Community Links Practitioner

The ALLIANCE is recruiting 3 new Community Links Practitioners.

Community Links Practitioner

Hours:                    Full-time (35 hours) and part-time (17.5 hours and 21 hours)

Salary:                   £27,764 – £34,497 pro rata per annum dependent on experience.  Paid on 28^th of each month.

Term:                     Fixed term (see description for details)

Based in:               Glasgow

The ALLIANCE is excited to be recruiting three new Community Links Practitioners to join our team based in Glasgow.

Available positions:

• One full time maternity cover post (35 hours per week), fixed term until December 2026.
• One part-time post (17.5 hours per week), fixed term until 31 March 2026, subject to continued funding.
• One part-time post (21 hours per week), fixed term until 31 March 2026, subject to continued funding.

Role 

The Community Links Practitioner will provide a person-centred service that is responsive to the needs and interests of GP practice population living in areas affected by socio-economic deprivation. They will support them to identify issues that affect their ability to live well. Working collaboratively with the patient, the post holder will support them through decision making processes to help them decide upon the issues that they would like to address and help them to overcome any barriers to addressing these.  

Using service improvement methodology, the Community Links Practitioner will support the existing primary care team to adopt a links approach. They will support existing staff in becoming skilled in identifying local services and matching them to the needs of individual people. Typical examples include social or lunch clubs, self-help groups, befriending organisations, hobby clubs (such as gardening clubs) and employment or voluntary-work agencies. 

The Community Links Practitioner will identify community resources and facilitate relationships between these resources and the practice for the benefit of the patient. They will also build relationships and processes with statutory organisations, health services and voluntary organisations such as the Citizens Advice Bureau, Money Advice Service, NHS services and charities. 

The aim of the Links Programme is to support people to live well through strengthening connections between community resources and primary care in deprived areas in Scotland.  

The successful candidate for this role should have:

• Ability to develop a non-dependent relationship with awareness of personal and professional boundaries, whilst being supportive and respectful of others and non-judgmental 
• Resilience 
• A solution-focused approach 
• Non-discriminatory values 
• Knowledge and experience of working with people who are experiencing complex social and emotional circumstances. For example, people who have social, emotional and mental health issues, complex life circumstances, experience chronic pain, drug and alcohol misuse or homelessness 
• Strong understanding of the challenges faced by people living in areas of deprivation in relation to living well 
• Proven and highly effective interpersonal and communication skills in working with people on a 1:1 basis and with organisations 
• Excellent influencing, negotiation and motivational skills in order to engage people and to enable them to take up a wide range of community services and activities 
• Excellent networking and information management skills 
• Ability to manage time effectively 
• Ability to effectively manage priorities 
• Good understanding of data protection  
• Knowledge of facilitating service improvement 
• Ability to work effectively as part of a team and on own initiative 
• IT skills in word processing, spreadsheets, email and the internet 
• An ability and willingness to travel extensively within the local community and wider area. 

As an ALLIANCE employee you will benefit from:

• 210 hours annual leave pro rata (equivalent of 30 days)  
• 91 hours public holiday that can be taken flexibly pro rata (equivalent of 13 days)
• 24.5 hours additional leave between Christmas Eve and New Year pro rata (equivalent of 3.5 days)
• Contributory pension scheme 6%
• Annual incremental increase in salary (until top of grade)
• Flexible working (formal and informal)
• Enhanced maternity, paternity, shared parental and adoption pay
• Enhanced sick pay
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Learning and development opportunities
• Time off in lieu
• Cycle Scheme
• Carer Positive Employer
• Up to 35 hours (pro rata) paid carers leave per annum
• Disability Confident Employer
• Up to 35 hours (pro rata) paid special leave
• Up to 70 hours (pro rata) paid compassionate leave
• Paid day off to move house
• Employee forum
• Trade union recognition for Glasgow Links programme

The ALLIANCE is a healthy working lives employer and encourages a healthy work life balance and is happy to talk flexible working.

The ALLIANCE recognises that in real life, great people don’t always ‘tick all the boxes’. Even if you don’t meet every point on the job description, if this role and our organisation feels like a good fit for you, we still want to hear from you.

PVG Scheme membership is required for this post.

We are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that applicants may need during the recruitment process and you will be asked whether you require any during this process.  We also offer reasonable adjustments on the job.

The ALLIANCE is committed to the principles of the Disability Confident Scheme, which includes offering an interview to a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for the role. 

This commitment does not guarantee an interview for all disabled applicants; candidates must meet the minimum criteria of the role. The purpose of this approach is to promote positive action by encouraging disabled individuals to apply for roles and providing them with the opportunity to demonstrate their skills, talents, and potential at the interview stage.

There may be instances where it is not practical or appropriate to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria. In such cases, we will apply the same selection process used for non-disabled applicants, shortlisting those who best meet the criteria.

Closing date for applications is 9am on 28 November 2025.

Interviews will be held on 9 and 10 December 2025. If you are unable to make this date, please notify us at the time of application.  We may be able to accommodate another time and date within 2 days of the original date.

About the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland

The Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (the ALLIANCE) is an independent Scottish Charity funded by a grant from the Scottish Government.  Our vision is for a Scotland where people of all ages who are disabled or living with long term conditions, and unpaid carers, have a strong voice and enjoy their right to live well, as equal and active citizens, free from discrimination, with support and services that put them at the centre.

The ALLIANCE has three core aims; we seek to: 

• Ensure people are at the centre, that their voices, expertise, and rights drive policy and sit at the heart of design, delivery and improvement of support and services.
• Support transformational change, towards approaches that work with individual and community assets, helping people to stay well, supporting human rights, self-management, co-production, and independent living.
• Champion and support the third sector as a vital strategic and delivery partner and foster better cross-sector understanding and partnership.

For details on how your applications will be dealt with in line with GDPR please see our privacy notice.

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