Quality Assurance Contracts Officer

Job description

Contract Terms

Grade: PO1
Salary: £37,443 – £39,264 per annum
Full Time, Permanent (36 Hours per week)
Closing Date: Sunday 5th May 2024
Interview Date: Week commencing 13th or 20th May 2024

About Haringey

We are investing in creating a better borough for all our residents and bettering the lives of children and young people in Haringey is our first corporate priority. We are located in the north of the capital with a population of approximately 250,000 people and a growing population of 0-19-year-olds. We are a diverse and fast-changing borough and tomorrow’s leaders; artists and innovators are busy growing up here.
Haringey is transforming its services for children and young people, and have already made exciting, innovative changes as we strive for excellence in all we do.
In short, we’re a council with high ambitions; a place to work that is full of energy and focus. Our teams have passion, integrity and commitment, and people join us, do so as they see Haringey is a learning organisation, and the people that work here strive for continuous improvement in their practice, aiming high to ensure we provide outstanding outcomes for our children.
We offer a great place to develop a career that is yours to own.

About the Role

We are looking for an experienced individual to join our team as QA Contracts Officer for the Children’s Programmes team within the CYP Commissioning & Programmes service. In this role, you will be responsible for monitoring and quality assuring placements for children and young people in Haringey, ensuring that the provision is of high quality, safe, and capable of meeting the needs of our children.
The successful candidate will be responsible for quality assuring the provision of service providers.
Key Responsibilities includes:

• The position requires providing commissioned service providers with Quality Assurance oversight, visiting locations to check on standards and working with providers to improve their services using best practises. It is also necessary to communicate with the pertinent inspection and registration agencies and write reports about these visits.
• Perform due diligence checks on the records, systems, instruction, and procedures of the Provider to get the pertinent data required to conduct financial and risk assessments. The required records must be properly maintained.
• Actively keep an eye on contracts to make sure that Service Level Agreements clearly outline the requirements, results, performance indicators, and budget.
• Challenge service providers when their performance on contracts and IPAs falls short of expectations. In cases when non-compliance results in unacceptable standards, appropriate measures must be taken.
• To build and maintain a database of independent sector service providers, create reports for senior managers or lead council officers regarding providers when there are issues or a decline in performance or standards.
• To serve as a consultant and expert on commissioning standards, as well as a liaison between top management, providers, and other commissioners.

About the Team

As a QA Contracts Officer, you will be reporting to the Strategic Commissioner of the Commissioning and Programmes team, within Children’s Services. This is a new team within the directorate, and it has been established to ensure that our commissioning and programme activity encompasses:

• Strategic thinking: The service values those who are able to think strategically and provide management with innovative ideas and input for the ongoing improvement of the service.
• Collaborative working: The service operates with a “One Children’s Commissioning” approach, working together with external partners to achieve our objectives.
• Performance management: We place a strong emphasis on performance management, ensuring the delivery of high-quality commissioned contracts and services that are evidence-based and offer best value.
• Cultural change: We are driving cultural change and new ways of working to ensure that the service aligns with corporate and service priorities, plans and objectives.

About You

The ideal candidate will have:

• Understanding of quality performance in the context of public sector commissioning
• Strong analytical abilities.
• The ability to persuade, negotiate, and settle issues as well as the capacity to build networks, develop alliances, and lead a variety of different groups.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Strong interpersonal and communication abilities.

Requirements:

• Relevant qualification related to the post description or equivalent experience.
• Additional qualifications or evidence of continuing professional development.
• Relevant quality assurance experience.

If you are passionate about making a difference in the lives of children and young people and have the necessary qualifications and experience, we would love to hear from you. We offer a great place to develop a career that is yours to own. If you are interested or would like an informal discussion, please contact Pauline Simpson via email: Pauline.Simpson@haringey.gov.uk

Working for Haringey

At Haringey Council we are committed to creating a workplace culture where all our people feel valued, included, and able to be their best at work, and we recognise the benefits of a diverse workforce so welcome applications from all ethnicities and communities so that we continue to make a difference to our residents and community. 
Our benefits package includes a leave entitlement of 31 days + bank holidays, potential hybrid working opportunities, health and wellbeing support, a generous local government pension scheme and a range of discount schemes across leisure and culture that provide both financial and money-saving discounts.