Commissioning Officer – Fostering

About the job

Key information

Rewarding opportunity to commission services and improve the lives of children in care.

• Flexible working available, using a hybrid model in line with the needs of the service
• 30 days annual leave
• Be part of a supportive, innovative and award winning team
• We are building a culture where amazing people like you can do their best work
• Fixed term contract for 1 year

What will I be doing?

We’re working to improve the lives of looked after Children in Somerset – and you’ll be a key part of that.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a 12 month fixed term within the Children’s Commissioning Team to work as a Commissioning Officer with a particular focus on fostering services and ensuring children and young people are getting the right care and support from all of our foster carers.

Your main priority will be working closely with our in-house fostering service and our external fostering agencies.

We are an innovative and dynamic team focusing on improving the lives of children and young people in care, whilst delivering objectives set out in our Sufficiency Strategy for Children Looked After and Care Leavers (2023 – 2028)

What kind of experience or qualifications do I need?

We offer ongoing support, training and guidance to help you be the best you can be.

About the job

This role will require you to be highly organised and motivated and have a passion for supporting children and young people. You will work collaboratively with other officers within the team and across key partners such as education, health and social care, maintaining effective working relationships with providers and stakeholders, including the voluntary, community and private sector. There will be ongoing support from the current postholder.

About you

You will have the ability to think on your feet, demonstrate strong communication and negotiation skills and make use of data and information to achieve the best outcomes for young people. Knowledge of the commissioning cycle would be an advantage or demonstrable experience in managing a diverse range of projects and transferable skills would be welcomed.

Ideally, you will have knowledge and experience in fostering, and supporting foster carers and children in communities, or demonstrable experience within a similar field of work.

We are open to explore applications from social workers who have worked in fostering services, who wish to change and develop their understanding of commissioning and enter into a new career path.

We’re proud to be here for the people of Somerset. And that means everyone in Somerset. An important part of this is ensuring that we are as diverse and inclusive as the people and communities we serve.

We welcome applications from a diverse range of backgrounds and experiences to enrich our team. You can always contact the hiring manager for a chat if there’s anything you want to talk about before you apply.

What is in it for me?

We are proud to offer an environment that is supportive and rewarding, working as part of a team who are passionate about the work they do to improve the lives of people in Somerset.

We offer great training and development opportunities, with supportive management. As well as this, we have some fantastic employee benefits available:

• We promote a healthy work-life balance and offer flexible working arrangements wherever possible, including working from home.
• Generous annual leave allowance, with the opportunity to purchase additional leave
• Staff discounts in gyms.
• Employee Assistance for the times you may need some support and a variety of employee wellbeing services.
• Auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme and optional pension enhancement through our Additional Voluntary Contribution scheme.
• A Flexible Benefits Scheme via salary sacrifice to obtain a cycle for work and health screenings.
• My Staff Shop offering discounts in shops, online shopping, restaurants, cinema tickets, insurance benefits and more.

DBS check

This post requires a criminal background check via the Basic Disclosure procedure.

Supporting documents and information

The salary range for this role is £37,280 to £41,771 per annum

For further information or an informal discussion about this exciting opportunity, please contact Natalie Venn who is the current postholder on 01823 357778.

When completing your application/CV please provide your full employment history and ensure that any gaps in employment are explained. Please start with your current or most recent employment.

Interviews are scheduled for 18/11/2025.

If you have all the information you need, just hit the apply button – we can’t wait to hear from you.

Apply on the Somerset Council website

Apply now