Senior Practitioner Occupational Therapist

Salary: Grade K, £47,665 - £50,908 a year pro rata
Location: The Council House
Hours: 18.5 hours a week
Closing Date: 11/10/2026
Contract Type: Permanent

We are looking for an HCPC registered Occupational Therapist with extensive experience of strength-based, person centred practice in health and social care who is an accredited practice educator and experienced supervisor of staff.

We are developing our workforce and are seeking a Senior Practitioner Occupational Therapist who is committed to leading excellent practice. You will demonstrate your extensive knowledge and skills, by undertaking a small amount of the most complex or specialist work. In addition, you will professionally supervise, and quality assure others practice, enable the learning of others, and lead occupational therapy innovation projects in our council.

We have several improvement projects that align with prevention and occupational therapy, so we value colleagues with the knowledge and skills, and the experience to lead practice in reablement, enablement, single-handling care, and trauma informed practice.

Occupational therapists in social care have the privilege of working with people in their own homes, communities and neighbourhoods. We focus on the person and their strengths, enabling them to do meaningful occupations in their environment.

At Derby we work with people of all ages, and with all conditions to prevent or delay the need for social care support. Our typical occupational therapy interventions are goal-focused and support people to do the things that are important to them. This often involves adjusting their housing, making major adaptations to their home, or using assistive technology and specialist equipment to enable greater independence.

Who We Are
Here at Derby City Council, we’re dedicated to delivering nearly 250 first-class services to citizens and businesses in the heart of the Midlands. People are at the centre of all that we do, and we have an outstanding track record of recruiting and developing talented individuals by providing them with varied and fulfilling career opportunities. Find out more about what it’s like to work for us.

What We Offer
You too could be part of something brilliant by becoming a colleague at Derby City Council; in addition to making a difference to the lives of people across the city, you’ll also receive:

• Flexible work/life balance scheme
• Hybrid working
• Modern office environment
• Continued professional development opportunities & career conversations
• 27 days annual leave (rising to 32 days after 5 years' service), plus bank holidays
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Team Derby Rewards – retail and leisure discounts
• Tusker Car Benefit Scheme
• Cycle2Work Scheme & free cycle training
• Employee Assistance Programme, Wellbeing Calendar and Support
• Access to our Equality Employee Networks – LGBTQ+, Disabled Employee Network & Carers and our Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic Employee Support Network and Neurodiversity Network
• Support for colleagues who are carers

The Opportunity
In this role of qualified and HCPC registered occupational therapist, we want you to make a professional impact. We have several improvement projects that align with prevention and occupational therapy, so we value colleagues with project management knowledge and skills and the experience to lead others in reablement, enablement, single-handling care, and trauma informed practice. We have opportunities to work with in either Adults or Children occupational therapy teams supporting others to undertake assessments of need and support planning.

About You
To be successful in this role, you’ll have an occupational therapy degree, either DipCOT, BSc or MSc in occupational therapy and registered with HCPC. You will have significant experience gained working in health, housing or social care setting. You will be an experience Practice educator and able to lead best practice.

Next Steps

If you would like to apply for this vacancy via an application form, please submit an application via the Derby City Council website.

The closing date for this vacancy is at midnight on 11/10/2026. Any applications received after the closing date will not be accepted.

If you would like to discuss the opportunities, we have at Derby City Council please contact

Dr. Cate Bennett | Principal Occupational Therapist | Occupational Therapy Team Manager |T: [phone removed] |E: [email removed]

If you would prefer to apply for this job using your CV, then please download the attached Declaration Form and send it to [email removed] . Without a completed declaration form, your application will not be accepted. We also encourage you to download the Equalities Form and return this to [email removed], however this is optional and will not affect your application.

Important Information

Links to the full Job Description and Person Specification are below.

As part of our safer recruitment checks the successful candidate will be subject to an enhanced DBS check.

All employees will normally be appointed to the minimum of the grade for the job.

Before you complete your application, please read our guidance on filling in your application form.

Remember to align your personal statement to the essential criteria in the Person Specification.

Please be aware that where there are colleagues within the organisation who are 'at risk' of redundancy, requirements to redeploy to another suitable role will apply and take priority.

Equality, Diversity & Inclusion

We are a fair and inclusive employer and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds. We recruit for diversity and value difference. As many of our roles can now be home-based, we are able to offer more opportunities for people who need this facility.

We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. If you are a disabled person, you have the choice to apply under our Guaranteed Interview Scheme so long as you demonstrate that you meet the essential requirements for the job.

We feel it is essential that we recruit a talented workforce that is as diverse as the community we work for.

Please let us know of any individual requirements or reasonable adjustments you may have during the application, interview, or onboarding process and we’ll do all we can to help. We strongly believe in social understanding of disability and for us it’s all about removing barriers to equality.

If you have any questions regarding this vacancy or are having difficulty applying, please contact our Recruitment Team on [phone removed] (Relay UK - 18001 [phone removed]) or at [email removed]. https://www.derby.gov.uk/signing-service/

Please see here for Job Description