Are there jobs for OTs in Social Services?

[BilkyTheKiddxoxo]

I qualified as an O T in 1992, but haven't worked since 2008. My previous experience as an OT was in Social Services doing equipment for people with physical disabilities and property alterations (stair lifts, extensions etc).
Just wondered if I tried to apply to register to practice again, if there are many jobs for OTs in Social Services at the moment
?

I can't speak for the whole country but in my local authority there are lots and lots of unfilled OT roles that they are struggling to recruit anyone to because the pay isn't as good as the NHS.

From speaking to acquaintances in other nearby LAs that's a pretty standard picture in our part of the country at the moment.

OTs in most areas seem to be in fairly short supply. Have a look at vacancies in your area as it’ll differ from place to place.

Plenty of work where I am too, both in SS and Health.
You will need to complete a return to practice course as you have been out of the profession for so long. There have been many changes since 1992.

Thank you all. That is encouraging. I will look into a return to practice course!

@ThreeKneeRepeater

Plenty of work where I am too, both in SS and Health. You will need to complete a return to practice course as you have been out of the profession for so long. There have been many changes since 1992.

It's 2007 I last practised, but it's still a long time ago!

There are loads of OT vacancies, I retired but have been asked to go back to work three times due to lack of staff and the Trust struggling to find locums. I can basically work as many or as few hours as I like as they are always short. I think with covid it is also easier to get back on the HCPC register.

Sorry Bilky. I misread.
Good luck. It’s still a great profession.

I’ve just done return to practice as an OT, hello. You need to contact Health Education England Return to Practice National Team [email protected] They will give you a registration number. This is the only way to start RTP. Natalie and Paul are really helpful. There is also a FB page with about 5k members. Us OTs have a private messenger group so ask on the main FB group if someone will add you.

And yes you will need to re-register with the HCPC. By contacting HEE you are only registering with the RTP programme. You will need to do 60 days minimum (420 hours) of update training. This can be a mixture of informal study, formal study and clinical placements.

My experience and dates closely match yours OP. I'm also looking to return to OT.

May I ask you how you've reinstated your registration and how easy was this?

This is the bit that's putting me off as I'm a carer and would need to organise cover at home.

@beautifullymad If you read my last two posts it tells you all you need to know. I personally did 23 clinical days and the rest as study. It took about 18 months to get the placements though and a lot of persistence.

Where I am (big city in south west) yes lots of OT vacancies in health and social care. My local community physical health team were recruiting specifically for return to work OT’s as the pressure of covid has increased the demand for OT in the community.

Interesting that further up someone mentioned that social services OT isn’t paid as well as health. Other way round for here, social services OT’s paid at least £5000 more a year that a newly qualified band 5. Though I guess that gap decreases with more experience and NHS increments etc.

[quote BananaMilkshakeWithCream]@beautifullymad If you read my last two posts it tells you all you need to know. I personally did 23 clinical days and the rest as study. It took about 18 months to get the placements though and a lot of persistence.[/quote]
I was told years ago that all study and clinical placements had to be within 12 months to be considered towards reinstating registration. Have they relaxed this do you know?
It would make returning a bit easier if so.

It’s normally 12 months but was relaxed to 24 months due to Covid. They may have changed it back so if you’re interested then I’d email HEE quickly.

When I say 18 months to ‘get’ the placements, I mean 18 months to find the placements. There was a lot of calling around various trusts, emails and meetings.

Hi all. Only just realised I have got more replies. @BananaMilkshakeWithCream Thank you so much for all of the information. That's incredibly useful.

@beautifullymad

My experience and dates closely match yours OP. I'm also looking to return to OT.

May I ask you how you've reinstated your registration and how easy was this?

This is the bit that's putting me off as I'm a carer and would need to organise cover at home.

Hi @beautifullymad. I haven't resurrected my registration as yet. I am in the early stages of finding out how to go about it.

Maybe also try local councils I've had Ot's visit me to assess for disabled facilities grant and they were so far behind with their waiting list because they couldn't recruit to all the posts.
My nhs ot also said they had shortages. When I worked for a ccg a few years ago there were some teams who were part funded by NHS and partly funded by ss, they were made up of ot, physio, sw, nurses and pharmacists.
I think there's lots of different opportunities for Ot's these days.
Good luck.

@Maybeyesno

Maybe also try local councils I've had Ot's visit me to assess for disabled facilities grant and they were so far behind with their waiting list because they couldn't recruit to all the posts. My nhs ot also said they had shortages. When I worked for a ccg a few years ago there were some teams who were part funded by NHS and partly funded by ss, they were made up of ot, physio, sw, nurses and pharmacists. I think there's lots of different opportunities for Ot's these days. Good luck.

Thank you! Disabled Facilities Grants were my main area of work back in the day. I intend to contact my local council to see if the Social Services OTs can offer me some supervised practice.