JOB DESCRIPTION Job Title: Team Leader – Social Prescribing Link Work Primary Focus: Primary Care Networks Contract Type: Permanent Hours: 5 days (37.5 hours) per week. Salary/benefits: £36,792 per annum, plus benefits, hybrid working Location/Team: The post holder will be required to work at various locations across Islington and within different team settings, in line with the needs of the service. Reports to: Head of Services – Personalised Care & Support Background to Social Prescribing Link Work service: Social Prescribing Link Workers work as part of the Primary Care Network (PCN) multi- disciplinary team. Social prescribing helps PCNs to strengthen community, personal resilience and reduce health and wellbeing inequalities by addressing the wider determinants of health, such as debt, poor housing and physical inactivity, by increasing people’s active involvement with their local communities. It particularly works for people with long term conditions (including support for mental health), for people who are lonely or isolated, or have complex health and social needs which affect their wellbeing. The Team leader role includes screening and allocation alongside specialisms in e.g. working with specific service user groups, project development, referral pathway development, new service implementation, coaching and mentoring and multi-disciplinary services integration. Main purpose of the role The Team leader will have responsibility for ensuring the following: • That staff and volunteers are supported, well engaged, trained, motivated, and committed and that they deliver a professional service to clients and their carers/families. • Maintain own area service monitoring, while ensuring that the service continues to meet the needs of service users and that all quality standards are fully met. • Ensure a continuous flow of referrals into the services through external networking with key partners and stake holders. • Develop and deliver proactive social prescribing through LTC workshops in partnership with other providers • Triage and allocate referrals to the Social Prescribing Link Workers or redirect to the most appropriate service within Age UK Islington. • Support the Head of Services to develop, sustain and review referral pathways with internal and external services, practitioners and other service leads. • Work collaboratively with other Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme professionals within PCNs, including Care Coordinators • Ensure you have an up to date understanding of the role and focus of Personalised Care. • Be the go-to person for specific enquiries about new and emerging issues, specifically related to client needs. • Provide supervision, coaching, mentoring and practice development support to SPLWs. JD – Team Leader SPLW © Age UK Islington Version 3 – December 2025 • Develop the service to ensure that client access to support is delivered across the Primary Care Network sites, including community venues, GP surgeries and other locality sites. • Contribute to own service area and or wider organisation communications and promotion. Case Work Role • Carry out case work activity and case manage a quota of clients in proportion to other responsibilities as outlined above. • Work creatively to match client needs with a variety of community-based providers to increase their confidence and stability. • Work closely with the client and third parties to manage and coordinate delivery of the personalised support plan. • Liaise with relevant third parties as required and throughout the client support to achieve service goals, making direct referrals to other providers where necessary. • Work as part of a rota receiving and responding to enquiries from clients, professionals, carers and others. • Work with volunteers to agree a fixed short duration period of support, matching volunteers’ skills with identified client needs. • Identify ongoing prevention opportunities during case work and at case closure including an agreed ongoing schedule of contact/follow up. • Ensure case notes and other relevant records are entered and updated on the CRM database and Primary Care Data systems (EMIS) in line with system processes and policies. • Ensure services are delivered and all activities carried out in line with organisation and service specific policies. Partnership Working • Research and share knowledge across the organisation of community services beneficial to a range of client needs. • Develop and deliver services to a wider client group in collaboration with key partner agencies, including Health and Social care services from VCS, NHS and ASC. • Ensure understanding of key working relationships* (as specified below) in own area and maintain effective partnership/joint working arrangements. • Ensure understanding of and close working relationships with wider voluntary sector services providing ongoing support. • Provide flexible cover for and support AUKI’s wider casework teams. *Key working Relationships: Voluntary, Community, Social Enterprise services and groups (VCSE) Clients or patients Primary Care Network GP Clinical Leads Islington GP Federation General Practitioners and practice nurses Islington Adult Social Care London Ambulance Service and paramedics Carers and carer organisations Other clinical teams including PCN Additional Role & Responsibility Scheme staff Local Wellbeing Networks Housing Performance Management • Monitor and ensure compliance with Key Performance indicators (KPIs) JD – Team Leader SPLW © Age UK Islington Version 3 – December 2025 • Ensure services are delivered to a high standard and in line with organisational and service specific policies. • Ensure that response times to specific referral types are met. • Obtain user feedback on perceived quality and effectiveness of services. • Monitor and act on complaints and feedback related to the service, escalating to the appropriate manager. Wider Organisational responsibilities • Work collaboratively with individuals and teams internally in the organisation and with its partners. • Meet legislative and all relevant regulatory requirements including Health & Safety and Employment. • Carry out responsibilities for Safeguarding. • Carry out duties in accordance with Age UK Islington values, principles, policies and procedures. • Provide cover for absent colleagues. • Carry out administrative duties in connection with the post. • To cover the wider casework team across AUKI when required. Note: This role description is not intended to be exhaustive in every respect but rather to clearly define the fundamental purpose, responsibilities and dimensions for the role. Therefore, the role description does not describe any individual role holder. In addition to the contents of this role description, employees are expected to undertake any and all other reasonable and related tasks allocated by the Head of Services. JD – Team Leader SPLW © Age UK Islington Version 3 – December 2025 Person Specification Factors Experience/ Qualifications Description Minimum 3 years of experience supervising, coaching, or supporting staff Health or Social Care qualification or equivalent experience Experience of carrying out triaging, service assessments and creating service user support plans Experience of working with vulnerable adults in a direct support role Experience of liaising with a wide range of professionals Experience of managing a team to meet compliance with key performance indicators Experience of support or developing new services or projects Skills Skills in carrying out service assessments and goal planning Confidence to lead a team and be solutions focussed Able to design and deliver proactive social prescribing to specific cohorts of clients in collaboration with partner agencies Able to maintain an overview of own service area, including referral pathways and case allocation Skills in matching volunteers and clients to take forward goal specific support Able to understand and follow processes related to service delivery Able to complete client and home-based risk assessments Able to operate, input and extract records and data from a service database to monitoring key areas of performance Able to communicate effectively with family carers, professional staff and others to ensure safe and efficient working with individual clients Knowledge of Personalised Care and Strength based approaches and best practice in care and other service settings Knowledge of services, types of of support and the roles of different teams, including Health, Adult Social Care and VCSE organisations Knowledge of Safeguarding processes Requirements/approaches to supporting volunteers in a care and support role Knowledge Aptitude Able to form effective working relationships Able to drive forward on projects, dealing with setbacks. 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