Occupational Therapist

Job Description

Assessing how health conditions affect daily living isn’t part of this job. It IS this job. If you trained as an OT, you already speak the language of functional assessment activities of daily living, participation, the gap between what a condition is and what it means for a person’s life.

This is the one role outside the NHS or Local Authority where that training is the entire job description. If you’re an HCPC-registered occupational therapist with 12 months post-registration experience, you’re eligible to train as a Functional Assessor.

The role: you’ll carry out functional assessments for claimants of Personal Independence Payment on behalf of our client a leading UK provider of health assessment services by phone, video or face-to-face, and write the reports that help the DWP make fair decisions. If you’re currently juggling a community caseload the driving, the equipment chases, the visits that overrun this is the same clinical thinking without the miles: a structured day, protected time to write your reports, and a hybrid pattern that means much of your week is home-based.

What changes:

• £39,500- £50,000 Post code dependent compare that with NHS Band 5 entry at £32,557. That’s a rise of nearly £7,000 to £19,000 at one year qualified. Please note salary is post code dependent
• Once DWP-approved, a quality bonus of up to 10% of base salary on top, earned monthly and paid quarterly.
• Monday to Friday. No nights. No weekends. No unsocial-hours rota.
• Hybrid working a mix of home-based work and assessments at the nearest assessment centre.

What doesn’t change:

• Your registration fully maintained, with your annual professional registration fee reimbursed and revalidation supported.
• Your clinical reasoning used on every single case. This is a clinical role, not a step away from one.
• Your development full, paid, structured training from day one. You are not expected to know this role; you’re taught it, with mentorship through your first months.

Am I eligible? Yes if you hold current, unrestricted UK registration and have 12 months post-registration experience. That’s it. One year qualified is all you need.

Why apply through Gaia: we’ve specialised in Functional Assessor recruitment since 2003. You’ll get honest advice on whether the role is right for you, real interview preparation, and support from application through to DWP approval. Our candidates succeed at well above the market rate because we don’t just forward CVs, we prepare people.

Not at 12 months yet? Apply anyway and tell us your registration date we’ll contact you the month you become eligible.

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