Hammond Clarke

The Role This is a pivotal position within a statutory, multi-professional environment. You will provide day-to-day management and strategic leadership to a team of 12 SEND Case Officers, fostering a high-performance culture where staff feel supported to thrive and progress. Your focus will be a blend of: People Leadership: Mentoring and developing a talented team of Case Officers. Process Management: Navigating the 0-25 statutory framework to meet national targets and legal milestones. Partnership Working: Building honest, collaborative relationships with senior stakeholders across health, education, and social care sectors. About You We are looking for an optimistic, creative problem-solver who isn't afraid to work within the system to transform it. To be successful, you will need: Proven Leadership: A track record of delivering results and managing performance within a statutory SEND environment. Expert Communication: The ability to build rapport quickly, manage challenge positively, and diffuse conflict with diplomacy. Ambition: A desire to grow your career; this role is designed as a stepping stone toward future strategic leadership. Resilience: The drive to maintain "Outstanding" standards within a lively, fast-paced multi-agency network.

Purpose of the Post: To support the Head of Adult Commissioning with strategic planning, policy development, and commissioning of services for adult social care. To be responsible for the leadership of strategic commissioning, service development and transformation in a complex and challenging environment, ensuring best use of resources, delivery of strategic outcomes and responsiveness to local need To provide managerial direction and oversight of the commissioning process by co-ordinating the commissioning activities of a team of staff to ensure the effective delivery of a comprehensive commissioning work program To work in partnership with a variety of agencies to ensure that commissioned services are strategically relevant, person centred and high quality. Duties and Responsibilities: Take strategic responsibility and leadership for a defined portfolio and drive forwards service development and transformation using national best practice, legislation, evidence based information and data to define service models and opportunities. To lead on the development and publication of commissioning strategies and plans that will ensure services are commissioned against agreed corporate, directorate, strategic and customer-based needs assessments, having co-production at the centre. Ensure new provision is commissioned in line with the Councils Constitution and financial regulations, including any requirements of the Procurement Act 2023. This will include providing oversight of any procurement process and ensuring good quality specification development and outcome-based performance frameworks. To ensure good understanding of available compliant routes to market, which may include the use of grant agreements, and seek support from the Strategic Procurement Team where required. To support and provide oversight to the development and commissioning of new services in line with strategic aims and priorities and to the de-commissioning of services where relevant. To identify areas for efficiency and improvement and making the most effective use of resources when commissioning, through identifying, assessing and evaluating different approaches, alternative service models and reviewing the evidence base, in order to ensure achieve value for money, demonstrating cost effectiveness. To conduct and contribute to comprehensive needs assessments, including the analysis of social care, housing, health, and demographic data to inform service planning and delivery, in addition to developing effective work programmes for the team of Officers; including contributing to the development of social care, housing and health strategies and policies. To ensure appropriate market, budget and performance information is available, maintained and analysed. To support the delivery of budget savings in line with Directorate objectives and ensure all services procured provide value for money by undertaking regular benchmarking in regard to quality and price for commissioned provision. Be responsible for the delivery of best value for services commissioned and ensure good negotiation with regard to fee uplifts and price increases. To take an active role in the regional, sub-regional and inter-agency joint working and commissioning. This should include the development of opportunities to use joint commissioning solutions to improve outcomes for customers. To prepare and present reports on work programme activities to senior management, committees, boards, Council, Executive and other stakeholders as required. Reports should be able to be prepared for a range of audiences. Oversee the production of regular reporting as required, utilising available information from dashboards, JSNA and other data sources, including but not limited to commissioned service delivery and staff team performance measures. To establish and maintain effective working relationships with internal and external partners including other Directorates, ICBs and other health bodies, central government departments, CQC, voluntary sector providers, and independent sector providers. To establish and maintain contact with the market place to ensure awareness of latest trends and sector initiatives, and to ensure that efficient and effective services are available, when required to meet local needs. Ensure the care, support and housing markets are fully developed to meet the requirements of our customers, and that market position statements are reflective and up to date. This will include the identification of any gaps in provision and support market shaping. Consult, engage, collaborate with and involve providers, customers and carers in the development of commissioning plans and strategies, and in the development of new service specifications. Identify and mitigate risks associated with commissioning services, including service delivery risks, financial risks, and compliance risks. Take responsibility for decision making of escalated issues, professional judgements and delegation as appropriate, and work autonomously within own levels of expertise and authority, resolving any service delivery issues within available resources. To offer advice and guidance to all staff, including operational directorate staff, in respect of any commissioning activities and market change or development. Identify opportunities to digitalise processes within the teams, ensuring efficiencies in working practices. To provide strategic guidance to Officers who oversee the management of contracts with service providers, ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements and other contract management escalations, and contribute to an on-going programme of quality assurance of commissioned services. Take the lead under the direction of the Head of Adult Commissioning in respect of the delivery, output and performance of the commissioning team; deputise for the Head of Adult Commissioning as and when required.

Key responsibilities Design and deliver a summer programme of resident engagement across the borough. Commission, procure and contract manage external resident insight and engagement commissions Oversee consultations and engagement activity across the Strategy & Communities team. Ensure resident insight informs policy development and transformation work. Coordinate work with partners including the VCS funding working group. Strengthen how community insight is captured, analysed and fed into decision-making. We are looking for someone who Has strong experience in community engagement and consultation. Knowledge of participatory approaches including citizens assemblies. Understands how resident insight can shape strategy and service design. Is confident planning and delivering large-scale engagement activity. Has excellent facilitation and communication skills. Is comfortable working in a busy, fast-moving environment.