Contracts Officer

Salary £24,054-£27,852 Per annum | Permanent, Full Time, 37 hours per week | Access to Resources Team | Preston

The Access to Resources Team (ART) at Lancashire County Council was established to source best value placements for Lancashire's children in care; managing the provider market to meet need; and providing quality data/ analysis to identify trends and gaps in provision.

ART sits in the Start Well Policy, Commissioning and Children's Health team and its key roles are to:

- Find fostering, residential and supported accommodation/Independent living placements.
- Take ownership of the 'business side' of children's social care by acting as a broker between professionals and the market to find the right placement for vulnerable CYP.
- Finding creative solutions to source more complex placements.
- Obtaining the best quality and value for money placements for children in care - ensuring the best possible match and the optimum use of Local Authority resources.
- Providing an effective ‘knowledge hub’ for a range of professionals and managers working with children and families, about the market for support services.
- Ensure effective management of the market by shaping the market to better meet need.
- Ensuring effective contract monitoring and reporting arrangements are in place to provide best outcomes and value for money.
- Support the Local Authority to establish a more effective strategic overview of demand and meet its sufficiency duty by providing quality data/ analysis on the current and future needs of our CLA.
- Providing intelligence to inform effective commissioning arrangements to ensure the right range of placements are available at the right price to meet need.

ART is seeking to appoint to the following role within the team: Fostering Contracts Officer (Grade 6) post.

The post holder will work under the guidance of the Grade 8 Contracts Manager to deliver the team's contract management offer to Independent Fostering Agencies (IFAs).

**The post holder will be required to**:

- Liaise with IFAs on a regular basis as the main point of contact within the team.
- Build relationships with IFAs to understand their sufficiency positions so that the team can maximise fostering placements.
- Support Lancashire Commissioning Team in providing contractual oversight of key procurement processes within the BBCL (Blackpool, Blackburn with Darwen, Cumbria and Lancashire) Fostering Agreement.
- Provider team oversight over the Placement North West Fostering Framework.
- Responsible for key contractual terms within the BBCL (Fostering Agreement), including, Quarterly Monitoring Forms, Key Performance Indicators, Annual Uplifts, Annual Refresh, Provider Forums and High-Cost Placements.
- Provide advice and support to Children's Social Care around all fostering queries.
- Contribute to ensuring wider fostering placement finding and intelligence is in place.
- Support robust risk profiling of fostering providers to proactively monitor specific placements to ensure placements continue to be fit for purpose.
- Lead team activity to resolve concerns and complaints in relation to Fostering agencies and placements.
- Regularly support placement finding and brokerage activity, when demand requires.

**Skills required**
- Ability to build relationships with providers.
- Communication with a range of stakeholders, including Children's Social Care and Providers.
- IT skills using Word, Outlook, Excel and LCS.
- Negotiating skills to achieve positive outcomes when liaising with Providers.
- Able to manage a busy workload and balance conflicting demands.
- Being able to work under pressure and prioritise well.
- Dealing with demanding situations
- Reflective thinking and continuous learning.
- Analytical skills.
- Some level of understanding around contracts.

**Please ensure you have uploaded and attached your supporting statement to evidence how you meet the criteria for the role. The panel may be unable to shortlist you for interview without this evidence.
In return Lancashire County Council offers a range of benefits, which can be found on LCC Vacancies website

job description and person specification