Referral and Placement Officers

Warwickshire County Council are looking to recruit a Referral and Placement Officer to join our Home Finding Hub. Here at Warwickshire County Council, we put children and families at the heart of everything we do. We are committed to building on family strengths and finding the right support for children and young people when they need it. You will join our Home Finding Hub, a supportive and experienced team consisting of two managers, social workers and Referral and Placement Officers working together to secure the best possible outcomes for children and young people across Warwickshire.

As a Referral and Placement Officer, you will play a key role in sourcing and securing the right homes, support packages and services for children and young people. Working closely with social workers, commissioning colleagues and providers, you will gather and analyse information about children's needs, identify suitable placement options and negotiate arrangements that achieve positive outcomes while delivering value for money.

• Sourcing suitable foster placements, residential care, supported accommodation and short break provision where required.
• Building and maintaining positive relationships with providers and key stakeholders.
• Negotiating placement costs and contractual arrangements.
• Supporting social workers through discussions with providers and placement planning.
• Assessing placement options and presenting recommendations that best meet children's needs.
• Recording activity accurately and contributing to market intelligence, commissioning and service development.
• Participating in meetings that support placement finding, commissioning activity and multi-agency decision making.

This is a fast-paced and rewarding role where no two days are the same. You'll need to be organised, resilient and skilled at building relationships, negotiating effectively and finding creative solutions to complex placement challenges. Now is an exciting time to be part of our team as Warwickshire begins to embed our Families First teams who support the young people in our County.

Our approach is about locality working, multi disciplinary and multi agency teams that support the whole family. Building strong partnerships with local services, Health, Police and Education. Our Referral and Placement Officers regularly tell us that one of the best parts of the role is knowing they have made a real difference to a child's life. Whether securing the right foster home, identifying a specialist residential placement or helping a family access the support they need, your work will have a direct impact on children and families across Warwickshire.

We're proud of the work we do and are ambitious about continuing to improve outcomes for children and young people.

If you're someone who is proactive, relationship focused and passionate about making a difference, we'd love to hear from you. The Fluency Duty is outlined in the Code of Practice on the English language requirements for public sector workers. The Fluency Duty for this role is Required. You must be able to speak and provide advice in accurate spoken English to the public.

We recommend submitting your application as soon as possible. We don't want to keep you waiting so we will be starting the initial shortlist and assessment process while the job advert is running. Please check your emails or applicant account via our jobs portal for any updates on your application.

Warwickshire County Council is a place where everyone feels valued, included, safe, supported, and welcome. Our people are at the heart of this vision, could you be one of them! At Warwickshire County Council we are committed to ensuring Warwickshire's economy is vibrant and supported by the right jobs, training, skills and infrastructure. Our people vision for Warwickshire County Council is a great place to work where diverse and talented people are enabled to be their best.

Your future matters to us, we provide a generous pension scheme which includes an employer contribution rate of typically around 19 percent per month, to help support your financial security during retirement. The scheme also offers a valuable package of benefits for members and their dependants. To find out more please visit:
Warwickshire Pension Fund homepage - Warwickshire Pension Fund.

• generous pension scheme which includes an employer contribution rate of typically around 19 percent per month
• valuable package of benefits for members and their dependants
• agile working
• a valuable part of the pay and reward package for employees working in local government
• generous annual leave entitlement, plus bank holidays and an additional day at Christmas
• access to Vivup benefits and discounts platform