Direct Payments Lead

Join Adult Social Care and play a key role in shaping and improving direct payments across South Gloucestershire. As Direct Payments Lead, you will drive improvements in practice, ensuring compliance with the council's legal duty to offer direct payments while supporting practitioners to promote them confidently and consistently.

By simplifying processes, embedding best practice and improving the experience for both staff and service users, you will help ensure direct payments are a practical, effective and positive option for people who draw on care and support and their carers. Through your work, you will contribute to promoting independence, choice and wellbeing, enabling people to have greater control over how their care and support needs are met.

• It will be your responsibility to provide specialist advice and expertise on direct payments, developing and maintaining clear guidance, policies and procedures that are accessible, up to date and legally compliant.
• You will monitor national policy and legislative documents, translating changes into local practice to ensure consistent, effective and compliant approaches are embedded across Adult Social Care.
• To build knowledge, confidence and capability among practitioners and operational teams, you will design and deliver training, workshops and development opportunities.
• Drawing on your specialist knowledge, you will identify opportunities for innovation, developing solutions that improve processes, promote best practice and drive continuous service improvement.
• Working collaboratively with colleagues, commissioners and external providers, you will provide advice, share learning and support a consistent approach to direct payments.
• Using performance data and management information, you will monitor outcomes and financial benefits, evaluating impact, identifying opportunities for improvement and demonstrating value for money.

• It is essential that you have substantial experience within Adult Social Care and a strong understanding of direct payments, including their practical application.
• We are looking for someone with a sound knowledge of relevant legislation, including the Care Act, and the ability to interpret and apply this confidently in complex situations.
• Demonstrating a commitment to continuous professional development, you will maintain an up-to-date understanding of social care legislation, emerging practice developments and sector best practice.
• You must have experience of designing and delivering training and development opportunities, enabling practitioners to build their knowledge, confidence and capability.
• Given the nature of this role, you will have excellent communication, influencing and relationship-building skills, with the ability to support, challenge and develop practice across a range of professional groups and levels of seniority.
• You will be digitally confident, with experience of using systems such as Mosaic, SharePoint, Teams and Excel to analyse information, identify trends and recommend practical solutions to improve outcomes and service performance.

• This is a 12 month limited term contract.
• This role is hybrid, with a mixture of working at our offices in Yate and Kingswood and working from home.
• We welcome applications from people who may have lived expertise of using direct payments as well as people who have supported those who do.
• Please note that due to the nature of this role, it is a requirement of employment that an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check is obtained.

Interviews are likely to be held on 9th November 2026.

• 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.
• If you want to develop a specialism, you’ll get the support you need and your cases will be aligned with your areas of expertise.
• We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the safety and welfare of children, young people and adults. Ensuring all our staff are given the right skills, knowledge and support to recognise and respond effectively to potential abuse or neglect.

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

• We're building and shaping communities which people are proud of.
• We're working with the most vulnerable in our community to help them achieve what they want in life.
• We're investing in our schools to ensure every child and young person in South Gloucestershire achieves their full potential.

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!

To view the full job description, please click this link: Direct Payments Lead - Job Description