Occupational Therapist

About Us

Working for us at West Sussex County Council is all about making a positive difference to the people of West Sussex. This is a great opportunity for you to join us as a qualified occupational therapist. We're embracing a strengths-based approach and working within a community-led support model that builds on the assets and strengths of both people and their local communities. Together, we'll focus on prevention, enablement, reablement and safety, to promote wellbeing and independence. We'll ensure that residents, families, and communities have the right support in place, and at the right time.

We provide a working environment that values professional supervision and offers the right balance between challenge and support. This provides our workforce with what they need to deliver the best possible outcomes for our residents. We work to ensure that innovation and evidence-based practice underpins what we do and that we maintain an environment within which our occupational therapists can develop and progress in their careers. If you have the talent and ambition to achieve the best for the people we serve, then we will support you to progress and develop throughout your occupational therapy career.

About the job

Salary: £36,363 - £47,181 (NJC grade 9-11 depending on experience)
Working Pattern: Full Time (37 hours)
Contract Length: Permanent
Location: Chichester
Closing Date: 31st August 2025

Interview Date: week commencing 8th September

You will work as part of a strong and dynamic Occupational Therapy service in the communities' team. In this role you will be required to undertake strengths-based assessments applying relevant legislation and utilising Occupational Therapy skills and knowledge to develop and implement a plan of support, aimed at improving wellbeing and delivering outcomes for people.

You will manage a caseload collaborating with people and family or friend carers, undertake strengths-based assessments and reviews, identifying eligible needs and personalised outcomes. You will be working within a supportive environment to apply your occupational therapy skills to develop and implement support plans, aimed at improving wellbeing and delivering outcomes, including utilising community assets, and ensuring that eligible needs are met. You will be working within a managed and supportive context, applying learning to further develop capability, and professional confidence. You will be supported with professional supervision and assessment and a workload that is appropriate to your level of professional development.

*If applying for the Senior Occupational Therapist role you will be expected to supervise junior staff in addition to the above.

Experience and skills

Please refer to the attached job description relevant to your level of experience for key skill and qualification and / or experience information.

Required qualifications and/or experience include:

• Diploma / BSc Occupational Therapy or recognised equivalent Occupational Therapy qualification.
  * Registration with Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).

Reward and benefits

As an employer we recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive and dynamic working environment where employees can achieve their full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance and are rewarded for the work they do.

For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee you can find them on our Rewards and Benefits page.

Further information

To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV and complete the application. In your application outline your motivations for applying and explain how you meet the key skills listed in full and the experience you can bring to the role (please refer to the key skills as you will be shortlisted on how you meet these) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you confirm any relevant registration or qualifications required for this role. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check, 5 years referencing, HCPC Registration and a health check.

West Sussex County Council is an equal opportunities employer committed to promoting an environment that is inclusive and free from all forms of unlawful or unfair discrimination and values the diversity of its people. We actively welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and take every possible step to ensure that no individual will be disadvantaged.

For information regarding your eligibility to apply for this role under our Disability or Veteran's Guaranteed Interview Scheme, this can be found on our application help page.

Note for Recruitment Agencies: We prefer to hire people directly, but we do have a supplier list for when we need a helping hand. We'll be in touch directly if we need you!