Brokerage Officer

**What's involved with this role**:
**Temporary Brokerage Officer - Children’s Services**
**Reference no: Dorset 5232864**
**Pay rate: £15.01 per hour PAYE**
**Hours per week: 37 Monday - Friday, normal working hours**
**This opening assignment is for 5-6 months**
**DORCHESTER, Dorset**
**Fully remote role with possibility of occasional office attendance**
**Standard DBS required for this role **A Brokerage Officer is required to find and secure social care and educational placements and/or packages of support for children and young people. This includes in-house foster care, independent fostering agencies, supported accommodation providers, maintained and independent special schools and colleges, alternative education providers and other packages of individual packages of care and support. Key responsibilities:

- Source value for money, high quality packages of care, support, and/or education (including, for example, alternative provision, school placements, foster care, residential care, supported accommodation, secure transport).
- Carry out negotiations with providers in relation to fee rates.
- Be a source of advice and support within the brokerage system, including developing knowledge of the market (either SEN/Social Care).
- Undertake placement searches including direct liaison with foster carers and operational staff.
- Identify and maintain a record of vacancies for planned and emergency placements.
- Capture and input accurate data through IT systems in relation to brokered packages, searches and fees.
- Sensitively handle referrals that seek to provide packages of education, care and support that meet their needs and wishes.
- Ensure appropriate contract documentation is in place for brokered packages and ensure these are updated following reviews. Present package options to senior managers.
- Negotiate individual contracts and monitor services provided.
- Identify and alert the team leader of any packages that are not delivering or have potential to break down.
- Track decisions and work with officers to plan for future needs in accordance with a child’s plan.
- Make payments in line with agreed rates and proactively identify and secure fee discounts from providers.
- Build effective relationships with providers to ensure they are able to align.

**To help speed up the process of uploading your CV to the client we would suggest that you send us your CV in Word format (or equivalent) if possible, rather than as a PDF**
**If you are successful in securing this role, please note that for the entire duration of this contract, regardless of extension you will be working this role at the PAYE rate that has been advertised. For absolute clarity, we only work on a PAYE basis, rather than entertaining umbrella pay terms, we do not offer Ltd/umbrella or outside IR35 rates. If you wish to understand PAYE vs Umbrella more, please let us know and we can send you some additional information for clarity.**

**Other “Essential Requirements” - Please check to ensure that your CV addresses the following items**:
**Qualifications**:

- 5 GCSE’s/O’Levels - Grade C or above, or equivalent including Maths and English.
- Educated to an ‘A’ level standard or equivalent desirable.
- Health and Social care related qualification (i.e. NVQ) desirable.

**Experience**:

- Minimum of 12 months recent experience in a similar role, or context and ideally within a public sector organisation.
- Experience of brokerage and negotiation principles.
- Knowledge of the local care market.
- Experience of managing social care placements and working with providers.
- Experience of working with and manipulating financial data.
- Involvement in contract negotiation processes.

**Skills & Abilities**:

- High degree of personal ability to influence and support partners.
- Able to manage multiple and often competing deadlines and to work within frequently changing circumstances and conflicting priorities.
- The context of the work can at times be pressured and involves information that can be upsetting, therefore it is vital that the postholder is able to develop strategies that support personal resilience.
- Proactive, able to problem solve and be outcomes focused.
- Flexible with a high degree of emotional intelligence.
- Excellent face to face communication skills.
- Confident in using the telephone as well as electronic communication methods.
- Car driver with valid license, insurance and vehicle, as this role has a significant travel requirement.
- Strong IT skills including Microsoft packages or equivalent (e.g. G Suite).

**Job Ref: Dorset 5232864**

**Anticipated Length of Assignment**: Unless otherwise stated (we do carry the occasional permanent vacancy) all of our roles are technically temporary, though opening assignments can be and often are, extended by clients on a longer term basis and can sometimes become permanent.