Our Vision is to provide the best mental health, learning disability, autism, community, and physical health services for the populations we serve.
As an integrated Trust, Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCFT) delivers a comprehensive range of services, including:
- Primary and secondary mental health care for children and adults, including specialist inpatient child and adolescent mental health provision, perinatal mental health, and forensic services with low and medium secure care.
- Specialist mental health inpatient care for individuals with learning disabilities, alongside specialist community support for children and adults with learning disabilities and autism, including intensive support.
- Extensive community physical health and well-being services for children and adults, covering prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and long-term condition management.
The Trust was first established in 2002 and employs approximately 7,500 staff who provide care from more than 400 sites. The organisation offers opportunities for medics, mental health, general nurses, children’s nurses, allied health professionals, psychology, administration and clerical staff, apprentices and volunteers, as well as those specialising in learning disabilities and community physical health services.
An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced and motivated Band 7 Social Worker to join the Specialist Autism Team, a unique and continually evolving service that works closely with secondary mental health services to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions and support timely, person-centred discharges for autistic adults.
This role provides professional leadership within the team’s Discharge and Intervention Pathway, offering expert social work knowledge and oversight in relation to the discharge of autistic adults from inpatient mental health settings. It is an excellent opportunity for an innovative and forward-thinking practitioner who is passionate about delivering high-quality, person-centred care and supporting individuals to achieve positive outcomes.
We work as a tertiary service between the core hours of 9am until 5pm (Monday-Friday), with some flexibility required on occasion to meet individual need and preferences.
Main duties of the job
As the Lead Social Worker, no two days are the same. You will be a key member of the team’s Senior Leadership Group, working alongside senior representatives from each professional discipline and supported by the Operational Lead to drive service development, quality improvement, and innovation.
You will act as the professional social work lead within the service, ensuring that social work practice remains person-centred, evidence-based, and aligned with relevant legislation, policy, and guidance.
Key responsibilities include:
- Providing professional leadership and social work expertise within the Discharge and Intervention Pathway.
- Maintaining clinical oversight of all cases open to the inpatient pathway.
- Holding a clinical caseload and ensuring discharges and interventions are progressed effectively and in line with national guidance and best practice.
- Supporting complex decision-making, problem-solving, and risk management in relation to discharge planning and community transitions.
- Attending and contributing to weekly Multi-Agency Discharge Events (MADE) and Discharge Facilitation Meetings (DFM), working alongside senior internal and external stakeholders to address barriers to discharge and facilitate positive outcomes.
- Leading social work supervision and supporting the professional development of the wider team.
- Contributing to multidisciplinary formulation discussions and clinical decision-making.
- Participating in the team’s duty system and providing senior-level consultation and advice to colleagues and partner services.
- Supporting service development initiatives and quality improvement projects.
Working for our organisation
LSCFT values diversity and inclusion, recognising that talent from varied backgrounds creates a flexible, creative, and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from all, regardless of age, disability (including those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion, belief, or sexual orientation.
Our aim is to reflect the communities we serve, so we particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups. If you’d like to discuss your application, please ask.
We also welcome individuals with lived experience relevant to the role or service area, as your insight brings authenticity to our services.
LSCFT supports flexible working; we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours, and flexi-time.
The wellbeing of our people is at the heart of everything we do. We offer a wide range of resources, tools and support to help you thrive both in and out of work.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role.
Person specification
Education/ Qualifications
- CQSW, CSS, DipSW or equivalent.
- Post graduate / registration training (which is relevant to the post) to Masters Degree level or the equivalent experience / training.
- Evidence of post registration training in Autism.
- Professionally registered with Social Work England.
- Good understanding of the PCF.
Knowledge
- In-depth knowledge of social care issues and how this relates to care delivery.
- Highly developed specialist knowledge across a range of interventions, legal frameworks and assessment methods which are relevant to Autisic people.
- Working knowledge of current legislation and national initiatives.
- Highly developed knowledge of autism and vulnerability.
- Highly developed knowledge of mental capacity Act, DOLs and restrictive practices.
- Good understanding of risk management of challenging behaviour in the community.
Experience
- Substantial experience of working across health/social care/education boundaries.
- Experience of working with people with mental health needs.
- Experience of working with individuals and with groups.
- Experience of multi-agency co-ordination where service users have complex needs.
- Substantial experience of facilitating service user participation in: care planning, service review, training, recruitment and service development.
Skills
- Excellent organisational and time management skills.
- Excellent communication and relationship skills.
- To be able to pre-empt the need for documents and reports, eg funding requests.
- Ability to produce high quality, accurate and concisely written reports / clinical correspondence.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
Application numbers
This vacancy may close early if it receives a high number of applications. You are therefore advised to consider applying as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
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