Community Commissioner, Adult Social Care

at  Swindon Borough Council

At Swindon Borough Council, we want our town to be the best it can be. Our ambitious vision in the new Swindon Plan is supported by realistic transformation programmes, with the people of Swindon at their heart. Because that’s who we’re doing it for – the communities and businesses that make our town great. As part of the Council, you’ll support a friendly local authority making decisions with real impact. It’s all for better public services. Better processes. And a better quality of life, for everyone. Join us, and Swindon will be better with you.
We are bold and ambitious in our plans, with a clear vision and direction for the future. Our status as one of the UK’s fastest growing towns is driving transformational change across our organisation, most significantly within our highly valued Adults’ Services teams.
We are seeking an experienced commissioner who can actively shape the market and competently manage the associated end-to-end procurement.

You will be leading on targeted commissioning activity to reduce the budget pressure associated with commissioning spend. It is imperative that when commissioning services you are focused on ensuring good quality outcomes for the people supported by those services as well as ensuring the delivery of associated savings.
We are looking for two fixed term contract commissioners;

Focus of role one:

• Introducing a new enablement and independence service for the working age adults we support who have a learning disability, autism and/or mental health need.
• The purpose of the new service is increasing independence and enabling people to achieve their outcomes whilst reducing reliance on restrictive formal packages of care.
• It is vital this commissioner has experience working with the cohorts of people listed above and an in-depth understanding of the types of services and providers we will be looking for.
• You will need to be able to write a high-level business case for the new service as part of going through the process of the commissioning cycle which will go to Cabinet in early 2025.
• You will need to be able to work collaboratively with our front-line social work and occupational therapy teams and use insights from the people we support and existing providers to develop a specification for the new service.
• You will need to be able to shape the market to ensure that we have providers bid for the new service opportunity that could successfully deliver on the service specification and outcomes required.
• This is an exciting opportunity to develop a new innovative service which will enable people in Swindon to achieve better outcomes.

Focus of role two:

• This role will be focused on a combination of specific opportunities in relation to home care, day services and placements.
• It is vital this commissioner has experience working with these types of providers and has an ability to understanding the building/housing aspect of placements.
• We have several SBC owned buildings used for placements which the commissioner will need to work with the relevant property teams at the same time as shaping the market so that the outcome of the commissioning and procurement process is delivering best value for support for people, as well as from our SBC owned buildings.
• You will need to have a good eye for data to understand the demands and needs of the people we support.
• You will need to work with a variety of internal colleagues as part of progressing this work for example; property teams, front-line social workers, contract managers, other commissioning colleagues and HR (if any TUPE requirements are identified).
• You will need to be able to shape the market to ensure that we have providers who are willing and able to deliver on the identified requirements.

If you believe you have the skills and experience to deliver in these exciting and challenging roles, we want to hear from you.
Candidates are invited to either apply for one or both roles. Please use the supporting statement to highlight which role or roles you are applying for.