Placements Officer

**Placements Officer - Barnet (Temp Vacancy)**

**Umbrella Pay Rate**:£19.00ph**

**Full-Time (37 hours)**

**Job Purpose**:

- To contribute to ensuring that children in care gain maximum life chance benefits from educational opportunities, health care and social care, to meet their assessed needs through being appropriately placed, care planning and through access to social and cultural opportunities and support.
- To provide a professional, child centred service in accordance with the relevant regulations, legislation, guidance, codes of practice, policy and procedures. To deliver services in partnership with all key stakeholders so that children’s assessed needs are met on a planned, holistic basis.
- To establish specialist knowledge relating to the identification and procurement of internal and external family and residential placements and related services for children in care. To contribute to the strategy to reduce the need for external residential and family placements and to ensure that those that are used offer high quality, cost effective services and are resources that match the assessed needs of the child/young person placed.

**Accountabilities**:

- To work as a team member and cover the range of duties of the 16+ Placements Officer.
- To develop specialist knowledge and be responsible for information in relation to external residential provision or external family placements provision, costs and related issues in order that an expertise and comprehensive knowledge is developed and systems maintained in order to better inform Social Care about the use, costs, and suitability of external provision.
- To develop a specialist knowledge of the multiple and complex needs of children in care aged 0-18 years old and use this knowledge to inform placement planning and the provision of external providers.
- To work in conjunction with London Care Placements and other consortium/alliances as appropriate as appropriate.
- To assist social workers in identifying internal and external placement provision and other support services to children and young people referred to the Placements Team. This will include children and young people who are newly looked after, all children/young people in external residential placements, those in secure placements and all children and young people where there is imminent risk of placement breakdown. Following the social workers assessment and plan, the post holder will implement aspects of the plan.
- The post holder will ensure that the necessary work to enable the placement to be made; once the placement is made the post holder will liaise with the placement to monitor the pattern of service delivery and feedback to the social worker.
- To assist in the development and maintenance of a date base of resources ensuring that information is accurate, current and meets the needs of the service. To use this information to advise social workers/Team Managers in relation to suitability of provision for children/young people looked after.
- To devise robust systems to evaluate and monitor external providers
- To undertake evaluation and monitoring visits to providers and to be responsible for making judgements about the suitability of the provider in relation to the child’s assessed needs.
- To contribute to the assessment of resources, both placement organisations and other services, and to the collation of information so that external resources can be effectively monitored and reviewed.
- In conjunction with any Council contract arrangements, and the requirements of Minimum Standards, and safe recruiting practices, to satisfy themselves as to the suitability of the external provider agency.
- To be aware of changes in all allocated cases and attend both the weekly Placements Review Meeting and the Placements Panel as required, informing/influencing placement planning in line with corporate objectives and promoting alternatives to accommodation as appropriate.
- When required the post holder will provide updated reports on the child’s progress prior to a planning meeting or children in care review.

**We offer**:

- 24 hour one on one specialist consultant based within your geographical area
- 4Recruitment Services Employee Benefits Programme
- Our own dedicated payroll support ensuring you get the full benefits of your payment

**Recruitment is done in line with safe recruitment practices. 4Recruitment Services is an equal opportunities employer.