Verified Skilled Worker sponsor

Band 8a Highly Specialist Practitioner Psychologist

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust

Birmingham, B15 2TH £57,528 – £64,750 a year Permanent Posted 11 September 2026 Apply by 24 September 2026

Home Office register entry: University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Edgbaston

Visa sponsorship

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Closest occupation match: SOC 2212, Specialist medical practitioners. Pay for this occupation is set by national pay scales (NHS bands), so no single Home Office going rate applies.

This occupation falls under the Health and Care Worker route. Public reference figures for that route: the general salary minimum is £25,000 a year, and salaries set by national pay scales (NHS bands) at or above the relevant band rate typically meet the occupation's requirement. Individual eligibility depends on personal circumstances. These figures are public reference information, not advice or a verdict on this job.

Role description

Job summary

An Exciting Opportunity to Join Our Chronic Pain Service

We have an exciting opportunity for a Practitioner Psychologist (Clinical, Counselling or Health) to join our Clinical Health Psychology Service, working within our specialist Chronic Pain Service.

This is a part-time, 22.5 hours per week (0.6 WTE), Band 8a position, offering the opportunity to work as an integral member of a specialist multidisciplinary team supporting people living with chronic pain

The post holder will be based at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, with an expectation to work across other University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB) sites, including Solihull Hospital, Good Hope Hospital and Heartlands Hospital if service needs require.

Main duties of the job

The Role

As a Practitioner Psychologist within the Chronic Pain Service, you will provide specialist psychological assessment, formulation and intervention for people living with chronic pain and its associated psychological, emotional and functional impact.

You will work closely with colleagues across the multidisciplinary team to provide holistic, evidence-based and person-centred care.

Key aspects of the role will include:

*Providing specialist psychological assessment, formulation and intervention for people living

with chronic pain.

*Delivering evidence-based psychological therapies tailored to the needs of patients with

persistent and complex pain.

*Providing psychological input to co-lead our multidisciplinary Pain Management Programme.

*Contributing psychological expertise to multidisciplinary team clinics and discussions.

*Working collaboratively with medical, nursing, physiotherapy and other allied health

professional colleagues to support integrated patient care.

*Supporting patients to develop strategies for managing the psychological and wider impact of

living with chronic pain.

*Contributing to the continued development and evaluation of psychological provision within

the Chronic Pain Service.

Leadership, Teaching and Service Development

Alongside your clinical responsibilities, this role provides excellent opportunities to develop and contribute beyond direct patient care.

About us

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust strives to have an inclusive culture where everyone feels like they belong, can thrive, knows that they add value and feels valued. We do this by developing compassionate and culturally competent leaders, being values driven in all that we do and by creating a welcoming and inclusive workplace that thrives on the diversity of our people. As such we want to attract and recruit talented individuals from all backgrounds, and for each of you to feel supported for the diversity you bring, to achieve your full potential. For those staff with a disability, including physical disability, long term health condition, mental health or neurodiverse condition, this also means being committed to making reasonable adjustments needed for you to carry out your role.

Date posted

11 September 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8a

Salary

£57,528 to £64,750 a year

Contract

Permanent

Working pattern

Part-time, Flexible working

Reference number

304-1102885

Job locations

Trustwide

Mindelsohn Way

Birmingham

West Midlands

B15 2TH

United Kingdom

Job description

Job responsibilities

Main Duties and Tasks Confinued : The successful applicant will have opportunities to contribute to clinical leadership, teaching and training, supervision, and service development, helping to shape and strengthen psychological provision within the Chronic Pain Service

Please note for a specific detailed job description for this vacancy please see attached job description.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

* Doctoral level training in clinical,counselling or health psychology (or its equivalent for those trained prior to 1996) as accredited by the BPS, including specifically models of
psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology.
* HCPC registration as a Practitioner Psychologist.
(Candidates for posts who i) possess a qualification
in clinical/counselling/health psychology obtained
oversees, that does not fully meet UK training
requirements; ii) are seeking lateral transfer from
another branch of applied psychology; or iii) hold a
research degree in a clinical subject, must provide
evidence that they have obtained a Statement of
Equivalence in awarded by the BPS Committee for
the Scrutiny of Individual Clinical Qualifications,
further to the satisfactory completion of such
additional training as is required by the CSICQ.

Desirable

* Training and qualifications in research methodology, staff training, health psychology and/or other fields of applied psychology that may be relevant in a clinical health psychology setting.
* Pre- or post-qualification training or additional qualifications in an accredited Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or other psychological therapy including CFT, ACT, DBT, MBT, brief psychodynamic interventions, systemic therapy, CAT, EMDR.

Experience

Essential

* Experience of working as a qualified clinical/counselling/health psychologist, including demonstrable experience within people affected by physical illness.
* Experience of psychological assessment and treatment of clients across the full range of care settings, including outpatient, community, primary care and inpatient settings.
* Experience of working with a wide variety of client groups, across the whole life course and presenting with the full range of clinical severity across the full range of care settings
including outpatient, community, primary care, in-patient and residential care settings including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing problems, verbal abuse and the threat of physical abuse.
* Experience of exercising full clinical responsibility for clients' psychological care and treatment.
* Experience of teaching, training and/or professional and clinical supervision.
* An understanding of the specific needs and difficulties of people affected by the condition or clinical issue for whom the psychology service for this post works with.
* Doctoral level knowledge of research design and methodology, including complex multivariate data analysis as practiced within the field of clinical/counselling/health psychology.
* Evidence of continuing professional development as recommended by the BPS.
* Formal training in supervision of other psychologists.

Desirable

* Experience of working in acute physical health settings.
* Experience of representing psychology within the context of multi-disciplinary care (particularly physical health settings).
* Experience of the application of psychology in different cultural contexts.
* Experience of working with people affected by physical illness.
* Well-developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies and assessment methodologies in specific difficult to treat groups (e.g. personality disorder, dual diagnoses, people with additional disabilities etc).
* Awareness of legislation and policy in relation to the clinical specialty and mental health
* Experience of short-term care provision e.g. brief assessments, short inpatient stays.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website.

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants.