Supported/Independent Living Brokerage Officer | Access to Resources Team | Preston | Full time

Lancashire County Council; Lancashire; On-site; GBP 29,000 - 33,000; Full time

Job summary

Lancashire County Council is seeking a dedicated SAIL Brokerage Officer to source supported accommodation and independent living placements for looked after young people in Lancashire. You will act as the link between Children's Social Care and providers, ensuring quality requests, efficient sourcing, and best outcomes for young people.

The role is a 12-month temporary post within the Access to Resources Team (ART).

Qualifications

• Attention to detail and accuracy in all tasks.
• Proficient IT skills including Word, Outlook, Excel and LCS.
• Excellent communication with Children’s Social Care and Providers.
• Strong problem solving and creative solutions.
• Negotiating skills to secure suitable placements.
• Ability to manage a busy workload and balance conflicting demands.
• Maintain composure under pressure and prioritise effectively.
• Act as the key link between providers and CSC to broker placements.
• Team player who supports caseloads when needed.
• Reflective thinking and commitment to continuous learning.

Responsibilities

• Source SAIL placements and build strong relationships with social care and providers.
• Develop knowledge of the SAIL market and trends.
• Screen and quality assure placement requests with anonymisation and accuracy.
• Work with providers to ensure offers are received and circulated.
• Attend meetings to inform sourcing of placements.
• Assess placement offers for best match and value.
• Forward offers to social workers for decision.
• Ensure approval processes are followed.
• Issue IPAs for agreed placements.
• Maintain placement finding records to identify trends and gaps.

Skills

Attention to detail

IT skills

Stakeholder comms

Problem solving

Negotiation

Workload management

Under pressure

Broker placements

Team player

Difficult situations

Reflective learning

Tools

Word

Outlook

Excel

LCS

Job description

Job Description

Salary £29,071 - £33,119 Per Annum | Fixed term (12 months), Full time | 37 hours per week

Supported Accommodation and Independent Living (SAIL) Brokerage Officer Post

best value placements for Lancashire's children in care; managing the provider market to meet need; and providing quality data/ analysis to identify trends and gaps in provision.

The SAIL Brokerage Officer is a 12-month temporary post to provide maternity cover within Lancashire County Council's Access to Resources Team (ART). The role is responsible for sourcing suitable supported accommodation and independent living placements for young people across Lancashire. Acting as the key link between Children's Social Care and accommodation providers, the post holder ensures placement requests are quality assured, placements are sourced efficiently, and the best possible outcomes are secured for young people.

The Access to Resources Team (ART) at Lancashire County Council was established to source best value placements for Lancashire's children in care; managing the provider market to meet need; and providing quality data/ analysis to identify trends and gaps in provision.

• Find fostering, residential and supported accommodation and independent living placements.
• Take ownership of the 'business side' of children's social care by acting as a broker between professionals and the market to find the right placement for vulnerable CYP.
• Finding creative solutions to source more complex placements.
• Obtaining the best quality and value for money placements for children in care – ensuring the best possible match and the optimum use of Local Authority resources.
• Providing an effective ‘knowledge hub’ for a range of professionals and managers working with children and families about the market for support services.
• Ensure effective management of the market by shaping the market to better meet need.
• Ensuring effective contract monitoring and reporting arrangements are in place to provide best outcomes and value for money.
• Support the Local Authority to establish a more effective strategic overview of demand and meet its sufficiency duty by providing quality data/ analysis on the current and needs of our children in care cohort.
• Providing intelligence to inform effective commissioning arrangements to ensure the right range of placements are available at the right price to meet need.

ART is now seeking to appoint to the following temporary roll within the team: Supported Accommodation/Independent Living (SAIL) Brokerage Officer.

Position will require the following key tasks

• Source SAIL placements for our looked after young people including developing strong relationships with children's social care staff and provider placement finding teams;
• Developing knowledge and understanding of the SAIL market;
• Screening and quality assuring individual placement requests, with a focus on ensuring requests are anonymised, up-to-date, accurate, and balanced, with an accurate description of the strengths of the young person, to maximise choice of placements;
• Working pro-actively with providers to ensure placement offers are received;
• Circulating requests to providers and gathering offers of placement;
• Attendance at meetings to inform effective sourcing of placements;
• Make initial assessment of placement offers, including ensuring that offers are compliant with commissioning arrangements and identifying best match/ best value;
• Forward offers to social worker and leaving care teams for a decision;
• Ensure correct approval processes are being followed.
• Issue Individual Placement Agreements (IPAs) for agreed placements.
• Maintain accurate and up-to-date placement finding records to enable identification of trends and gaps in provision.

Skills Required

• Attention to detail.
• IT skills using Word, Outlook, Excel and LCS.
• Communication with a range of stakeholders, including Children's Social Care and Providers.
• Problem solving skills, including finding creative solutions.
• Negotiating skills to achieve positive outcomes when searching for placements.
• Able to manage a busy workload and balance conflicting demands.
• Being able to work under pressure and prioritise well.
• Being the key link between providers and CSC to broker placements.
• Working well as a team to assist with each other's caseloads when needed.
• Dealing with difficult situations.
• Reflective thinking and continuous learning.

Message to candidates

Please ensure that you add a supporting statement which identifies how would you meet the above requirements.

Face to Face interviews will be held on 4 th November 2026 (provisional date only and may be subject to change).

For information about this role please contact Katie Dennick on 01772 533756.

The post you are applying for is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2013). If successful you will be required to apply to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) for a 'disclosure'. Further information can be found on the 'Our Recruitment Process' tab.

In return Lancashire County Council offers a range of benefits, which can be found on LCC Vacancies website.

We reserve the right to close down a vacancy early, before the closing date, if we receive sufficient applications.

Local Government Reorganisation

The Government has confirmed that local government across Lancashire will be reorganised, with the current 15 councils being replaced by four new unitary councils covering North, South, East and West Lancashire from April 2028.

If you are successful in your application, you will initially join Lancashire County Council. However, as part of the planned transition, your employment will transfer to one of the new unitary councils from April 2028, subject to the implementation of the reorganisation and relevant employment legislation.

Throughout this period, our focus remains on delivering excellent services to our communities. By joining us now, you'll play an important role in shaping the future of local government and helping to build a strong new organisation that will serve residents for years to come.