About Us

Are you a positive, enthusiastic, and creative individual looking to achieve positive outcomes for children and young people?

Are you seeking working arrangements that enhance your work life balance?

If yes, we want to hear from you!

Our Children Looked After Service is looking to recruit a Placement Officer to work within our Placements Team.

The Placements Team is responsible for identifying external residential and family placements for children looked after aged 0-18, supported accommodation for young people aged 16+, and supporting young people leaving care with securing settled accommodation. The team plays a crucial role in offering the children and young people we care for safety, security, and stability. 

You will bring positive energy, enthusiasm, creativity, and passion to the role, with a clear focus on achieving positive outcomes for the children and young people we care for.

Our goals and visions

Here in Wandsworth, we are on an exciting journey of transformation. Our goals and vision are all about keeping families together where it is safe to do so. When children do need to come into care, our role is to provide them with the safety, stability, and love that they need to thrive.

We value each member of the service and want each one to be a leader and champion of exemplary practice.

About the role

As a Placement Officer working with the Placements Team, you will be responsible for commissioning a wide range of placements for children and young people. Including emergency, short- and long-term placement foster care placements, residential placements, and semi-independent placements. You will be expected to cover duty where you be responding to a wide range of duty related tasks, including payment queries etc.  You will be working closely with a committed group of placements officers, commissioners, social workers, as well as our leaving care housing manager to support young people’s transitions into our commissioned services. You will be working collaboratively and respectfully with your colleagues across the department and with external providers, to deliver high-quality and well-matched placements for children looked after and accommodation for care leavers. You will demonstrate enthusiasm, tenacity to work with a demanding market to secure suitable placements for our children and young people. To bring creativity and innovation to the way we commission placements for children and young people.

To be shortlisted your application and supporting statement (no longer than 2 sides of A4) will clearly evidence:

•    Understanding of relevant legislation affecting work with Children and young people.

•    Excellent knowledge of the IFA, residential and Semi-Independent provider market across London and the wider region. Including a good knowledge of specialist provision for high need children & young people.

•    Experience of delivering operational services and sourcing and brokering services, experience of working with a range of placement providers that meet the needs of looked after children and care leavers.

•    At least one year experience of working at a similar grade within a similar role/team.

•    Experience of getting best value and getting clear financial information from providers.

•    Ability to organise and prioritise own workload, to work under pressure and meet deadlines.

•    Good oral, written, and analytical skills

If you would like to have an informal chat about the role, please contact Amanda Bernard Amanda.Bernard@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk

At Richmond and Wandsworth Councils, we care more about how you work and what you achieve, rather than where you work on any given day. The difference you can make to our local communities is what really matters most to us, service delivery must always come first. We have carefully considered agile ways of working to provide the best experience for residents, stakeholders and our staff. Our agile working strategy actively supports and encourages a dynamic work environment and daily working experience. Agile working helps put the needs of our staff at the centre of everything we do, so if specific flexible working arrangements helps you with this, feel free to let us know. 

Your wellbeing and the flexible way in which you can work is and will remain a key priority for Richmond and Wandsworth Councils. We want you to thrive and feel empowered in your work!

We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working including, working from home and other arrangements. Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you’d like to explore. We also offer a generous holiday allowance of 40 paid days (pro rata) including bank holidays and a wide range of learning and development opportunities. 

In addition, we offer a comprehensive range of staff benefits such as membership of the Local Government pension scheme, childcare vouchers, new technology scheme, interest-free loans on annual travel cards, discounts with many leisure activities, restaurants, shops and other establishments.

Indicative Recruitment Timeline

Closing Date: 11:59pm Sunday 10th September 2023

Shortlisting Date: Week commencing 11th September 2023

Interview Date: Week commencing 18th September 2023

Useful Information:

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. We strongly advise you to complete your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

Please note that the advertised dates for interviews may change due to the current Covid-19 situation. If they do, we will let you know as soon as possible.

We particularly welcome applications from sections of the community who are currently underrepresented within our teams, including males, BAME and disabled candidates.

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions to the Councils and can improve the way we deliver services. We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer.

Important Information:

This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) helps employers make safer recruitment decisions and prevent unsuitable people from working with vulnerable groups, including children. It replaces the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA).

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils