Placement and Purchasing Officer in Manchester

About The Role

Working Hours: 35 Hours per week

Contract Type: Full time / Permanent

Working Style: Hybrid – Employees split their time between working remotely (e.g., from home) and working on-site (e.g., in an office).

Closing Date: 06 July 2026

Closing time: 11.59pm

Interview Method: Face to Face

This role is subject to:

• Legal right to Work: In accordance with Home Office guidance, successful candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK before commencement of employment.
• 2 References – where possible we require 3 years' history.
• DBS clearance – this post is covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (amended in 2013). Appointable candidates will be required to apply a Standard Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

The proposed recruitment of 2 x Placement and Purchasing Officers will strengthen the new Sufficiency Team, a key function within Manchester’s Strategic Commissioning Service. The team plays a vital role in ensuring children and young people have access to safe, stable and high‑quality homes, while improving oversight, market management and cost control. These roles are critical to shifting the service from reactive placement finding to proactive sufficiency planning and market shaping. They will provide additional operational capacity to manage increasing demand, reduce reliance on unregistered placements, and improve placement stability.

Key Responsibilities

• Managing the team inbox, responding to provider queries and coordinating placement activity
• Supporting placement processes by attending care planning meetings, PPMs and strategy discussions
• Making targeted calls to providers to secure placements and prevent placement breakdown
• Leading on due diligence, provider checks and responding to Ofsted concerns or provider risks
• Completing high‑risk visits, including unregistered placements, to strengthen safeguarding oversight
• Coordinating panels, trackers and placement data to ensure accurate oversight and reporting
• Managing invoices, aged debt and financial tracking to improve cost control and accountability
• Supporting crisis responses alongside the Home Finding Team to stabilise placements quickly

Provider Portal – Key Role in Implementation

• Supporting the development, testing and rollout of the portal
• Ensuring provider information is accurate, current and accessible for placement matching
• Using the portal to improve real‑time visibility of vacancies and provider capacity
• Driving provider engagement and ensuring consistent use across the market
• Improving the quality and speed of placement decision‑making through better data and transparency

Impact of the Role

These roles will directly improve outcomes for children by ensuring the right placements are identified quickly and sustainably. They will strengthen partnership working with providers, improve financial grip in a high‑cost market, and support the wider commissioning transformation programme. This investment ensures the Sufficiency Team can deliver its core purpose – proactively managing the market, improving placement stability, and embedding smarter, more efficient systems such as the Provider Portal – ultimately supporting better experiences and outcomes for Manchester’s children.

Contact

For an informal discussion, please contact the hiring manager: Janell Wilken, Commissioning and Contracts Service Lead, 07966 282182

Candidate – Essential Requirements

Candidates must demonstrate:

• Generic Skills (from the Role Profile)
• Strong communication and negotiation skills, with the ability to advise others and manage sensitive discussions effectively.
• Analytical skills, including the ability to quickly understand information, compare sources, and present basic statistics, trends, or summaries.
• Excellent planning and organisational skills, with the ability to prioritise multiple tasks and manage workload effectively.
• Problem‑solving and decision‑making ability, with a logical and practical approach to finding solutions.
• Strong ICT capability, including the ability to maintain effective systems, retrieve information, and use digital tools to analyse and present data.
• Technical Requirements (from the Role Profile)
• Willingness and ability to work flexibly, including occasional evenings or weekends where required.
• Ability to comply with GDPR, confidentiality, and information management standards when preparing and sending placement referrals.
• Capability to liaise with providers and challenge/clarify placement costs in line with commercial expectations.
• Ability to accurately complete and issue placement contracts (IPAs) and maintain high‑quality case records.
• Unique or Role‑Specific Essential Skills
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Outlook, Word, Excel, and Teams, to manage referrals, reports, and communications.
• Ability to use case management or commissioning systems (training will be provided, but confidence with digital systems is essential).

Desirable Requirements

• Experience working within children’s social care, commissioning, provider services, or a related sector supporting vulnerable children.
• Experience working with third‑party organisations, such as residential providers, fostering agencies, supported accommodation, or voluntary sector partners.
• Experience preparing or contributing to documentation for legal or court processes relating to children’s care.
• A related qualification or training in commissioning, children’s services, social care, contract management, or similar fields.
• Experience of negotiating costs or managing budgets in a commissioning or contracting context.
• Knowledge of Manchester’s local offer, housing, or early help services.
• Experience working within multidisciplinary teams or virtual teams to progress complex cases.

Benefits

• Generous holiday allowance – 26 days annual leave per year plus bank holidays. Increasing to 31 days after five years of local government service. Additional leave can be purchased up to two weeks.
• Enrolment in the UK’s largest local government pension scheme, with options to top up. Includes life cover of three‑times salary as a lump sum.
• Enhanced parental and carers leave, designed to provide ample time for bonding and family support.
• Access a range of discounts, from savings on the weekly shop to holidays and days out, discounts on phone contracts, cycle‑to‑work scheme, free flu jabs and eye tests, and more.
• Learning and development opportunities, workshops, training sessions, apprenticeships and qualifications, starting with a comprehensive onboarding process.
• A Good Employment Charter membership – offering secure, flexible work and fairness, with annual pay review, trade union recognition and comprehensive health and wellbeing support.
• Up to 3 days of volunteering leave, pro‑rate of paid leave.

Inclusive Workforce Policy

The council welcomes applicants from all ages and backgrounds, particularly from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic communities, Disabled people, and young people.

Interview Adjustments & Accessible Formats

Interview Adjustments: Let us know if you need any adjustments to demonstrate your suitability during the interview.

Accessible Formats: Our ReciteMe tool can be accessed through the “Accessibility tools” button on our careers page. It offers text‑to‑speech, translation into multiple languages, and adjustable text size and colour for accessibility.

Guaranteed Assessment Scheme

Members of the Armed Forces (members or veterans), Current or former care leavers, Individuals with a disability or long‑term condition.

Right to Work and Pre‑Employment Checks

In accordance with Home Office guidance, successful candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK before commencement of employment. This is not a role eligible for sponsorship under the Skilled Worker route; candidates are therefore encouraged to consider other routes. The pre‑employment checks required will depend on the role applied for. Details are available in the role profile. These checks are part of the council’s commitment to safety and security.

Additional Support

If you need additional support to undertake the duties of the role, we will make every effort to source necessary aids, adaptations or equipment. If a task is unachievable, we will look at redesigning parts of the role. For more information about the role or any adjustments, email jobs@manchester.gov.uk.