Childrens Services Support Officer

Working Hours: Civic Offices, 1 Saxon Gate East, Central Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire

Closing Date: 14/06/2026

Job Category: Children's Social Care

Service Area: Children's Services - Children's Social Work

Package Description:

• Great holiday benefits - most roles include 28 days annual leave every year on top of public (bank) holidays, increasing to 32 days after five years. There is also a holiday purchase scheme allowing staff to purchase up to 5 additional days of leave each year.
• Excellent pension - everyone who works for us can join the national Local Government Pension Scheme, widely regarded as one of the best available.
• A full range of family friendly policies including enhanced maternity, adoption and paternity support and a childcare subsidy.
• Access to an award-winning employee benefits programme that includes a health cash plan, a low-cost bike purchase scheme as well as high street discounts and money off entertainment and travel.
• Salary sacrifice car scheme - eligible employees can access low-cost leasing of electric and low-emission vehicles.
• Blue Light Card - employees working within social care can qualify for an additional range of discounts from national retailers and local businesses.

Job Introduction:

We're recruiting a Support Services Officer to join our dedicated Children's Services team at Milton Keynes City Council. We are dedicated, respectful and collaborative, and we work together to make a real difference for children, families and carers across the city.

Our team is dedicated to providing essential administrative and finance support to the Corporate Parenting teams. We play a vital role in making sure carers are supported properly and paid accurately and on time. We carry out thorough financial assessments to determine the allowances carers are entitled to. We process payments for foster carers, kinship carers and Special Guardianship Order carers. We also manage all payments and invoicing for external placement agreements, helping the council remain financially responsible.

Alongside this, we help coordinate the fostering panel, support services panel and health forum. We make sure these meetings run smoothly, efficiently and to the required standards. Our work supports social work teams, children and carers, particularly in areas requiring specialist administrative and financial knowledge. When this work is done well, it prevents delays, financial risk and reputational harm.

This is a Site-Based role, and you'll be expected to work from the designated workplace. This post is part time and fixed term. Interviews for this role will be held on 25th June 2026.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide direct administrative and business support across Children's Services, ensuring statutory timescales are met.
• Accurately input and maintain information across council systems, spreadsheets and databases.
• Process financial assessments, purchase orders, invoices and payments in line with council finance procedures.
• Coordinate panels and meetings, including diary management, agendas, minutes and follow up actions.
• Act as a professional first point of contact for carers, service users and partner organisations.
• Support colleagues through induction, training and day to day guidance to maintain high standards of service delivery.

Ideal Candidate:

• NVQ Level 3 in Business Administration or equivalent experience in a busy administrative role.
• Communicates clearly and confidently, including when handling sensitive or confidential information.
• Confident using Microsoft Office and able to learn new systems quickly.
• Able to manage competing priorities and work calmly under pressure.
• Works well with others and supports colleagues to find practical solutions.
• Reflects our values by being dedicated, respectful and collaborative in everything they do.

As part of the pre-employment checks, should you be offered the role, we'll carry out a Basic Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.