Strategic Commissioner - Specialist Support for Children and Family

Strategic Commissioner Specialist and Complex Commissioning | 7576 | Permanent Contract | 37 hours per week | £55,147 to £60,676 per annum | Grade M | Countywide

We are currently looking to recruit a Strategic Commissioner to join our Integrated Commissioning Team in Norfolk County Council Children's Services to help achieve the best possible outcomes for children, young people, and their families.

There couldn't be a better time to join Children's Services at Norfolk County Council. Ofsted inspected our children's services in November 2022 and published their report in January 2023. We are rated Good in all areas, following significant improvements, and the report recognized that we have transformed our children's services.

Key Highlights From The Latest Report

• Working in Norfolk you will be empowered to be tenacious and creative in using a range of tools and theoretical frameworks to help children through significant and traumatic experiences.
• Relationship-based partnership working is one of our strengths in Norfolk with an innovative system-wide approach to the delivery of services and a diverse range of multi-agency support services focused on building resilience and ensuring that needs are met quickly and at the lowest level.
• Our executive director of children's services (DCS) Sara Tough is an exemplary leader who champions the needs of children and young people with a strong senior management team who together provide continuity of management and strategic direction.

In Norfolk we've invested millions to completely change our operating model and create the professional and emotional support around you that you need to do the job you trained for, to get the best outcomes for children and families, and to achieve a work-life balance that suits you. We're realistic about the challenges, but we're passionate about how we can support you to meet them, so you can enjoy the rewards working in children's services has to offer.

About Us

In this role, you will operate as one of three strategic commissioners who jointly lead the commissioning of specialist and complex support provision across education, health, and social care focused on providing specialist and complex support to children and families that includes:

• Commissioning and service development covering:
• Sufficiency and needs analyses
• Community and Residential Short Breaks
• Speech and language therapy
• Occupational Therapy
• Specialist Equipment
• Moving and handling
• Joint funded support for children with specialist and complex needs across education, health, and social care.
• 1:1 Tutoring and E Learning for children with additional needs
• Personal budgets for SEND support
• SEND mediation services
• Alternative to care packages of support, including assessment and therapy
• Looked After Children & Care Leaver placements (including independent fostering, residential, semi-independent placements)
• Independent and non-maintained 38/52 week SEND placements
• Brokerage Teams providing sourcing of packages of support and care including placements.

The team works closely with colleagues across education, health, and social care in Norfolk County Council, the Integrated Care Board, and with providers. You will lead the development of effective integration with operational and commissioning colleagues, providers, and service users to identify, secure, and performance manage the provision of high-quality and value-for-money specialist and complex resources that meet identified needs.

You Will Have

• Degree level ability or significant experience of commissioning and/or delivering services in education, health, social care, or other relevant fields.
• Strong track record of developing effective relationships through partnership working, across organizational and professional boundaries.
• Significant experience of successful budget management, monitoring, and control and delivering value-for-money services.
• Ability to work effectively with service users, providers, and stakeholders to co-produce services.
• Ability to develop practical and creative solutions to commissioning challenges and maximize opportunities that benefit children, young people, and families within the resources that are available.

In Return We Will Offer You

• A supportive team who cares about your wellbeing and professional development
• Flexible working arrangements including condensed four-day week working, nine-day fortnights, and other options
• A generous annual leave entitlement - plus the opportunity to purchase up to two weeks of additional annual leave through our salary sacrifice scheme
• Maternity, paternity, and adoption pay and time off to support you as your family grows. There is an independently run nursery within the Norfolk County Council grounds which offers priority spaces to our employees
• Support if you care for relatives or friends who are older, disabled, or seriously ill
• A great lifestyle in Norfolk to help you with your work-life balance.
• All our office-based roles are currently working in a hybrid way between home and office as part of our Smarter Working plans and to support the health and safety of all our colleagues. We anticipate that working remotely will be a key feature of this role and your office base will be in County Hall, Norwich. Our technology platform and equipment are first class, enabling you to connect and collaborate remotely. Good Broadband connectivity is required.

Norfolk is a wonderful place to live and work. With our 90 miles of stunning coastline, seaside towns, our famous broads and Norwich, a fine city rich with culture, history, and diversity, our fabulous county has something to offer everyone, and it is a great place to bring your family!

We are committed to equality and inclusion and welcome applications irrespective of gender identity, disability, marital status, ethnic origin, age, pregnancy status, religion or belief, or sexual orientation. We are proud to have achieved Carer Friendly Employer Status, Disability Confident Leader Status, the Employer Recognition Scheme award for the Armed Forces Covenant and to be one of the authorities piloting the workforce race equality standard (WR

Before you apply, we recommend reading the full Job Description and Person Specification to help you demonstrate you meet the criteria.

Closing Dates

• Redeployment closing date: 19 February 2025
• All other applicants closing date: 26 February 2025