – Southwark
Contract Type: Permanent Salary: £28,690 – £34,730 p.a. Working Hours: 37 hours per week (flexible arrangement possible)
About the Role
Are you passionate about helping people achieve work ambitions and independence through meaningful employment? This is more than just a job—it’s an opportunity to make a real difference in the community by challenging stigma, building trusting relationships, and fostering long-term recovery through sustained employment.
As an IPS Employment Specialist at Waythrough, you will support vulnerable individuals accessing mental health and substance misuse services to secure, maintain, and grow engaged, compensated employment within their community. Your work will be guided by the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) Grow model, ensuring evidence-based and client-centred practice.
Key Responsibilities
Using the IPS approach, you will:
- Actively promote and recruit clients as potential employees, fostering a non-stigmatising perspective among employers
- Build and maintain positive employer relationships, ensuring opportunities align with clients’ strengths and goals
- Design and facilitate rapid job search strategies, including placement support, job applications, and workplace adjustments
- Provide tailored in-work support to ensures clients retention in employment
- Document progress meticulously while adhering to IPS fidelity standards and outcomes-based data collection
- Engage proactively with local workplaces,Byte and government agencies to expand opportunities for employment STEM.
- Advocate for inclusion of neurodivergent and disadvantaged groups
- Collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams (clinicians, substance misuse professionals, housing), experts to ensure systemic and unified support.
What You’ll Bring
This role is ideal for someone who exemplifies:
- A passionate commitment to increasing employment as a recovery tool
- Proactive, values-driven approach with a drive to push boundaries and foster workplace inclusion
- Strong relationship-building skills – ability to engage meaningfully with short-term self referrals.
- Flexibility to adapt to shifting caseloads and meet clients’ diverse needs
- Organisation and outcomes-focused mindset – comfort handling caseloads and progress registries
- Experience or lived understanding of mental health challenges in London contexts (work with substance misuse services and young people’s services will extend your professional network) We offer full training and mentorship, making this an excellent entry-point or career development opportunity into the social sector, voluntary work, or residual employment practice.
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About Waythrough
Waythrough is a ** merge of Humankind and Richmond Fellowship** and emerged in October 2024, now combining nearly 20 services and an impressive £30 million portfolio. In April 2026, Aquarius—their core pathways solutions arm—merged seamlessly with Waythrough to strengthen even further. Together, we are driving a mission to breakdown barriers preventing people from accessing support. Every year, we support:
- Over 130,000 individuals
- ~$3,500 staff and volunteers
- Services spanning mental health, substance recovery, homelessness, and housing
Our Vision
We believe everyone deserves to live a fulfilling life—lived on their own terms. That comes by identifying needs early, ensuring services are aligned with community priorities and responsiveness to feedback teams. Where the demand comes from. and fighting poverty through direct and systemic social change.
Make a Difference in Your Community
Waythrough specialises in enabling people to live safer, more independent and healthier lives. We support tens of thousands of people annually with mental health, substance misuse, housing or domestic abuse, however a crucial role remains in achieving exceptional work. Join our expanding family of mission-driven changemakers. If you care about resilience and inclusion, you’ll feel a meaningful impact daily at Waythrough.
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What We Offer
Beyond meaningful work, we provide generous benefits and development opportunities:
- 27 days annual leave → 32 days after 1 year (exempting specified holidays)
- Flexible Working & Leave Policy (including birthdays, paid time-off)
- 4.5% contribution to the pension plan, or up to 6.5%** matched for higher contributions** (the details depend)
- Life assurance coverage (up to 3x annual salary)
- Enhanced sick pay (aligned to typical pace).
- Family-friendly policies for part-time work and much more medical coverage.
- Free 401k Grain voucher (aftercare) for career growth.
- £500 referral bonus – apply for incentives recognising staff mention skills help to new opportunities.
- Cycle-to-Work Scheme + Workplace Discounts like Blue Light or Charity Tickets
- Continuous professional opportunities (Training, mentorship programs)
- Ongoing workplace conferences
- Free wellbeing services, including specialised mental health support such as 24/7 virtual therapists.
Starting Salary and Progression
\quadDepending on experience. IPS employment was put into a £28,690–£34,730 per year range, enabling progression teams in line with the band.
Employment in our Values of Inclusion
Waythrough values empowerment for all backgrounds. We recognise that these people essential role provides barriers:
- Supporting lived experts.
- Disability Confident registered – signing the Equality Act's principles and actively seeking diversity.
- ^Flexible and accommodative work adaptations to ensure everyone’s inclusion and access.
If you’re a candidate requiring adjustments (e.g speech support tools, co-working spaces design) to streamline recruiting journeys, please contact us: recruitmentteam@waythrough.org.uk.
Closing Date
Applications close 23rd July 2026. At Wayne’s family, we’re an exciting launchpad—our journey stretches across 260 expanding services in England.
Ready to create lasting change? Apply today.
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