Commissioning Officer - Placements

South Gloucestershire Council; Yate; Hybrid; GBP 18,000 - 26,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous annual leave

Wellbeing support

Staff discounts

Flexible work options

Training & development

Technology investment

Job summary

South Gloucestershire Council is seeking a part-time Commissioning Officer to join the Children’s Placement team. The role focuses on securing high‑quality placements for children and young people, ensuring individual needs are met and value for money is achieved.

You will coordinate commissioning activities, collaborate with care providers, and monitor provider performance while supporting a part‑time Assistant Commissioning Officer. The role is hybrid, based in Yate with homeworking options.

Qualifications

• Knowledge and experience in commissioning or delivering education, social care, or health services.

Responsibilities

• Coordinate and manage the commissioning of placements for children and young people.
• Identify and secure appropriate placements with care providers to balance needs, quality, and value.
• Quality assure referrals, maintain records, and monitor placements and provider performance.
• Provide day-to-day supervision and support to a part-time Assistant Commissioning Officer.
• Collaborate with partners to support strategic commissioning priorities and improve outcomes.

Skills

Commissioning knowledge

Analytical thinking

Organisational skills

Interpersonal skills

Job description

How you'll make a difference

As a Commissioning Officer within our Children’s Placement team, you will play a key role in securing high-quality placements and improving outcomes for children and young people. Working closely with care providers, you will support the effective commissioning of placement services, ensuring individual needs are met through appropriate placement matching. Through strong partnership working and commissioning practices, you will help ensure services are delivered to a high standard, provide value for money and contribute to positive outcomes for children and young people.

What you will be doing

• It will be your responsibility to coordinate and manage the commissioning of placements for children and young people, ensuring services are sourced and implemented efficiently in line with individual needs.
• Working collaboratively with care providers, you will identify and secure appropriate placements, balancing individual needs, quality of provision, and best value.
• To support high standards of service delivery, you will quality assure referrals, maintain accurate records, and monitor placements and provider performance.
• You will provide day-to-day supervision, guidance, and support to a part-time Assistant Commissioning Officer.
• Working closely with a wide range of partners and stakeholders, you will contribute to commissioning activities, support strategic priorities and help improve outcomes for children, young people, and their families.

What we need from you

• It is essential you have knowledge and experience of working within an organisation that commissions or delivers education, social care, or health services.
• You will demonstrate strong analytical and creative thinking skills, using data, insight, and innovative approaches to identify solutions and secure the best possible outcomes for children and young people.
• We require you to be highly organised, with the ability to manage competing priorities, meet deadlines and service standards, and respond effectively to changing demands within a fast-paced environment.
• Drawing you your interpersonal and communication skills, you will build and maintain positive and productive relationships with a diverse range of partners and stakeholders.

What you need to know

• This is a part-time role of 18.5 hours per week, working Wednesday afternoon and all day Thursday and Friday.
• Salary is pro-rata to hours worked.
• This role is hybrid, with a mixture of working at our office in Yate and working from home.

Interviews are likely to held on 30th September and 1st October.

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!