Strategic Commissioner - Specialist Support for Children & Family 7576

Strategic Commissioner – Specialist and Complex Commissioning | 7576 | Permanent Contract | 37 hours per week | £55,147 to £60,676 per annum | Grade M | Countywide

 

We are currently looking to recruit a Strategic Commissioner to join our Integrated Commissioning Team in Norfolk County Council Children’s Services to help achieve the best possible outcomes for children, young people and their families.

 

There couldn’t be a better time to join Childrens Services at Norfolk County Council. Ofsted inspected our children services in November 2022 and published their report in January 2023. We are rated Good in all areas, following significant improvements, and the report recognised that we have transformed our children’s services.

 

Read Ofsted's Inspection of Norfolk Children's Services November 2022 report

 

Key highlights from the latest report:

• Working in Norfolk you will be empowered to be tenacious and creative in using a range of tools and theoretical frameworks to help children through significant and traumatic experiences.
• Relationship-based partnership working is one of our strengths in Norfolk with an innovative system-wide approach to the delivery of services and a diverse range of multi-agency support services focused on building resilience and ensuring that needs are met quickly and at the lowest level.
• Our executive director of children’s services (DCS) Sara Tough is an exemplary leader who champions the needs of children and young people with a strong senior management team who together provide continuity of management and strategic direction.

 

In Norfolk we’ve invested millions to completely change our operating model and create the professional and emotional support around you that you need to do the job you trained for, to get the best outcomes for children and families, and to achieve a work-life balance that suits you. We’re realistic about the challenges, but we’re passionate about how we can support you to meet them, so you can enjoy the rewards working in children’s services has to offer.

 

About us:
In this role, you will operate as one of three strategic commissioners who jointly lead the commissioning of specialist and complex support provision across education, health and social care focused on providing specialist and complex support to children and families that includes: 

• Commissioning and service development covering:
• Sufficiency and needs analyses
• Community and Residential Short Breaks
• Speech and language therapy
• Occupational Therapy
• Specialist Equipment
• Moving and handling
• Joint funded support for children with specialist and complex needs across education, health and social care. 
• 1:1 Tutoring and E Learning for children with additional needs
• Personal budgets for SEND support
• SEND mediation services
• Alternative to care packages of support, including assessment and therapy
• Looked After Children & Care Leaver placements (including independent fostering, residential, semi- independent placements 
• Independent and non-maintained 38/52 week SEND placements
• Brokerage Teams providing sourcing of packages of support and care including placements.

 

The team work closely with colleagues across education, health and social care in Norfolk County Council, the Integrated Care Board and with providers. You will lead the development of effective integration with operational and commissioning colleagues, providers and service users to identify, secure and performance manage the provision of high quality and value for money specialist and complex resources that meet identified needs. 

 

You will have:

• Degree level ability or significant experience of commissioning and/or delivering services in education, health, social care or other relevant fields.
• Strong track record of developing effective relationships through partnership working, across organisational and professional boundaries.
• Significant experience of successful budget management, monitoring and control and delivering value for money services.
• Ability to work effectively with service users, providers and stakeholders to co-produce services. 
• Ability to develop practical and creative solutions to commissioning challenges and maximise opportunities that benefit children, young people and families within the resources that are available.

In return we will offer you:

• A supportive team who cares about your wellbeing and professional development
• We offer flexible working arrangements including condensed four-day week working, nine-day fortnights and other options
• We offer a generous annual leave entitlement - plus the opportunity to purchase up to two weeks of additional annual leave through our salary sacrifice scheme
• We offer maternity, paternity and adoption pay and time off to support you as your family grows. There is an independently run nursery within the Norfolk County Council grounds which offers priority spaces to our employees
• We offer support if you care for relatives or friends who are older, disabled or seriously ill
• We have a great offer waiting for you, not to mention a great lifestyle in Norfolk to help you with your work life balance.
• All our office-based roles are currently working in a hybrid way between home and office as part of our Smarter Working plans and to support the health and safety of all our colleagues. We anticipate that working remotely will be a key feature of this role and your office base will be in County Hall, Norwich. Our technology platform and equipment are first class, enabling you to connect and collaborate remotely. We ask that you have in place good Broadband connectivity.

 

Norfolk is a wonderful place to live and work. With our 90 miles of stunning coastline, seaside towns, our famous broads and not forgetting Norwich, a fine city rich with culture, history and diversity, our fabulous county has something to offer everyone, and it is a great place to bring your family! Living and working in Norfolk - Norfolk County Council.

 

We are committed to equality and inclusion and welcome applications irrespective of gender identity, disability, marital status, ethnic origin, age, pregnancy status, religion or belief, or sexual orientation. We are proud to have achieved Carer Friendly Employer Status, Disability Confident Leader Status, the Employer Recognition Scheme award for the Armed Forces Covenant and to be one of the authorities piloting the workforce race equality standard (WR

 

Before you apply, we recommend reading the full Job Description and Person Specification to help you demonstrate you meet the criteria. 

 

These are some benefits you can enjoy by working for Norfolk County Council:

• Competitive salary
• Generous holiday entitlement with the ability to buy and sell leave
• Health and Wellbeing services including fast-track physiotherapy and a free counselling service
• Flexible working opportunities including flexi-time, part time, remote and hybrid working – dependent on your job role and business need. 
• Financial benefits such as:
  • ‘Norfolk Rewards’ our employee discounts programme which helps you save money on almost anything, from everyday groceries and clothes, to holidays, new technology, gym membership, trips to the cinema and days out.   
  • A Blue Light card for Fire Service and Social Care Workers
  • Relocation expenses (where applicable)
  • An advance of your expenses if you travel for work
  • Local Government Pension Scheme with generous employer contribution, life assurance, death in service payments and dependants’ pensions.
  • Tax efficient ways of getting extra pension and new bikes
  • Access to our tax efficient car lease scheme for greener travel enabling you to lease a brand new, ultra-low emission vehicle (subject to eligibility)
  • A payment if you refer someone you know to a hard to fill job

 

You can find information on our Terms and Conditions here.

 

Already a Norfolk County Council employee? See and apply for internal and external vacancies in myOracle using your @norfolk.gov.uk or @nccal.ac.uk email.

 

We would like to make you aware that priority consideration for this post may be given to current employees who are at risk due to restructure within the organisation or are in a redeployment position.  

 

Redeployment closing date: 19 February 2025

All other applicants closing date: 26 February 2025

We have miles of beautiful coastline and our unique Broads, thriving market towns and a city with a proud cultural heritage.  Our economy is growing and driven by innovation in a number of sectors, including energy and food.  We also have ambitious plans for new housing and a building programme for schools across Norfolk.  Our county a great place to live, work and visit, and is an excellent environment for businesses to start, grow and innovate.
We are the main local authority for Norfolk providing services countywide to more than 850,000 Norfolk residents. We take the lead in critical policy areas, working with 84 elected Members responsible for the strategic local government services in the county.

We provide a high quality service through involving people who use our services to shape and comment on them and by promoting efficiency and innovation.

We work in partnership with local businesses, voluntary organisations and other local authorities such as District and Parish Councils to provide the people of Norfolk with excellent services. Apply