Commissioning Manager SEND (Fixed Term Contract)
Are you committed to achieving positive outcomes for children, young people and their families, with experience of working in an innovative, fast paced commissioning environment?
Then we want to hear from you!
Cambridgeshire County Council is looking for a Commissioning Manager within Special Educational Needs and Disabilities 0-25 (SEND) to join our Children’s Commissioning Service. This will initially be on a minimum six month fixed-term contract or as a secondment opportunity for internal candidates.This is a unique opportunity to be part of our high performing commissioning service.
Focus will be on services to the children & young people of Cambridgeshire and their families, and we have bold ambitions to achieve excellent standards. If you have the passion for putting the County`s children, young people and families at the heart of everything you do and have the ambition to help shape our future, this could be the perfect next role for you.
This is an exciting time; our innovative commissioning function stands ready to respond to the evolving needs of Cambridgeshire against the backdrop of the challenges being experienced nationally within the Care and Education sectors.
For an informal chat about the role, contact our Senior Commissioning Manager for SEND, Rosa.DeMaio@cambridgeshire.gov.uk
Appointments to these posts will be subject to the outcome of an Enhanced disclosure obtained through the Disclosure and Barring Service. The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.Our benefits
We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits in addition to the basics like annual leave, sick pay, pension and mileage…- A comprehensive wellbeing package to cover all aspects of wellbeing, both in and out of work, which can also be accessed by your family
- Buy up to 4 weeks additional annual leave (pro-rata) through our salary sacrifice scheme
- Take your bank holidays flexibly to better suit your personal circumstances
- Make Additional Voluntary Contributions (Shared AVCs) to your pension with tax and National Insurance savings
- Access to development opportunities, apprenticeships and qualified coaches to support your personal and professional growth
- Paid volunteering hours each year so you can make a positive impact on our community during your normal working day
- Access to Peer Support Groups through our IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network
- Opportunities to nominate and receive Employee Recognition Awards
- An Our Cambs Rewards account, giving you access to in-store and online discounts as well as our Car Lease and Cycle to Work schemes
Take a look at our Employment Benefits Brochure attached to this advert to find out more.What will you be doing?
Reporting to our Senior Commissioning Manager for SEND within Children’s Commissioning, you will manage a SEND Access to Resources Team (SEND ART) and a Commissioning Officer, all working to deliver workstreams within area specific portfolios (Independent Special Education Provisions ISEPS & Out of School Tuition OoST).
You will have responsibility for all elements of the commissioning cycle, striving to understand the needs of Cambridgeshire’s children and young people and working with internal and external stakeholders to respond to gaps, improvements and developments in commissioned service provision to meet those needs.
You will be required to work closely with operational colleagues, the Integrated Care Board and with both internal and external service providers.
You will support the delivery of our Children’s Commissioning Sufficiency Statements and subsequent action plans, support and manage the delivery of associated business plans and support the team to ensure all commissioned services are delivered within budget and reflect value for money alongside quality service delivery.
You will also need to ensure the principle of co-production is adopted wherever possible; and that the voice of children, young people & families, communities and other key stakeholders influence the strategic design, performance management and review of our commissioned offer.
You will have responsibility for delivering savings targets and will be someone who will relish the opportunity to join a recognised, high functioning, accountable and dynamic team. About you
You will be a highly motivated, proactive and innovative commissioner with a proven track record of delivery. You will have a thorough knowledge of the legislation, statutory regulations and Government Guidance relevant to Commissioning.
It is essential that you have a relevant professional qualification equivalent to NVQ level 4, HNC, HND or Bachelor`s Degree and experience of procedure, practice development and implementation.
You will need to be able to demonstrate previous line management experience, be committed to ensuring our service is actively promoting learning and development opportunities for all our staff team.
You will have the ability to ensure the best quality and range of services are commissioned to meet the diverse needs of our children, young people and families and in so doing, evidence impact and outcomes. This will require you to have excellent financial management skills, the ability to comprehensively assess value for money investment in commissioned provision, commercial awareness and an understanding of our provider markets and market forces.
Strong communication and interpersonal skills are also essential as you will be required to work with providers to promote cost effective working relationships and maximize the opportunities to enhance service provision, customer experience and positive outcomes for service users and their carers/families.
You will also need to be able to demonstrate drive and determination to ensure our vision, aims and business objectives are comprehensively delivered on time, to budget, offering value for money services that do not compromise on quality or achievement of identified outcomes.
If you think you are the right person for this role, please use the supporting statement in your application to evidence how your skills, experience and knowledge meet the essential criteria for this position.
Please also include any other information you think will support your application (up to a maximum of 2000 words).About us
Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.
Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do.
We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities. If you don’t meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, please don’t be put off.We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions.
Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered.We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action.
We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs.Some examples of adjustments could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch.
Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion.
https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/council/jobs-and-careers