Job Title : Placements Brokerage Officer (PO2) Job Category : Social Care - Unqualified Category : Agency Workers Level 1 Name : CHILDREN'S SERVICES (DIRECTORATE) Job Category : Social Care - Unqualified Location : Lambeth Justification : Project Hours Per Week : 35.00 Start Time : 09:00 End Time : 17:30 PAYE Pay Rate £23.00 ph Context The CBSP Brokerage Officer plays a crucial role in interpreting the procurement requirements of CSC social work teams. These requirements are defined in terms of need, and the brokerage requirement converts these requirements into brokered service options. It is essential for the CBSP Brokerage Officer to possess comprehensive knowledge and practical understanding of in-house, framework, and spot provision on both local and national scales. An important aspect of this role is to identify, coordinate, monitor, and ensure the quality of placement for children and young people. This includes young people up to the age of 19 years and those with disabilities. This role requires close collaboration with social workers, providers of foster care, residential care, and colleagues across children's services, adult services, education, and health. Job Purpose • This post will work in partnership with commissioning colleagues to assist in contract monitoring and quality assurance within the team, and will lead to the development of effective systems and processes to ensure that high-quality placements are utilised that offer value for money and improve outcomes for children and young people. Responsibilities 1. Ensure that all requests for services are authorised by the appropriate manager or assistant director, as required. 2. Ensure that the necessary documents are completed, accurate information is recorded, and that the search activity meets the criteria of GDPR legislation. Check for accuracy and reject information as appropriate before sending it to providers. Liaise with social workers and managers, as necessary. 3. Use in-house, framework, or spot provision mechanisms for tender service requests. Develop an auditable chronology of search activities to ensure accountability. 4. Identify, establish, and coordinate high-quality, carefully selected placements based on the needs of the child or young person. Responding to placement requests, both planned and emergency, by searching for placements using London Care Placements Frameworks and in-house databases of preferred providers. Liaise with social workers, team managers, health and education colleagues, providers of care, placement officers, other local authorities, and foster carers to ensure appropriate placement matching. 5. Follow up potential leads and known contacts to facilitate potential offers of provision. Escalate all searches that have not been developed into service offers within 20 working days, promoting placement stability through the development of effective working relationships. Attend, convene, and/or facilitate placement review meetings as necessary. 6. Provide service options to CSC social work teams upon receiving offers, ensuring all placements offer the best value for the local authority. This includes negotiating costs and structuring contracts based on cost reduction. Maintaining records of agreements and uploading them to team systems is crucial. Ensure that selected options include a request for resources that can progress to a purchase order and are available for payment once an invoice is received. Contribute to relevant performance dashboards to keep colleagues informed of changes, news, and information in the social care field, especially regarding placement. Assist in the contracting process for the placement service by developing contracts and ensuring their robustness. This involves expertise in London care placement contracts and other contracting processes. Develop approaches to working with providers based on outcomes, contracting penalties, and incentives. Carry an allocated caseload of children and young people for placement coordination and contract monitoring. Ensure that high-quality placements are sourced according to team procedures and maintain robust contract monitoring arrangements for all allocated cases. 7. Establish individualised placement agreements for all children and young people in care that outline the terms and expectations of the placement provider. These agreements will be formulated based on each child's/young person's specific needs, with input from social workers, health professionals, care providers, parents/guardians, Independent Reviewing Officers, and other relevant experts. 8. To fulfil duties related to any planned and future expansion of the team's responsibilities, such as working on cases involving children with disabilities, Special Guardianship Orders, Residence Orders, and Adoption, as well as education placements. 9. To keep abreast of changes in legislation, guidance, and policy to ensure that all placements meet statutory legislation. For example, team meetings discussing legislation changes, reading Ofsted guidance, and reports as a means of informing practice. 10. Facilitate and convene placement disruption meetings as a measure to identify the needs of children and young people more effectively and therefore provide them with greater opportunities for future placement stability.