Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust

Principal Psychologist

The closing date is 03 February 2026

Job summary

A rare opportunity has arisen for a clinical, counselling or forensic psychologist experienced in working with children in local authority care and their support networks, developmental trauma, and attachment difficulties to work in our SCAYT+ service for 6 months. SCAYT+ stands for Supporting Carers And Young people Together. The service sits within Lancashire County Council's (LCC) Fostering Department, with psychological input provided via service level agreement with LSCFT.

There are two clinical psychologist posts in the service, both of whom are LSCFT employees (0.8WTE 8C Consultant Clinical Psychologist and 0.6WTE 8B Principal Psychologist) - we are looking to temporarily cover the 8B position. The psychologists within SCAYT+ are responsible for the clinical leadership, development, and supervision of the team and service.

SCAYT+ seeks to support children who are in the care of the Local Authority, adopted, or living with special guardians in Lancashire. By working systemically with the important adults around the child, we seek to co-develop attachment and trauma-informed formulations of the child's strengths and needs, which then inform therapeutic approaches to the care and support they receive. By working in this way, our service aims to:

Support the emotional wellbeing of children and young people, parents and carers
Strengthen the relationships between children and their caregivers
Increase the stability of our children's homes and school place

Main duties of the job

This senior post holder will be responsible for ensuring delivery of high quality psychology services across the SCAYT+ service throughout Lancashire. This will include the supervision of Emotional Health Practitioners, the completion of clinical work, the monitoring of service performance and contribution to clinical oversight and governance, and the development and direct implementation of agreed system and service changes.

SCAYT+ is a well established service which makes a very real positive difference to the children and adults it works with. The team is friendly and well-supported with established model-specific supervision groups and a clear management and clinical/ professional leadership structure, with input from both LCC and LSCFT. You will not only be a valued member of SCAYT+ but also of the collective psychological professionals working within the Children and Young People's Care Group in LSCFT. We look forward to hearing from you!

About us

LSCFT values diversity and inclusion, recognising that talent from varied backgrounds creates a flexible, creative, and effective workforce. We actively challenge discrimination and welcome applications from all, regardless of age, disability (including those with experience of accessing or caring for someone who has accessed mental health or learning disability services), ethnicity, gender, religion, belief, or sexual orientation.

Our aim is to reflect the communities we serve, so we particularly encourage applications from under-represented groups. If you'd like to discuss your application, please ask.

We also welcome individuals with lived experience relevant to the role or service area, as your insight brings authenticity to our services.

LSCFT support flexible working, we believe that a positive work/life balance benefits NHS employees through improved health and wellbeing. We would consider working patterns such as term time, part time, compressed hours and flexi-time.

Date posted

20 January 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 8b

Salary

£64,455 to £74,896 a year per annum, pro rata

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

6 months

Working pattern

Part-time

Reference number

351-SPS1580-LG

Job locations

Riverbank Children's Centre

Preston

PR1 8SR

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please see attached the Job Description and Person Specification for more information about this role.

Job description

Job responsibilities

Please see attached the Job Description and Person Specification for more information about this role.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Doctoral level training in clinical psychology (or equivalent for those who trained prior to 1996), counselling psychology or forensic psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS
Post-doctoral training in one or more additional attachment focused area of psychological practice, for example, DDP or Theraplay
Accredited by the HCPC as a Practitioner Psychologist

Experience

Essential

Substantial post-qualification experience working as a qualified psychologist with children, young people and their parents/carers
Substantial experience of contributing a psychological perspective within the context of multidisciplinary and multiagency care for children, young people and their parents/carer
Experience of working with a wide variety of child and family presentations that reflect the full range of clinical need, including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing difficulties
Experience of clinical supervision of unqualified and/or qualified clinical, counselling or forensic psychologists and other psychological therapists

Knowledge

Essential

Doctoral level knowledge of clinical, counselling or forensic psychology, including highly developed knowledge of lifespan developmental psychology
Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology
Well developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific populations (e.g. developmental trauma, complex trauma, attachment difficulties etc)

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

Doctoral level training in clinical psychology (or equivalent for those who trained prior to 1996), counselling psychology or forensic psychology, including specifically models of psychopathology, clinical psychometrics and neuropsychology, two or more distinct psychological therapies and lifespan developmental psychology as accredited by the BPS
Post-doctoral training in one or more additional attachment focused area of psychological practice, for example, DDP or Theraplay
Accredited by the HCPC as a Practitioner Psychologist

Experience

Essential

Substantial post-qualification experience working as a qualified psychologist with children, young people and their parents/carers
Substantial experience of contributing a psychological perspective within the context of multidisciplinary and multiagency care for children, young people and their parents/carer
Experience of working with a wide variety of child and family presentations that reflect the full range of clinical need, including maintaining a high degree of professionalism in the face of highly emotive and distressing difficulties
Experience of clinical supervision of unqualified and/or qualified clinical, counselling or forensic psychologists and other psychological therapists

Knowledge

Essential

Doctoral level knowledge of clinical, counselling or forensic psychology, including highly developed knowledge of lifespan developmental psychology
Doctoral level knowledge of research methodology, research design and complex, multivariate data analysis as practiced within the clinical fields of psychology
Well developed knowledge of the theory and practice of specialised psychological therapies in specific populations (e.g. developmental trauma, complex trauma, attachment difficulties etc)

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.

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Additional information

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Employer details

Employer name

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Riverbank Children's Centre

Preston

PR1 8SR

Employer's website

https://www.lscft.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)

Employer details

Employer name

Lancashire & South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust

Address

Riverbank Children's Centre

Preston

PR1 8SR

Employer's website

https://www.lscft.nhs.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)