Home Finding and Commissioning Team Leader

We are seeking a dedicated and experienced Home Finding & Commissioning Team Leader - Home Finding & Commissioning Team to join our Home Finding & Commissioning Team within Children We Care For Services.

This is a vital leadership role where you will help ensure children who cannot live with their families are placed insafe, stable and nurturing homesthat meet their needs, reflect their identity and support positive, long-term outcomes.

About the role

You will lead a dedicated team delivering a high-quality home finding and brokerage service, ensuring the right placements are secured at the right time, with a strong focus on quality, stability and value for money.

You will also play a hands-on role in complex and urgent placement searches, acting as a key escalation point and working collaboratively across services and with external providers.

Key responsibilities include leading, supervising and developing Home Finding & Commissioning staff, while managing workflow and the allocation of placement referrals to ensure timely and effective service delivery.The role involves undertaking complex placement searches and negotiating with providers to secure suitable options, ensuring that all placements are safe, appropriate and cost-effective.It also includes building strong relationships with both internal and external providers, monitoring performance, demand and financial pressures, and coordinating multi-agency working to support successful placements.In addition, the postholder will ensure compliance with statutory, safeguarding and procurement requirements, while supporting ongoing service improvement, reporting and sufficiency planning.

The ideal candidate

We are looking for a confident leader with strong professional knowledge and a passion for improving outcomes for children.

You will have:

• A recognised Social Work qualification (or equivalent experience/Level 6 management qualification)
• Proven leadership experience within children’s placements, commissioning or brokerage
• Strong negotiation and relationship management skills
• A solid understanding of placement matching, safeguarding and risk assessment
• Knowledge of Ofsted, regulatory and procurement frameworks
• Ability to analyse data and drive service improvement
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills
• Resilience and flexibility to respond to urgent placement situations

*Please ensure that you read the full job profile attached for the details and expectations of this role, paying particular attention the section 'Who is the person' as you will need to refer to this when completing your Personal statement.

Working Arrangements:You will be required to work minimum of two days per week in the office as per our Hybrid Working Policy

Contact Details for an Informal Discussion: If you have any questions, or would like an informal discussion about the role, please contact Danielle Pryer - danielle.rebbitt@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

About Portsmouth City Council

Portsmouth City Council is a unique organisation, committed to making a difference, and is guided by core values that set who we are as people, what we stand for, and how we act.

We are committed to our values of respect, integrity, collaboration, inclusivity and being people-focussed. These values set out how we can contribute to the success of the council and our own success as individuals. Learn more about our values and behaviours.

Application process

We anonymise applications during application & shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered.

As part of your application, we ask that you complete a personal statement, this statement is crucial and is where you must demonstrate how you meet the requirements of the job against each of the points described in the'Who is the Person'points on the Job Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills. This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience.

We are a disability confident employer and Armed Forces Covenant gold standard. More information can be found at Equality, diversity and inclusion - Careers portal

We are committed to offering an interview to all those candidates that qualify under our corporate commitments and meet the minimum criteria, however, for roles that receive a large number of applications, we will select the candidates that best meet the minimum criteria.

You will need to demonstrate that you have the Right to Work in the UK. No post will be offered without it.

Please note: We are not able to offer sponsorship for this position.

Safeguarding

Portsmouth City Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and young people, and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Every post is subject to PCC and Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Partnership safer recruitment procedures.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) at Standard/Enhanced level will be required prior to any offer of employment and this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Please read the relevant DBS privacy notice before submitting any information.

You will need to explain any gaps in your career history within the last 5 years - this is essential for all safeguarding roles.

Should you require any support in completing the application form please contact recruit@portsmouthcc.gov.uk or call the recruitment team on 023 92 616 800.