Occupational Therapist Bognor Lifelong Services Team

Our Lifelong Services Teams have a unique focus, supporting children, young people and adults with lifelong physical disabilities, learning disabilities and autism. We know that a dedicated and strengths-based approach to disability, working in partnership with individuals and their families, can make a positive difference, enabling individuals to live a good life, as defined by them. We believe the best staff get the best outcomes and we’re looking to strengthen our teams today.

We provide a working environment that values professional supervision and support. Innovation and evidence-based practice underpins what we do, and we maintain an environment within which our occupational therapists can develop and progress in their careers. We are looking for exceptional staff who share our passion for the customer group (adults and children) we support and who can help us to be even better than we are today. If you look for the opportunities when other people see challenges, then we will support you to progress and develop throughout your occupational therapy career.

Salary: £26,709 to £28,704 per annum

Working Pattern: Part time, 24 hours per week

Contract Type: Permanent

Location: Chichester or Littlehampton office base with county wide travel

Although this is a Countywide team we take into account people's office base where possible when allocating cases, and an office base of Chichester or Littlehampton is available for this role. Business mileage can be claimed for travel.

In this exciting opportunity, you will work as part of a strong and dynamic service, working across the lifespan of disability, helping children, young people, and adults to live independent and productive lives. You will be expected to undertake strengths-based assessments utilizing Occupational Therapy skills and knowledge to develop and implement a plan of support, aimed at improving wellbeing and delivering outcomes. The plan may include advice, information, the provision of assistive equipment and recommendations for home adaptation.

You’ll be expected to use up to date evidence-based practice to inform your intervention and where appropriate carry out risk assessments and undertake assessments under the appropriate children’s or adults’ legislation. Maintaining continual professional development (CPD) and sharing best practice with colleagues to deliver positive outcomes for residents in West Sussex is key.

Linking people back into their communities, removing barriers to engagement and providing interventions that support resilience and maintain wellbeing is also essential to this role

Experience, skills, qualifications and knowledge

Please cover how you meet each of the key skills, qualifications and experience with examples in your application as these are the short-listing criteria.

1. Ability to apply a risk enablement approach and use evidence-based practice.

2. Ability to complete a strengths-based assessment (as directed by the Care Act 2014 for Adults and the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 for Children).

3. Ability to develop a person-centred care and support plan with clearly defined outcomes.

4. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, including the ability to use a variety of information technologies.

5. Ability to prioritise and organise work and meet agreed performance expectations.

6. Sound and accurate IT skills to ensure effective record keeping, respecting confidentiality.

Please click here to read the full job description

Rewards and benefits

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.

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Lucy Hughes (Team Manager) at lucy.hughes@westsussex.gov.uk. For issues or queries regarding your application please contact hrrecruitment@westsussex.gov.uk.

To apply, upload your CV and complete the application explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. 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. Please note if we receive a high volume of applications the job advert may be closed before the closing date.

We recognise applicants may use AI tools to support their application. This might include assistance with structuring content, improving clarity, or checking spelling and grammar.

The council values authentic applications, in your own words, which reflect your experience and skills and how these align with our values. During assessment and interview stages, candidates may be asked to expand upon, or demonstrate, the experience they have described in their application. To help you structure your responses, use this guidance on the STARR technique.

Applications found to contain misleading, false or wholly AI-generated content may be rejected.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to HCPC registration, an enhanced DBS check, 5 years referencing 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 (if you meet the essential criteria), 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!