Children's Placement Project Manager

Job Qualification Form

The Basics

Company:

Barnsley MBC

Contact name, title & number:

Sarah Phipps- SEND improvement lead

Head of Commissioning – current interim Sarah McFarland and Rowena Brown (6th October perm head of commissioning)

Cat Knowles – Head of CLA

Vacancy job title:

Childrens & SEND Placements Project Manager

Level of DBS Required and any barred list

(Social Care and Education roles)

Day rates / Salary / benefits:

£300-£450 per day umbrella

Framework Vs Direct rates/ budget sign off:

Reed- moving to Ed category – agreed by Sarah

Length of contract: Budget sign off for full duration

Initial 3-6 month interim contract

Location:

Is remote working an option?? Start date & IT Equipment

Barnsley

Onsite 2-3 days per week

Cultural changes need the face to drive the programme

In your absence who would be the secondary point of contact/decision maker in the recruitment process: (Name, job title, contact number/e-mail)

Sarah Phipps- SEND improvement lead

Head of Commissioning – current interim Sarah McFarland and Rowena Brown (6th October perm head of commissioning)

Cat Knowles – Head of CLA

Reason for hiring:

What impact will this person have on the community and to your organisation?

Massive change up in the commissioning and SEND services need to drive major capacity needs with a specific focus on placements

Sickness/capacity

Direct Line Manager, Name, job title, contact number:

(Ensure you also qualify the role with the direct line manager if you aren’t already)

Sarah Phipps- SEND improvement lead

Head of Commissioning – current interim Sarah McFarland and Rowena Brown (6th October perm head of commissioning)

Cat Knowles – Head of CLA

Exclusivity:

NA

Need

Essential / Desirable Skills and Experience (any flexibility?)

Organised and project experienced professional

Placements and commissioning experience in childrens and send

Day to Day Responsibilities (Operational or Strategic) – Who do they report into?

LAC sufficiency work is stalled and not bringing savings in and send projects need to come in

Spend off contract, safeguarding all over the place

LAC sufficiency programme

Send sufficiency programme

3 programmes running – 1 is budget CLA sufficiency overspend

SEND and AP – school places do they have enough – lots of off contract spend, no safeguarding in place with off contract providers– Suring up project capacity

Working together on core commissioning compliance work

Project management – create a project plan, be fairly financially astute- matching PO numbers to the contracts etc

Ideally looking for a lower grade commission officer role

Examples of core duties and responsibilities

• Need someone who under direction can prepopulate forms
• Run a mail merge in issuing agreements to all the providers
• Populate a contracts compliance register
• Pull together information under new work programmes
• If want impact

Very little commissioning capacity current and need to establish Basic core compliance across– send, AP & CLA

3 Most Important Things (skills / attributes/ qualifications you can’t compromise on)

• Someone with a strong grasp on the general context of children social care and send placements either officer or PM
• Someone agile- leaning into new priorities that emerge sometimes daily, doesn’t panic, calm and considered.
• Team function is really good so need to get their sleeves rolled.

How long have you been looking? (What is the impact of not hiring? why do you believe you’ve been unsuccessful so far? what skills were missing from previous applicants? Do you have any internal options?)

Immediately

Candidate Background (Previous job titles/ sector experience/ Qualifications)

DNA 5 – Confirm you have the following

Budget (enough for duration of contract, contract length, framework Vs direct)

Full qualification/understanding of the Role (inc. why, start date, MIT’s, requested exclusivity etc.)

Interview slots (booked in verbally over the phone and confirmed in ROE)

Follow up call scheduled (with DL/mobile & virtual meeting proposed)

ROE email returned (confirmed by client with SDS/IR35 status)

Company Information

Team split/size/structure/culture

Projects (relevant current and future they may need to have involvement with)

Diversity and Inclusion

What is X councils’ approach to Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace?

How do you ensure equal opportunities for all and consistency during your hiring process?

Are there any current initiatives implemented to promote Diversity and inclusion?

How does your leadership team demonstrate their commitment to Diversity and Inclusion?

Final pitch

Any other jobs within their team/ any other managers within your discipline hiring/ anyone hiring across Social Care or Education? (Contact name and numbers)

Are they looking for a permanent replacement? (Pitch our retained offering)