Senior Contracts and Commissioning Officer

Interviews will be held 17th - 22nd September 2026. Are you driven to make a real difference for children, young people and families? Hull City Council is looking for an ambitious and skilled Senior Contracts and Commissioning Officer to join our Children’s Integrated Commissioning Team. This is a fantastic opportunity to play a central role in shaping, reviewing and improving services that support Children’s Social Care and Safeguarding across Hull. Other areas of focus may include Early Help, Learning and Skills and Improvement, performance, and quality.

You will work at the heart of Children’s Services, leading on commissioning activity, contract management, and quality assurance across a wide portfolio. From analysing spend and performance data to developing service specifications and reports, this is a varied and influential role with tangible impact.

We’re looking for someone who:

• Has experience in Children’s Services Social Care and Safeguarding Commissioning, Policy and Legislation.
• Is a confident and effective project manager capable of bringing experts together to deliver effective services.
• Is confident working with multi-agency partners including the ICB, Police, VCSE and community groups.
• Is passionate about improving the outcomes of Children, Young People and Families in Hull.
• Can challenge practice, think analytically and work independently.
• Can present their projects to varied audiences and forums from Senior Management through to Children, Young People and Families.

You will join a collaborative, forward-thinking team that values challenge, innovation and partnership working. The role requires a minimum of 3 days per week working from Hull City Council Children’s Services City Centre Office Locations (79 Lowgate / Kenworthy House).

Hull City Council offers a wide range of benefits, including flexible working, learning and development opportunities, a generous pension scheme and employee discounts.

ROLE AND PURPOSE

To have operational and strategic development responsibility for functions within the CYPFS commissioning team and be responsible for developing and embedding efficient and effective procurement processes across all service areas of the directorate. To ensure that services are commissioned in accordance with a Quality Assurance Framework including the performance management of individual contracts to provide reassurance that the Council is securing value for money on all contracts.

The Senior Contracts and Commissioning Officer will play a key role in supporting an integrated commissioning and contract function across agencies to ensure effective and co-ordinated working to deliver high quality, integrated services for a range of customers is maintained across Hull City Council. This will require joint working and a collaborative approach to future commissioning arrangements.

The aim is to stimulate, facilitate and develop the range of children’s social care and non-social care provision within the market place with a view to expand the range of options and to improve the quality of provision alongside council led delivery of services. The remit of this role covers the whole commissioning process.

The postholder will lead Commissioning cycle activity including planning and analysis of service provision, levels of demand and supply; development of business cases for investment; delivery plans for service redesign and implementation; engagement and consultation and service specification writing. The role will involve leading commissioning activity, progressing projects through the commissioning cycle and preparing update reports to senior managers as and when required. Including project management of commissioning activity and directing project support, procurement and legal as appropriate to complete commissioning activity in a timely manner.

Working closely with the corporate procurement team, leads of the development of tender and contractual documents including effective monitoring once services are commissioned. Promotes and establishes partnerships that are co-ordinated, integrated and trusted by people who use services. Works with coproduction principles to secure people’s participation and engagement in planning activities associated with achieving solutions/goals. Verifies business continuously plans, risks (escalation and de-escalation) and reports concerns to Head of Service.

The role will support the Senior Managers in CYPFS in respect of relevant aspects of commissioning activity, contracting and quality assurance issues. Conduct effective partnership working to jointly design and commission services to meet the Health and Social Care needs of the city. The role will ensure that the requirements that underpin commissioning arrangements are fully adopted as set out within the ER Regulations, Social Values Act, UK contracts regulation, Section 75 Agreements as best practice, including local and national policy change as appropriate to the needs of the people and services commissioned.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES:

1. Strategy – Use market intelligence and data analytics to understand current and future demand/supply issues. Take responsibility for understanding children, young people and family’s needs in order that they inform future provision of commissioned services and the wider market. Contributes to the overarching strategy and vision of the Children and Young People’s Plan and implementation of the new Integrated Commissioning Strategy. Ensure that the principles of the model are understood and implemented by the team. Has an active role in the wider leadership team and supports the successful delivery of key initiatives, partnerships and new ways of working e.g. integrated commissioning, solution focused conversations, agreeing goals, early help and prevention. Contribute to the development and delivery of relevant plans and strategies across the Council and other partnership agencies relating to services for CYPFS. To ensure all commissioned services include quality measures and outcomes and deliver value for money. Contribute to the development of options appraisals which evidence outcomes to be achieved for CYPFS, effective pathways and quality of design and service delivery, partnership opportunities and efficient and most effective use of resources. As a member of the Commissioning Team make the best use of local population information, Ofsted improvement plan, the JSNA and other plans and strategies.
2. Customer Focus - Develops and maintains strong working relationships with colleagues across the Local Authority, CCG (or equivalent), safeguarding, early help, locality teams and education services etc. to ensure services are meeting excellent quality and performance standards. Undertaking relevant equality impact assessments relevant to commissioning activities, so to identify hard to reach groups. Understands the importance of co-production in the design of commissioned services. Work closely with partners, service users and carers to inform service development, co-design commissioned service solutions. Develops and implements various methods of defining and measuring quality, and making sure these are reflected in the contract performance frameworks. Makes sure that relevant Children’s legislation i.e. Children’s Act, Working Together, is highlighted as suitable in all commissioning activity and that they reflect the need for these pieces of legislation to be complied with. Keeps abreast of new legislation, Government policy, and best practice and of external factors relevant to the development of health and social care services. Responding to the needs of customers by managing micro commissioning contract negotiations, ensuring quality and best values are secured on behalf of the customer. Facilitates timely, effective and responsive engagement with providers to ensure relationships are effective in developing and sustaining the market. The role will utilise a wide range of methods to engage and consult with customers/family representatives/providers/staff/carers and volunteers to ensure that children and families are involved in all stages of the commissioning and decision-making process and uses feedback to improve service design and professional practice. The role will understand the importance of co-production. The role will facilitate timely, effective and responsive engagement with providers to ensure relationships are effective in developing and sustaining the market. Respond to elected member enquiries, customer feedback and freedom of Information requests within agreed timescales. Being aware of conflicts of interest and relevant sensitive political domains, that may present a challenge. Understand both external/internal provider/commissioner splits when managing and reporting any conflicts of interest. To support the partnerships and planning arrangements for Hull/CCG including effective and meaningful engagement of all relevant wider stakeholders. To contribute towards effective mechanisms and arrangements for effective engagement and participation for people using services, volunteers and carers.
3. Performance Management - Co-ordinates with procurement and legal to develop flexible and innovative tender, evaluation and contract documents. Effectively commissions and decommissions services by making best use of available data, intelligence and performance information. Develops articulate and comprehensive business cases for investment and disinvestment decision making. Participate in performance management systems and processes across Children, Young People and Family Services, ensuring that quality assurance systems, peer and independent reviews and performance monitoring reports are co-ordinated and used to best effect in enhancing professional practice and improving outcomes for children, young people and their families. Review and make recommendations for service improvement, as appropriate. Provide advice and support in relation to complex cases, and, where necessary, meet with people who use service, families and carers, and other relevant stakeholders, drawing on support from legal services as required. Assist with continuous improvement in quality and efficiency of commissioning operations, ensuring that budgets are effectively prioritised, well-managed and commissioned services are delivering good value for money. Contribute to the delivery of major projects, policy, commissioning frameworks and tools. Review and make recommendations for improvement and follow through to implement changes, benefits and risks. Manage arrangements to procure, supervise and monitor services under contract, including the review of provider remedial action plans. To contribute to the design of a fit for purpose quality assurance arrangement to provide CYPFS with reassurance over the quality of externalised support planning based on principles of risk enablement. Serve to improve the overall quality of support and care; ensure seamless care delivery; and reduce duplication where this may exist. The need is to drive excellence in service quality within a tight financial environment and the post-holder will provide leadership and effective management of commissioning activities and contract monitoring pertaining to a wide provider local market place and in supporting the relevant procurement process. To maintain appropriate and effective performance management systems for commissioned services. This will include the availability of information for internal and external reporting and regulatory bodies. To prepare reports, attend meetings and contribute to government reports and returns as required. To contribute to the development of plans addressing issues of equal access and social Inclusion (with regard to both provision of services and employment) and to ensure that the impact is evaluated.
4. Leadership - Engage and encourage partnerships, and the creation of formal and informal networks to support development of staff/team. To evidence best practice in relation to commissioning, procurement and quality monitoring of city-wide services across health and social care. Engages with providers and health and children’s services markets to model, shape and drive forward the objectives of the commissioning strategy. Works to promote positive partnership working with the sector and enhance the reputation and relationship of the council with its strategic partners. To support and develop the workforce training programme in both its formal and informal approaches. Provide expert advice and support to enable staff across CYPFS and partners to develop new ways of working and translate legislation, guidance, policies and procedures into sound and confident practice. To manage the commissioning of services, service redesign, contract management, monitoring and quality processes for Children, Young People and Family Services (CYPFS). To undertake any additional duties commensurate with the post as may be required by the Integrated Commissioning Manager / Strategic Lead for Improvement, Performance and Quality / Corporate Director.

Benefits of Working of Hull City Council:

• An excellent pension through the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• Initially 23 days annual leave depending on length of service.
• You will also get eight public holidays per year, and three additional days off, one in May/August and one during the Christmas/New Year period.
• Career development and learning experiences from a range of training courses and learning methods.
• Supportive and forward-thinking culture.

We are committed to increasing the diversity, equality, and inclusion within our workforce to represent the people we serve and build an environment in which everyone can feel like they belong. We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply. We adopt a ‘name blind’ approach to shortlisting. Recruiting managers will not have access to personal information, including your name and contact details, until a shortlisting decision has been made. Equality monitoring information is not accessible by recruiting managers at any stage.

The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment. Online searches, including social media, may be carried out as part of the recruitment process.