Senior Placements Officer

Dudley, West Midlands
Connect2Dudley

Job Title: Senior Placements Officer

Location: Dudley Council

Rate: 160.21 (PAYE) or 209.57 (Umbrella) per day

Job Description

• To oversee and co-ordinate the brokerage of internal and external placement options for Children in Care and Care Leavers, ensuring best practice and best value principles apply.
• You will provide a placement finding service for children’s social work teams and be responsible for managing and organising a caseload of children who require both planned and emergency placements.
• You will be required to negotiate placement costs with independent fostering agencies, independent residential children’s homes and supported accommodation providers among others.
• You will develop an understanding of the market across children’s services and ensure that all brokerage activities are in line with directorate strategies and plans, strategic commissioning principles and operational imperatives.
• You will be required to manage a small team of Placement Officers and direct the activities of any associated Business Support resources.
• You will support the development and implementation of systems to track & assure the quality of the commissioned services in line with individual placements and across regional/sub-regional framework agreements, working closely with the Strategic Commissioning Manager, Contracts Officer and Quality and Safety Officer.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and coordinate the sourcing of internal and external placements for Children in Care and Care Leavers, including emergency and planned placements.
• Manage a complex placement brokerage caseload, ensuring timely, suitable and cost-effective placement solutions.
• Negotiate placement costs and terms with fostering agencies, residential providers and supported accommodation providers to achieve best value.
• Develop and maintain positive relationships with providers, social work teams and key stakeholders.
• Monitor placement availability, market capacity and provider performance to support placement sufficiency.
• Manage and support a small team of Placement Officers and oversee associated business support activity.
• Ensure brokerage activity aligns with strategic commissioning priorities, sufficiency plans and operational requirements.
• Support quality assurance, contract monitoring and provider performance management in partnership with Commissioning, Contracts and Quality teams.
• Maintain accurate records, performance data and management reports relating to placements, costs and outcomes.
• Contribute to service improvement, market development and commissioning initiatives.

Skills, Experience & Requirements

• Significant experience within children’s social care placement brokerage, commissioning, placements or provider management.
• Strong knowledge of Children in Care, Care Leavers, fostering, residential care and supported accommodation services.
• Proven experience negotiating placement costs and securing placements in a challenging market.
• Experience managing staff and coordinating workloads within a fast-paced environment.
• Sound understanding of children’s social care legislation, safeguarding and placement sufficiency requirements.
• Strong stakeholder management, communication and relationship-building skills.
• Excellent organisational skills with the ability to manage competing priorities and tight timescales.
• Ability to analyse placement, performance and financial information to support decision-making.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office and case management/database systems.
• Commitment to achieving positive outcomes for children and young people through high-quality, value-for-money placements.

Connect2Dudley is a trading style of Dudley & Kent Commercial Services LTD – A joint venture between Dudley Metropolitan Council & Commercial Services Kent Ltd. Connect2Dudley is an equal opportunities Employment Agency & Business. It positively encourages applications from all suitably qualified and eligible candidates.