Service Development Officer (14891)

Why Work for us: Employee benefits (southampton.gov.uk)

Southampton is the lead authority for two regional children’s services commissioning partnerships and there is an exciting opportunity for two new Service Development Officers to join Southampton’s Integrated Commissioning Unit to support us with this work. 

Southampton manages contracts for Children’s Residential Care (CRC) and Independent Fostering Agencies on behalf of 21 Local Authorities. Through this work, you will play a key role in improving outcomes for Children Looked After by ensuring the effective management of all associated contractual arrangements, provider relationships, and improvement priorities agreed by the partnerships. 

You will be joining a small, highly motivated, team that has an impressive track record utilising the disciplines of commissioning and contract management to deliver transformational change and service improvement for the benefit of our local residents and more widely through our long standing leadership of regional commissioning partnerships.

We are looking for a highly motivated individual, with excellent organisational skills and the ability to maintain a substantial and varied workload. You will be managing a number of tasks and projects at any one time, keeping track of the work and organising your time appropriately.  This covers distinct areas of work;

• Leading a programme of work designed to ensure the aims of the partnership are fulfilled and the value of the partnership arrangements are at all times maximised

• Carrying out contract monitoring visits to assess and report on the performance of providers in accordance with contract terms, key performance indicators, and national standards, identifying and ensuring achievement of required service improvements

• Overseeing the production and presentation of quarterly and an annual management information reports to the commissioning partnership

• Managing the provider fee uplift processes, ensuring sound strategic financial management, including provider negotiations, advising partners on how to achieve efficiencies, managing finance processes and payments, and advising on expenditure and cost saving options. 

• Advising and offering contractual support and mediation between partners and providers to resolve disputes and contract / operational challenges.

• Monitoring and ensure accurate records are available to partners including contracts, monitoring, actions plans, and default notices

You will need:

• Excellent influencing and negotiating skills
• The ability to develop and maintain relationships that support the achievement delivery of partnership objectives
• The ability to communicate information to a variety of audiences and in a wide variety of formats
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work with a variety of people
• The ability to analyse and interpret complex and often conflicting information to inform strategic decision making
• Knowledge and understanding of the Children’s Social Care sector, particularly Children Looked After would be an advantage

Contact details for informal discussion:

For further information and details regarding the position please contact Jeanette Keyte Jeanette.keyte@nhs.net

Recruitment contact details:

Email: recruitment@southampton.gov.uk
Tel: 023 8083 4033

Additional information:

• Please note the salary quoted is based on full time hours (37 hours per week).
• The working hours for this role are 37 hours per week.
• This is a permanent position.   
• Please note that appointments are usually made at the bottom of the salary scale.
• This post requires a DBS check.
• For any posts that require a DBS check, if you have lived outside the UK within the last 5 years, you will be required to provide a Certificate of Good Conduct or a police certificate from the country/countries you have resided in. Kindly note that this is at the expense of the candidate, as well as any costs involved for translating into English.

How to apply:

To apply for the position please select the 'Apply for this job' button at the bottom of the page.

The supporting statement section of the application form must be completed, unless there are specific criteria questions for you to evidence against. Applications are shortlisted against the essential and desirable criteria found within the job description for the post. Please refer to the job description when completing your application form and evidence how you meet the required criteria/questions. A CV on its own will not be considered.

Unfortunately we are not able to accept applications that are made through a third party agency. We cannot guarantee that any correspondence sent from third party agencies will be responded to. To ensure your application is received please apply directly through our website.

We are proud to be #DisabilityConfident and support fair recruitment practices. Find out how you can get involved at gov.uk/disability-confident.  No applicant or employee will receive less favourable treatment because of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage or civil partnership and pregnancy or maternity, unless a Genuine Occupational Requirement (GOR) applies.

Southampton City Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults.  It is committed to delivering services to ensure they are happy, safe and have opportunities to reach their goals as responsible members of our community.  We believe it is always unacceptable for a child, young person or adult to experience abuse of any kind, and recognise our responsibility to safeguard and promote their welfare.  We are committed to following safe practices to ensure this and expect all employees, workers and volunteers to share this commitment.  This commitment is reflected in all our recruitment and selection practices.

As a Corporate Parent we are actively aiming to support all our children in care (looked after children) and care leavers. Any applicants who are children in care or care leavers, who meet the essential criteria for the post applied for, will be guaranteed an interview.