Placement Officer
Location: Bedford
Contract: Initial 3 months
Hours: 37 per week
Pay Rate: £31.77 per hour (Umbrella) | £25.00 per hour (PAYE exclusive)
Bedford Borough Council is seeking an experienced and highly organised Placement Officer to join our Children’s Services team on an initial 3-month contract.
This is a key role within a high-profile area of children’s social care, responsible for sourcing, securing, and managing high-quality placements for children looked after and care leavers, including those with complex and high-level needs.
You will play a vital role in ensuring children and young people are placed in safe, suitable, and well-matched placements, while working collaboratively with internal teams and external providers to achieve the best possible outcomes.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead on searching for, sourcing, and securing suitable placements for children looked after and care leavers, including complex cases
- Manage placement searches from referral through to placement confirmation
- Quality assure placement referral forms and provider documentation, ensuring regulatory compliance
- Verify provider registration and highlight any compliance concerns
- Negotiate placement packages, terms, and costs with external providers
- Work closely with social work teams, particularly fostering services, to ensure internal options are fully explored
- Manage and maintain placement databases, ensuring accurate and up-to-date information
- Develop and improve systems for effective data use across the wider council
- Contribute to commissioning activity including tendering, framework development, evaluation, and monitoring
- Produce and analyse management information, financial data, and performance reports
- Attend placement/resource panels and contribute to decision‑making processes
- Manage respite placement requests for in-house foster carers
- Oversee payment processes to external providers and respond to financial queries
- Ensure clear, professional, and confidential communication with all stakeholders
About You
- Experience in placement commissioning, brokerage, or children’s social care placements
- Strong knowledge of children looked after systems and care leaver pathways
- Experience working with external providers, fostering services, or social work teams
- Confidence in negotiation, costing, and contract/package management
- Strong analytical skills with experience handling data, reporting, and management information systems
- Excellent organisational skills with the ability to manage competing priorities
- A high level of accuracy, compliance awareness, and attention to detail
- Strong communication skills, with the ability to handle sensitive information with professionalism and discretion
This is an excellent opportunity to join a busy and impactful children’s services team, supporting some of the most vulnerable children and young people in the local authority system.
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