Unqualified Senior Broker LBS-011

3 days on site Responsible to: Team Managers Access to Resources: Key relationships/Functional links with: Referring teams: Maintain key relationships with Social Workers, Personal Advisors, Team and Service Managers, Carers from a range of providers and colleagues from Virtual School and Clinical Team. Main Purpose of Job: To develop and provide a flexible and high quality Placements Service with the purpose of: improving placement choice and stability for children in care; improving the experience of social workers, foster carers and children in identifying suitable placements; delivering the best possible value to the Council in terms of cost and quality of placements. To provide bespoke packages of practical support to foster carers, young people and families in the community to maximise placement viability and stability, prevent placement breakdown and retain foster carers. Also to identify matches between children and suitable foster carers who can meet their emotional, educational, cultural and health needs, and who can provide stability and a sense of belonging. To work collaboratively to provide a service which is both relationship-based and which responds in a timely manner within required timeframe

1. work proactively within the Placements Team to ensure all children are placed in suitable placements, monitoring referral patterns and use of Independent Fostering Agencies (IFAs), and ensure that senior managers are alerted to any risks or threats in relation to sufficiency.
2. help develop and manage systems that track all referrals, placements, placement moves and endings, and ensure that high quality management information is available to assist in the planning and review of the service.
3. deliver a responsive and efficient service alongside the Fostering Service: ensure that all parties involved in the referral and placement process are kept fully informed when placements are made, and that children’s views are taken into account.
4. undertake the sourcing and negotiation of suitable placements, and to contribute information about the market for health to maintain the quality of services. To keep accurate records and reporting on placement and financial activities by updating individual case notes on Mosaic.
5. negotiate on placement costs/support packages to ensure cost effective placements. Also ensuring placements are agreed and placements contracts (IPAs) are completed in a timely manner as well as Mosaic finances.
6. help put systems in place to ensure foster carers and providers are paid promptly and that any additional or special payments are processed in a fair and transparent way, in keeping with the operating principles of the Fostering Payment Policy.
7. track and maintain an overview of all children waiting for placements and monitor progress on identifying suitable carers. Alert senior managers to any corporate threat or risks relating to the council’s sufficiency strategy.
8. ensure that information systems are fit for purpose and that high quality management information can be produced for a range of indicators. Use management information to inform planning and reviewing the sufficiency strategy.
9. ensure the best use is made of Southwark’s fostering resources, keeping use of external placements to a minimum and promoting the use of Friends and Family Placements as far as possible.
10. keep abreast of local and national changes to best practice when securing placement’s options for children and young people including legislative changes and Ofsted guidance.
11. provide placement briefings to the Team Manager and to senior management when requested.
12. provide professional guidance, support and developmental opportunities with less experienced or knowledgeable social work colleagues, including taking the role of practice educator with social work students.
13. maintain case records and management information on appropriate systems, ensuring that case files are organised and up to date.
14. work with a degree of independence without the need for close supervision, whilst recognising when and how to seek advice from a range of sources. Use supervision to identify strategies to build professional resilience and balance the potential for bias in decision-making.
15. contribute experience and expertise to group and individual supervision processes, to support evidence-informed judgements in complex cases. Provide supervision to other staff where required by particular service needs.

Financial Responsibility The post holder will authorise payments in relation to new placements in line with scheme of delegation and will apply the Fostering Allowances policy in a fair and transparent way, aiming to avoid unnecessary expenditure through careful planning and monitoring of placement demand. In addition the post holder will monitor spend particularly of externally commissioned provision. Updates and concerns will be reported to  Managers.