Internal Only - Senior Occupational Therapy Lead – 0-25 Team

The 0-25 Disability Service exists to improve outcomes and make a positive difference to the lives of children and young people with SEND. It also supports their families as well as young adults who have eligible education and training, health and social care needs. 

What will you be doing? 

• On a daily basis, you will provide support and supervision to Occupational Therapy staff, and other associated staff within the 0-25 Disability Service in relation to OT assessments, recommendations and safeguarding.
• It will be your responsibility to support team members to identify cost effective solutions for independence problems. Particularly in the areas of specialised equipment and adaptations for housing and school environments using local authority funding and the disabled facilities grant process where eligible.
• To ensure performance and quality standards are achieved, you will provide specialist advice and review OT staff performance. You will make sure working practices meet statutory and local requirements and optimise outcomes for service users.
• In this role, you will hold a small caseload of complex cases, working with disabled children and young adults to promote functional independence.
• By assisting the Team Manager, you will have the responsibility of day-to-day management of the team and with prioritisation of referrals and allocation of work.
• You will be required to deputise for the Team Manager as needed and may be required to chair the OT Team, and multi-disciplinary meetings.
• In this role, you will maintain and promote effective partnerships with relevant agencies to achieve the best outcomes for disabled children and young adults. This may involve assisting in developing and implementing multi-agency policies and procedures.
• You will review and sign off equipment requests up to £1,000 and advise the Service Manager on spends over £1,000.

• It is essential for you to be degree qualified in Occupational Therapy and registered with the HCPC with considerable experience of working as an Occupational Therapist, preferably within a local authority children and families setting.
• We require you to have considerable relevant post qualifying experience of dealing with complex cases and of risk assessment and have good evidence of ongoing professional development activities in accordance with HCPC standards.
• You must demonstrate significant knowledge and experience of specialised children’s equipment and knowledge of disabled facilities grant process.
• You will have a good understanding and experience of moving and handling practice.
• We require you to have excellent interpersonal skills, to be able to work with complex families and resolve and respond to complaints effectively.
• We require you to have supervisory skills and experience of providing supervision of casework, whilst able to motivate team members in their role.
• You will possess experience of leading on projects or of leading service change.

Please note that due to the nature of this role it is a requirement of employment that an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check is obtained for this post. 

We know our team work best when they have balance in their lives and we offer genuine flexibility to help them achieve that work/life balance. 

What’s special here is the strength of the team ethos. We are a relatively small local authority, so managers know staff well. They can plan their services to ensure teams have manageable caseloads and have effective supervision so feel supported to make decisions which are right for the children and young people they work with.

Seniors and managers will genuinely listen at panel and will support you to ensure your service user’s needs are met.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the safety and welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. Ensuring all our staff are given right skills, knowledge and support to recognise and respond effectively to potential abuse or neglect. 

As part of our benefits package you will receive generous annual leave (pro rata), employee wellbeing support and you will have access to a range of staff discounts, including eye tests, travel, shopping and leisure activities.

We recognise that our diverse team of skilled and dedicated people make us a great place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and ensure that individuals are selected, promoted and developed on the basis of their merits and abilities.     

Our teams at South Gloucestershire Council are making a real difference to the lives of people who live, work and learn here.    

• We're building and shaping communities which people are proud of  
• We're working with the most vulnerable in our community to help them achieve what they want in life  
• We're investing in our schools to ensure every child and young person in South Gloucestershire achieves their full potential.    

We've achieved a great deal, but we need talented and dedicated people to ensure we continue to make a difference.   

We’re making a difference, be part of it!