Job Summary
Do you have experience working as an Inpatient or Community Social Worker? Do you want to transform the lives of people with mental health conditions? We welcome applicants who are newly qualified and who are interested in a Band 5 development post. We are a friendly and dynamic integrated mental health team in the beautiful City of Oxford and we are looking for strengths based social workers, who are committed to promoting the social perspective of mental health. Based in Headington, Shabs and Hilda will actively promote for you to be a relational based social worker and enhance your social work leadership skills to enable you to flourish and develop in your role. We invest in higher level post qualifying professional development and our monthly social work forum is where our energetic collective meet to share ideas and talk about the messy stuff. Newly qualified? Don't worry! We will give you the opportunity to develop a strong foundation in social work values and ethics (and all the complicated legal bits in between!). Our ASYE programme is excellent and you will have a protected case load for the duration of the supported year of practice.

Main Duties of the Job
You will play a crucial role in improving mental health outcomes for our service users. You will bring a distinctive social and rights based perspective to the work that you do and promote this within the multi-disciplinary team and beyond. You will liaise with other agencies to ensure that the needs and rights of people with lived experience of mental health are at the front and centre of services and interventions. You will use your advanced relationship skills to work with people to make positive and self-directed change and support them to work towards recovery as defined by them. You will provide advocacy support and understand the important role of carers, working in partnership to support them especially at time of crisis. Providing statutory social care assessments under the Care Act and s.117 after-care Mental Health Act is a key feature of the role and you will provide a strengths based, rights focused assessment to identify and meet need, ensuring timely review of packages of support. Working with complexity and risk is a key feature of the role and you will use your safeguarding adults knowledge to identify abuse and neglect and work with the person and other agencies to seek ways in which to protect and safeguard the person. At times, you will need to use legislative frameworks such as the Mental Capacity Act and Mental Health Act to support people who are unable to make decisions for themselves, balancing and protecting the rights of people and others.

About Us
Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust provides physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset. Our services are delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics and people's homes, delivering care as close to home as possible. Our vision is that no matter who you are or where you are, you will tell us that you receive: "Outstanding care delivered by an outstanding team". Our values are: "Caring, safe and excellent". At Oxford Health we offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing. These include:

• Excellent opportunities for career progression
• Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and development
• 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
• NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailers
• Competitive pension scheme
• Lease car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Staff accommodation (please note waiting lists may apply)
• Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team

Details
Date posted: 10 July 2026
Pay scheme: Agenda for change
Band: Band 5
Salary: £32,073 to £48,117 a year, Per Annum
Contract: Permanent
Working pattern: Full-time
Reference number: 267-OA8127638
Job locations: Warneford Hospital, Warneford Lane, Oxford, OX3 7JX, United Kingdom

Job Responsibilities
We hope that the advert has given you a clear understanding of the skills we are seeking and the opportunity at hand. You will need to use the supporting statement element of your application form to demonstrate your suitability for this role and you should refer to the job description, person specification and the guidance notes attached to this role to help you tailor your application. The essential and desirable criteria will be used to shortlist for interview and you should ensure that you refer to these within your application to increase your chances of being selected for interview. Our community need social workers to work full time (yes - you are that valued!) but we understand the importance of work life balance so if you have other interests that you want to develop then lets have a chat to see how we can help you achieve a balance that works for you. Our diverse community would love to have you join the team so get in touch for an informal chat.

Person Specification
Experience
Essential

• Qualified social worker or nearing completion of social work degree/Masters
• Understanding of mental health conditions and models of mental disorder
• Experience of assessing need and implementing and reviewing care and support packages

Desirable

• Higher level qualification -BIA and/or AMHP

Knowledge
Essential

• Practical knowledge of the Care Act , Mental Health Act and Mental Capacity Act and associated codes of practice and statutory guidance
• Knowledge of s.42 Care Act safeguarding adults and Making Safeguarding Personal
• Knowledge of how to recognise different forms of abuse and harm and how raise a concern for both adults and children and young people
• Recognising the importance of the social perspective of mental health and the importance of rights based person centred approaches

Desirable

• Knowledge of the process of applications to the Court of Protection
• Housing legislation

Skills
Essential

• Demonstrating the ability to use a strengths and rights based approach to social care assessments under the Care Act and s.117 aftercare
• Ensuring that the social perspective of mental health is promoted to the wider MDT
• Ability to use a range of communication skills to engage people who use mental health services

Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

UK Registration
Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer Contact Details
Social work manager: Shabs Akhter
Email: shabnam.akhter@oxfordhealth.nhs.uk
Phone: 07884996920

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applicants must have current UK professional registration.