The Role

We are recruiting a Purchasing Officer in Adult social care as part of a small but crucial team to record care packages on the social care system. Working closely with the Brokerage, as well as Payments, Billing and Social Work teams, you will ensure that the financial information added to the system is accurate and up to date. The post has an important role in ensuring the department’s budget commitment is accurate, that providers are paid, and Service Users are billed.

You will be involved in both day to day purchasing of services and in contract mobilisation projects, moving services between providers on the system. You will have excellent workload management and skills to develop tracking systems for issues. You will work alongside social care providers to resolve queries related to service data on the system. 

You will have a good understanding of the importance of data accuracy and quality, the ability to communicate clearly with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders, and tenacity to follow through complex issues to resolution. 

Reporting to the Financial Systems Analyst you will also be involved in projects to improve processes and data quality. 

Experience of using social care systems is desirable but not essential. Mosaic system training will be provided.

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Eleanor Scott on Eleanor.Scott@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk

This role will take responsibility for issue resolution, both internally and externally, relating to the recording and costing of services, escalating appropriately where required. 

It will also provide project support to the Business Systems Manager and the Finance Systems Analyst when there are larger scale projects to improve or rectify data quality 

The role will also support the Commissioning and Quality Standards Division by managing the inputting of data during contract mobilisation. 

Specific Duties and Responsibilities 

1. To record client level services on Mosaic ensuring accurate information and timeliness of input and to send the purchase order to the provider. 

1. Work in partnership with the Strategic Market Management and Service Acquistion Team to fully understand services that are provided, ensure they are accurately recorded and to resolves queries 

1. Manage queries from providers to resolution, establishing good working relationships with both contracted and spot providers, and with the Service Acquisition team. 

1. Work with a broad range of internal stakeholders (payments and client billing, social work and commissioning) to identify where processes have broken down and feeding this into business process design. 

1. Add social care providers to the social care information system ensuring accurate hierarchies are established 

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, compressed 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 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

Closing Date: 24th October 2022

Shortlisting Date:26th October 2022 3rd November 2022

Interview Date: 2nd November 2022

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Eleanor Scott on Eleanor.Scott@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk

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.

We particularly welcome applications from sections of the community who are currently underrepresented within our teams.

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:

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Richmond and Wandsworth Councils