Occupational Therapist - Adults First Contact Service

About the Borough

The London Borough of Sutton is situated less than 30 minutes by train from Central London, with direct connections to London Victoria and London Bridge. Found in zone 5 with good transport links in and out of London, Sutton boasts award winning parks and open spaces, low crime rates, affordable housing and great schools. As well as high levels of resident engagement and satisfaction, providing quality services and success in addressing our financial challenges, whilst involving residents in key issues and high street changes.

Sutton is continuously investing in the health, wellbeing and education of our residents and the future generation, as set out in the “Ambitious for Sutton” corporate plan. We are home to the Royal Marsden Hospital and the Institute of Cancer Research. Together with the development of the London Cancer Hub, Sutton will be the world’s leading life-science district, specialising in cancer research and treatment. Our vision will create around 13,000 jobs while contributing £1.2bn to the UK economy each year, a vibrant community of scientists, doctors and innovative companies intended to deliver real benefits for cancer patients and drive economic growth. With the regeneration of the local areas with new homes and schools, Sutton is passionate about working closely with our residents and vulnerable groups to help them maintain their independence and create a balance between support and independent living.

The Council is seen as a driving force within the South London Partnership of five outer south west London boroughs focused on strategic growth, regeneration and investment. As we strive to improve our services and spaces for our residents as set out in the ‘Ambitious for Sutton’ corporate plan, Sutton aims to shape the future of the borough and adapt to the needs of its residents to make our Borough a great place to live, work and raise a family.

About the Service and Team

Guided by the Team Manager and Principal Occupational Therapist, the new Occupational Therapy Hub in Sutton unifies Occupational Therapy and Sensory services within social care. The Hub will provide professional leadership and support for practitioners, while offering career development opportunities, including apprenticeships and a unique Preceptorship for new or returning therapists. Sutton is proud to be one of the only London boroughs to have launched an Occupational Therapy Preceptorship, to support and develop people who are newly qualified or returning to practice. The Hub focuses on strength-based assessments to enhance independence and well-being, covering a wide range of support from reablement, assessments for disabled facilities grant, optimal care, to housing needs assessments, making it a comprehensive service for the community.

About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate

Join Adult Social Care as a Occupational Therapist and receive a Welcome Bonus of £1000 paid in your first month's salary and a Retention Bonus of £1000 for every complete year in service (*subject to pay grade). With a total package up to £51,083 including bonuses and benefits, this is an excellent opportunity to advance your career in social care.

This opportunity is available on a fixed term contract until September 2026.

Occupational Therapists within Adult First Contact Service (AFCS) are responsible for:

• Screening and prioritising referrals that are received through the Contact Centre, working proactively to address immediate Occupational Therapy and social care needs with the aim of preventing longer term needs.
• Carrying a small caseload of priority cases, consisting of residents who will benefit from short term preventative Occupational Therapy interventions. This can include addressing moving and handling, equipment and adaptation needs.

The post holder will carry out strengths based comprehensive, specialist assessments and make recommendations to prevent, reduce and delay the need for ongoing social care. This aim is to enable people to be safe, maximise their independence and support them to achieve their desired outcomes. The post holder will make recommendations for major and minor adaptations and prescribe assistive equipment. They will risk assess and make recommendations for moving and handling needs. Sutton has embraced hybrid working and, although you will be required to work face to face with residents, there will also be ample opportunities to work remotely.

Our Occupational Therapists take a person-centred approach whilst working within a multidisciplinary team. The successful candidate will demonstrate the following competencies:

The successful candidate will have:

• Degree or an equivalent qualification in Occupational Therapy, registered with HCPC
• Experience of Occupational Therapy (minimum 2 years) including major adaptations and complex moving and handling
• Experience of working with Adults and/or Children Social Care services, within a multidisciplinary team.
• Have up to date knowledge of relevant legislation and guidance in relation to working with and safeguarding vulnerable adults and children in social care.

Learning and development is supported by the Team Manager, Principal Occupational Therapist and Learning and Development Team. We aim to provide robust supervision and mentoring and encourage reflective practice to identify areas of improvement. As a Borough, we are committed to building a workforce that is empowered with knowledge to work autonomously and provide the valuable care service to the residents of our community. We want you to be a part of our journey.

Our Offer to You

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits to enable staff to achieve a work life balance, some of which include:

• A generous annual leave entitlement of 26-31 days plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply) depending on service and grade
• Enhanced Maternity, paternity, shared parental, adoption and dependents leave
• Two volunteering days per year
• Flexible Working - Smarter Working Scheme (dependent on the role)
• Adjustable and agile working arrangements using Google Chromebooks
• Learning and development portal offering a range of courses
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Zip car scheme
• Confidential health & wellbeing and counselling support

Application Process

Apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application and check your CV details have been uploaded correctly in the relevant sections.

We understand and recognise the benefits of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace and are embracing AI where appropriate, to boost our productivity and streamline how we deliver our Council services efficiently; to provide the best possible outcomes for our residents and communities.
However, we reserve the right to reject applications where it is apparent that AI-generated content has been used in isolation and without personalised responses. At Sutton we value authenticity and are looking for individuals who can clearly demonstrate their own skills, experience and motivation for the role that they are applying for and embrace and demonstrate our PRIDE values.
Here at Sutton we have core values of Transparency and this is to be demonstrated during the application process and completion of the supporting statement and will be further tested at interview and selection stage for those who progress forward.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

As part of our award winning Diversity Programme we anonymise all applications received to reduce conscious and unconscious bias enabling every application to be reviewed on the knowledge, skills and experience shown in your application. We encourage our interview panels to be as diverse as possible (age, cultural, neurodiverse etc.) to reduce bias where possible. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.

Additional Information

We are in the process of updating our payscales in line with the pay award for NJC, Chief Officers and Chief Executives for April 2025 therefore please take this into account when viewing the salary on this position.

We are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough and we strive to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and instil a sense of belonging in our staff. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce, therefore we welcome applications from under represented groups.

To support our workers and their families we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

We are also proud to be a disability confident employer and guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role. As an accredited London Living Wage Employer all our employees are guaranteed the London Living Wage regardless of their length or type of contract.

The UK has a points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance. Sponsorship availability varies and is subject to eligibility requirements and budget limitations. As a result, we cannot guarantee sponsorship for all roles and will evaluate sponsorship requests on a case-by-case basis.