Workforce Lead - North of England

Workforce Lead – North of England

Remote, with some travel.

Full time, permanent.

Salary: £36,000

Help shape the future of the IPS workforce across England

Social Finance is an ambitious not-for-profit organisation working in partnership with governments, service providers, the voluntary sector and the financial community to tackle complex social challenges.

Through IPS Grow, Social Finance supports the expansion and development of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) services across England. The programme works across mental health, primary care, and drug and alcohol services and is funded by NHS England, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities.

They are looking for a Workforce Lead to support the growth and development of the IPS workforce across the North of England. This is a hands-on regional role, working closely with IPS services, regional teams and key stakeholders to help attract, recruit and retain Employment Specialists and Team Leaders.

You’ll bring recruitment expertise, strong relationship-building skills and a practical, solution-focused approach to workforce challenges. It’s an opportunity to use your experience to support services, strengthen teams and contribute to a programme that helps transform lives through employment.

Workforce Lead, the role:

• Support the recruitment of IPS Employment Specialists and Team Leaders across the North of England.

• Work with providers to understand staffing requirements and develop tailored recruitment and workforce planning approaches.

• Support recruitment campaigns, including shortlisting, interviews, assessment activity and hiring recommendations.

• Help services plan recruitment where expansion plans, funding, approvals or timescales are still being confirmed.

• Identify opportunities for providers to coordinate recruitment activity and share learning.

• Build and maintain strong relationships with IPS services, ICB Leads, NHS England Regional Leads and other stakeholders.

• Work closely with the Workforce Manager, regional teams and IPS Grow colleagues to identify barriers and coordinate practical support.

• Attend and contribute to regional and national meetings, sharing updates, insights and learning.

• Ensure recruitment, onboarding and training activity aligns with IPS Grow quality standards.

• Collect and analyse workforce development data, providing accurate and timely updates to the Workforce Manager.

• Identify recruitment and retention challenges, propose solutions and share good practice across regions.

• Identify training needs and signpost providers to relevant workforce support, tools and resources.

• Contribute to internal and external communications, including newsletters, reports and presentations.

Workforce Lead, the person:

• Proven recruitment experience, ideally within healthcare, employment support or a related setting.

• Experience of shortlisting, interviewing, assessment activity and making hiring recommendations.

• A good understanding of Individual Placement and Support (IPS), its workforce and the skills needed to deliver high-quality services.

• Strong communication and influencing skills, with the ability to build trusted relationships with providers, regional teams, NHS colleagues and other stakeholders.

• Excellent organisation and self-management skills, with the ability to manage competing priorities and work independently within a remote or geographically dispersed team.

• A practical, solution-focused approach to problem-solving, with the ability to help services identify realistic next steps.

• A commitment to learning and improvement, including capturing insights, sharing good practice and contributing to tools, guidance or training.

• Confidence using data, reports or case studies to evidence activity, progress and impact.

• A strong commitment to the value of employment in transforming lives.

• Willingness to travel across the North of England and occasionally more widely.

Workforce Lead, the benefits:

• Remote working

• Healthcare cash plan

• Mental health support, including Mental Health Aiders

• Generous holiday allowance of 25 days with the ability to buy and sell up to 5 additional days

• 3 days closure between Christmas and New Year

• Enhanced maternity and paternity policies

• Volunteer leave

• Pension contributions of 4% matched

Please note applications close on the 21st of October.

Pure Human Resources Limited works in partnership with Social Finance in providing Recruitment support. No applications from agencies please.

Originally posted on Himalayas