Care Funding and Support Manager - Care Resources

Discover yourself in Lewisham where what you do makes a difference to our vibrant and culturally diverse communities!

We have a rich history of welcoming people from all over the world and are proud to be recognised as the UK’s first Borough of Sanctuary, for our work in championing the rights of refugees and migrants.

Introduction

We have a rich history of welcoming people from all over the world and are proud to be recognised as the UK’s first Borough of Sanctuary, for our work in championing the rights of refugees and migrants. Are you an experienced manager with a strong track record in financial management, service improvement and leading high-performing teams? Do you want to make a real difference to the lives of children, young people and families in Lewisham? If so, we would like to hear from you. A fantastic opportunity has arisen for a Care Funding and Support Manager in Family Help and Care, within Children and Young People Services. We are seeking to recruit an ambitious and motivated manager to lead our Care Funding and Support Team and play a key role in delivering positive change for children and families across the borough. This pivotal role is responsible for overseeing the service provisioning of care packages, including Child Looked After, Leaving Care and Family Help services. You will manage provider payments, invoicing and payment queries for internal and external carers and providers, ensuring decisions are driven by need, outcomes and value for money. In addition, you will assist services to make the best use of their budgets; ensuring timely and systematic oversight of department spend and realising efficiencies where possible.

What’s the role? …

• Lead the day-to-day operation and development of the Care Funding and Support Team, directly managing Operational Leads and building an accountable, high-performing culture.
• Oversee care funding, brokerage, provider services and financial processes, including robust budget monitoring, forecasting, controls and value for money.
• Strengthen provider oversight, including payments, invoicing, contract performance, provision start and end dates, suspensions and changes.
• Improve data quality and the use of LCS, ContrOCC, Power BI, Oracle or similar systems to identify trends, risks and opportunities for improvement.
• Work collaboratively with social care managers, providers, finance colleagues, health, education and partner agencies to maximise joint-funding opportunities.
• Shape the team’s operating model and contribute to wider transformation and improvement programmes across Children’s Social Care.

What’s in it for you?

Excellent training and development opportunities, plus a range of benefits including:

• Generous holiday allowance
• Local Government Pension scheme
• Flexible working and family friendly policies
• Season ticket and bicycle loans
• A range of staff discounts including local subsidised gym memberships
• Supportive staff networks

What we’re looking for

We are looking for an experienced, solution-focused manager with a strong grasp of children’s social care, commissioning or care funding. You will bring significant experience of financial and budget management, service improvement and leading teams, alongside the ability to analyse financial, performance and service data. You will be confident resolving complex operational or financial issues with providers, producing clear reports for operational and senior-management audiences, and working across professional boundaries to support quality, safeguarding, value for money and better outcomes for children and young people. Experience of LCS, ContrOCC, Oracle, Power BI or similar systems would be valuable.

Location

The job is primarily based in Laurence House, Catford, but we operate a hybrid approach where you will be required to work both in the office and from home on a regular basis.

Special conditions

• Project Management/Programme Management Qualficiation eg. Prince 2, MSP
• The job is subject to an enhanced DBS check

The recruitment process is anonymous and we don’t accept CVs.

Applicant handbook - please read the guidance in this handbook when applying. It is essential that you complete the application fully and that your supporting statement covers how you meet each of the person specification criteria listed.

For an informal discussion about this job, please contact [email protected]

Please click here to view the Job Description and Person Specification

Salary

£62,634 - £64,815 per annum (PO7)

N.B: All appointments will be offered at the minimum spinal column point (SCP) for the grade of the role. The only exception to this will be when matching current salary (up to the maximum of the scale), which is subject to evidential proof.

Diversity

Lewisham Council is a Disability Confident employer. We welcome and encourage job applications of all abilities. If you require any reasonable adjustments in the application or interview, please contact the lead contact on this advert. We will make reasonable adjustments to make sure our disabled applicants and those with health conditions are supported throughout our recruitment process. We support the access to work scheme, further details are available at www.gov.uk/access-to-work/apply

The Council reserves the right to close adverts early if there is a large response.

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