We are pleased to be recruiting into our Children Placements Team which is a well-resourced team. The Children Placements Team work in partnership with a wide range of internal and external partners to secure the right placements for our children and young people who for a variety of reasons are not living with their family.

You will benefit from working with an experienced and stable management team, within a stable team of dedicated and supportive peers who work incredibly hard to ensure our children and young people live in stable, safe home where they can fulfil their potential and enjoy positive, rewarding relationships.

The Contract and Placement Officer is part of team working to identify, source and commission suitable in house or external accommodation for our children looked after and as part of the placement process various tasks/notifications will need to be made, including information management, compliance, brokerage, and payments services on behalf of Croydon Children’s Services. As part of your role, you will also have the opportunity to visit providers and check the quality of care and accommodation our children receive.

Our aim is to provide carefully matched placements in accordance with the child/young person’s plan that considered the child/young person’s health, education, cultural, ethnic, religious, and therapeutic needs. The Contract and Placement Officer will have responsibility for screening and collating placement and resource options and presenting these to the social work team via an ‘Options Paper’ including all details of any potential placements including the contracted price / allowances rate and working to ensure value for money.

You will need to have good inter-professional and organisation skills and be able to work as part of team and as an individual. You need to be able work under pressure as some of our searches are time limited – however, you will also feel the reward of seeing children and young people moving to stable homes/placements that you have sourced.

Croydon Council is an inclusive employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. Subject to business needs, we will be pleased to consider applications from candidates seeking flexible working arrangements and support hybrid working, whereby staff attend the workplace for part of their working week and work from home, or elsewhere, remotely for the rest of the time.

As users of the disability confident scheme, we guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the advertised role.

Croydon council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff to share this commitment. The Successful candidate will be subject to a DBS check.

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