Commissioning Officer

South Gloucestershire Council; Yate; Hybrid; GBP 32,000 - 42,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual leave

Employee wellbeing support

Staff discounts

Flexible working

Training and development

Job summary

South Gloucestershire Council is seeking a Commissioning Officer to join the Partnerships and Commissioning Service, focusing on integrating direct payments and developing person-centred care solutions. The role involves collaborating with social care colleagues and partner organisations to shape health and support services across the borough.

You will contribute to service improvement through research, project work and stakeholder engagement, and you may line manage a small team while

Qualifications

• Experience in commissioning social care or similar services.
• Ability to proactively seek information and share learning.
• Collaborative with excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to manage challenging conversations.
• Clear, logical, and analytical problem-solving skills.

Responsibilities

• Support development of Personalised Commissioning team's approach to direct payments.
• Contribute to projects and meetings to drive service improvements.
• Line manage a small team of Assistant Commissioning Officers with oversight of complex cases.
• Assist day-to-day service delivery and act as escalation point for queries and decisions.

Skills

Commissioning experience

Stakeholder engagement

People skills

Analytical thinking

Job description

How You'll Make a Difference

As a Commissioning Officer, you will join the Partnerships and Commissioning Service as part of the Personalised Commissioning team, responsible for brokering services to meet individuals' care and support needs, with a focus on achieving positive outcomes for people. A key focus of your role will be supporting the integration of direct payments into the team's commissioning responsibilities, helping to develop and embed new ways of working within an area not previously managed by the service. Working with colleagues across commissioning, social care and partner organisations, you will contribute to the development of effective and person-centred support solutions. In addition, you will support service improvement through research, project work and stakeholder engagement, helping to shape and enhance health, care and support services across South Gloucestershire.

What You Will Be Doing

• A key aspect of your role will involve supporting the development of the Personalised Commissioning team's approach to direct payments. As this is a new area of responsibility for the team, you will help research, develop and embed new processes and ways of working.
• You will contribute to a range of projects and meetings, supporting service development and helping to drive improvements within the team.
• Line managing a small team of Assistant Commissioning Officers, you will provide supervision, support and development while overseeing more complex cases to ensure the most appropriate care and support solutions are identified.
• As part of the operational delivery of the service, you will support day-to-day activities, acting as a point of escalation for complex duty-related queries and helping to ensure timely and effective decision-making.
• Working closely with colleagues, care providers, individuals and their families, you will build strong relationships to support effective commissioning and positive outcomes.
• In partnership with other Commissioning Officers, you will help manage the flow of work into the team and support the effective allocation of cases.

What We Need From You

• It is essential that you have relevant experience of working within an organisation responsible for commissioning social care or similar services.
• As the service continues to develop, you will proactively seek out information, helping to build knowledge and share learning across the team.
• Given the nature of the role, you will be collaborative, with excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to manage challenging conversations.
• When assessing complex situations, you will demonstrate clear, logical and analytical problem-solving skills.
• You will be well organised, with excellent time management skills and the ability to effectively manage competing priorities.
• Knowledge of direct payments would be advantageous.

What You Need To Know

• This role is hybrid, with a mixture of working at our office in Yate 2 days per week and working from home.
• You will be expected to act as Duty Commissioning Officer for approximately two days per week, between 8:30am and 5:00pm.

Interviews are likely to take place week commencing 9th November 2026.

How a Career At South Gloucestershire Council Is Different

• As part of our benefits package, you will receive generous annual leave (pro rata), employee wellbeing support and you will have access to a range of staff discounts, including eye tests, travel, shopping and leisure activities.
• We recognise that our diverse team of skilled and dedicated people make us a great place to work. We welcome applications from everyone and ensure that individuals are selected, promoted and developed on the basis of their merits and abilities.
• We know our team work best when they have balance in their lives, and we offer genuine flexibility to help them achieve that work/life balance.
• We value our staff as individuals, investing in their careers and we are recognised for the quality, breadth and depth of our training and development offer, which helps make the greatest long-term difference in work.
• We trust our team to work in the way which allows them to make the biggest difference, and we continue to invest in technology to help staff do their jobs to the best of their ability and celebrate innovation.

Our teams at South Gloucestershire Council are making a real difference to the lives of people who live, work and learn here.

• We’re providing essential services across our internal network to ensure we can fully support our community.
• We’re positive and forward thinking, always looking for new and innovative ways of working work and we’re ambitious about the future.

We've achieved a great deal, but we need talented and dedicated people to ensure we continue to make a difference.

We’re making a difference, be part of it!