Team Manager - Occupational Therapy and Reablement

Location: Buckinghamshire County Wide

Overview

This is a 2 year Fixed Term or Secondment role starting from 1st December 2026

Help shape services that enable residents to live more independently. We are looking for an experienced leader to lead Buckinghamshire Council's Occupational Therapy (OT) and in-house Reablement services within Adult Social Care.

This two-year fixed-term or secondment opportunity offers the chance to strengthen prevention and community-based support, improve residents' experience and help people achieve the outcomes that matter to them.

You will provide visible professional leadership and clinical governance for OT practice across the service, and lead in-house Reablement through the Reablement Operations Assistant Manager.

Working with health and community partners, you will champion strengths-based, person-centred support that builds independence and reduces reliance on long-term care.

About us

Buckinghamshire Council is a relatively new organisation that combines the strengths and expertise of the previous five councils in the county to create positive change for local people, communities, and businesses. We are firmly focused on the future and have made a clear commitment to serve residents better and to provide stronger representation for Buckinghamshire, both locally and nationally.

About the role

You will combine operational leadership with professional governance and service development. As the service's OT lead, you will maintain professional standards, embed evidence-based practice and support compliance with HCPC and Royal College of Occupational Therapists standards.

You will work with health colleagues, community organisations and safeguarding partners to strengthen prevention, rehabilitation and discharge pathways. Alongside day-to-day delivery, you will shape service improvements, develop the workforce and contribute to strategic planning.

Key responsibilities include:

• Lead professional practice, supervision and clinical governance for Occupational Therapy across the service.
• Develop Occupational Therapists, OT Assistants and Reablement leaders through effective support, continuous learning and evidence-based practice.
• Ensure strengths-based, person-centred assessment, rehabilitation, reablement and equipment provision that help residents maximise function, participation and independence.
• Improve service quality and performance through effective quality assurance, service development and change management.
• Build partnerships with health and community services to deliver integrated support and effective discharge and prevention pathways.
• Ensure professional, statutory and safeguarding responsibilities are met, supporting sound decisions and effective risk management in complex situations.

For a full list of duties and responsibilities, please refer to the Job Description.

Flexible working and travel

This is a mobile role, combining working from home with meetings in the office and at other locations. You will have flexibility to organise your diary around service needs, meeting residents, colleagues and partners while maintaining visible leadership and support for your teams.

About you

You will be a collaborative leader who supports people to succeed and is committed to helping residents live independently. You will bring clear communication, strong professional judgement and the ability to build relationships and influence across organisational boundaries.

You will bring significant experience of leading teams delivering Adult Social Care services, gained in health or social care settings, and working within complex partnerships. You will be confident managing performance, improving services and supporting teams through change.

Experience and skills

• Extensive experience of leading Occupational Therapy services and/or integrated OT and Reablement teams in health or social care.
• A strong understanding of professional governance, OT standards and reablement best practice.
• The ability to influence strategic direction and champion the contribution of OT across services and partnerships.
• Expert knowledge of Adult Social Care legislation, safeguarding and professional practice.
• Excellent communication, relationship-building and stakeholder management skills.

Qualifications and registration

The current qualification requirements are a degree-level qualification (or equivalent), a recognised social care or health qualification, and registration with Social Work England or the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as an Occupational Therapist. A full driving licence is also required.

If you want to develop professional practice, support talented teams and shape services that make a practical difference to residents' independence, we would welcome your application.

Please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification for full details of the role requirements and essential criteria.

You may use AI tools to support your application, but it must accurately reflect your own experience, skills and achievements. These will be explored during the selection process.

Other information

For more information about this role, please contact Sarah Beeks at [email protected] for an informal discussion.

Closing date:** 15th November 2026

Interview date: To be confirmed

We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so please be advised to submit your application as early as possible.

Buckinghamshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare:

• All unspent convictions and conditional cautions
• All spent convictions and adult cautions that are not protected (i.e. that are not filtered out) as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020 and 2023).

For further information on filtering please refer to Nacro guidance and the guidance published by the Ministry of Justice (see, in particular, the section titled 'Exceptions Order').

Our values

We have a set of values, which our employees have chosen, that represent what we are - Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy.

By joining Buckinghamshire Council, you can expect:

• a fair and inclusive culture
• the chance to really make a difference to those around you
• health and well-being initiatives including an Employee...