Brokerage Officer

**Job Title : Brokerage Officer (Children's Services / Placements)**

Category : Agency Workers - 3- MONTHS+

Level 1 Name : Children and Young People (DCS) Directorate

Client Location : Newham

IR35 Status : Inside IR35

Hours Per Week : 36.00

Start Time : 09:00

End Time : 17:00

PAYE Rate £21.70 ph + Holiday pay

Umbrella/Ltd Pay Rate £27.00 ph

The primary objective of this position is to evaluate the requirements of children and young people for placements and services and align these with available resources. Additionally, the role entails providing customer-focused duty service in collaboration with the team, including offering advice and guidance on matching needs to services.

The incumbent is also responsible for ensuring the quality of information provided to facilitate suitable matches between a child's identified needs and potential providers.

The role requires delivering value for money in terms of cost, quality, and outcomes for the children, young people, and their families. Moreover, the job entails reviewing and monitoring contracted services for children allocated in compliance with relevant regulations, policies, and practice guidance. The incumbent should also offer effective social work challenges to frontline workers to ensure that care planning practice informs the purchasing of placements.

The role involves offering commissioning advice at care/placement-focused meetings and reviewing and making recommendations for existing placements that have fallen below regulatory standards set by Ofsted and/or where the local authority has received a notification of a significant event.

Qualifications, Knowledge & Experience Requirements: Experience is required in managing income accounts and debt recovery in a housing environment. Knowledge of RTB, housing, and service charges legislation is also essential, as is familiarity with the legal processes governing dispute resolution. The ability to achieve targets under tight deadlines is a must, as is the ability to handle customer queries and complaints in a public setting. Additionally, a proven track record of successfully managing income accounts and debt recovery in a housing environment, along with familiarity with RTB, housing, and service charges legislation, is preferable. Abilities and Skills: A high level of precision is necessary to ensure the maintenance of accurate records and accounts, as well as to detect errors that require correction. The ability to identify, prioritize, and organize workloads is essential. Precise arithmetic skills are required to provide advice on balances and repayment agreements, as well as to prepare financial statements. Effective oral and written communication skills are crucial, allowing for effective communication with individuals of varying levels of seniority. The ability to implement and follow recovery procedures for the recovery of service charges, major works, ground rent, reserve fund, shared ownership rent income, or similar excellent customer service skills are necessary. The ability to work independently, be flexible, and be a supportive member of a team is important. Maintaining accurate electronic, manual, and filing systems is crucial. Excellent IT skills, particularly proficiency in Microsoft packages, especially Excel and Access, are required. Excellent organizational skills, including diary and event management, are necessary.