The Role

Can you see yourself making a difference for the children and young people of Wandsworth?

Do you have experience of holding service providers to high performance standards?

Does the sound of working in a team that is supportive, open-minded, inclusive and puts children first appeal to you?

If yes, we have the perfect role for you!

We are looking to recruit a Commissioning Officer to join our amazing team and help deliver our vision of putting children and young people’s needs and personal aspirations at the heart of everything we do when monitoring, assessing and developing support services.

About us

It is an exciting time to join Wandsworth Children’s Services, following a recent Good Ofsted inspection and a renewed focus on innovation and high-quality services for our children and families.

The Commissioning Team work alongside the social care, early help and education services to support and deliver quality commissioned services to enhance the offer to our children and young people. With upcoming projects such as our Early Help Transformation to work on, there is no better time than to join our team and council.

About the role

We are looking to recruit a Commissioning Officer to play a central role in achieving positive outcomes for Wandsworth children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and their families.

You will help to ensure that they experience a positive childhood, feel valued, safe and secure, can achieve and aspire, have a healthy mind and body, are respected and involved and are prepared for adulthood.

This is an interesting, varied and rewarding role. Areas of focus will include short breaks, education and therapies. This post is one of eight within the Children’s Services Commissioning Team.  

To be considered for this role, you will need to be:

• an experienced commissioner who can lead on all aspects of the commissioning process including service design, reviews, tenders, monitoring, evaluation and delivery;
• experienced at holding providers to account for their performance and working with them to ensure any required improvements needed; 
• aware of and empathetic to the issues faced by children with SEND and their families and committed to ensuring they can access the support when needed;
• committed to collaborative working and active engagement with children and young people, their families, and partners to ensure their insight and experience influences service design and delivery;
• a skilled communicator, with an ability to work with a varied audience and in varied methods;
• proactive, innovative and solution focused. 

Contact details

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact the hiring manager Clare Devane (Commissioning Lead) at clare.devane@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk or 07929874406.

Benefits

We recognise the importance of a good balance between work and home life so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including offering compressed hours. The expectation is to work in the office or in the community at least 1 day per week. 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 39 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

• Close date: 11:59pm on Sunday 2nd April 2023
• Shortlisting date: week commencing 3rd April 2023
• Interview date: week commencing 10th April 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. Your health and wellbeing is our top priority. Should you become unwell due to Covid-19 during the recruitment process we would very much appreciate receiving an update from you as soon as possible.

Equality Statement

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.

At Wandsworth, we particularly welcome applications from sections of the community who are currently underrepresented within our teams. At present men are under presented within our team and would strongly encourage male applicants & people from LGBTQ+ community with the relevant experience to apply to this position.

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).

How to apply

To be considered for interview your CV and supporting statement must highlight your knowledge, skills and experience listed in the Job Profile located at the bottom of the advert.

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils