Job Introduction
Working for the Bradford Children and Families Trust offers the opportunity to work with some great people who are passionate about delivering change in a city whose culture offers as much diversity as it’s geography. You can make a real difference to families and children and be an active part in delivering the service Bradford families should receive.
We are fully committed to equal opportunities and we welcome applications from all backgrounds.
About The Role
- The Placement Coordination Service is a busy yet rewarding service to be a part of.
- Placement Coordination Officers work with the guidance, support and supervision of the Team Manager and Service Manager to find good quality, safe and affordable placements for children referred into the Service.
- There are strong, well-established relationships in place with the provider market as well as with inhouse services, social work teams across the Trust, the commissioning team, and the contracts and quality team. There is a strong ethos of working together to ensure that Bradford’s children are in safe, quality placements.
- The service is busy and demand-led, but there is strong peer support from a fantastic team.
- This role is required in response to planned searches needed for children who are part of ongoing placements projects. The placements projects are in place to try to ensure children are in the right placements for their individual needs. Placement searches may be from residential to fostering, from residential to supported accommodation, and from out of area placements back to in District placements.
- Success with these planned searches will mean more children are in the right placements, sufficiency blockages will reduce, and the Trust will have a better chance at meeting its financial savings targets.
Key Responsibilities
Placement Coordination Officers (fixed term) will be responsible for:
- Timely and proactive searching for suitable placements for children referred into the Service.
- Developing and maintaining appropriate provider relationships.
- Working collaboratively with inhouse services, providers, social work teams and IROs regarding placements.
- Managing a caseload of planned placement searches, ensuring each search is prioritised appropriately.
- Ensuring provider offers are in line with contractual expectations and quality standards.
- Placement cost negotiations where appropriate.
- Ensuring all necessary funding approvals are in place for each child’s placement.
- Ensuring systems are updated with searches and placements detail.
- Supporting the team with duty on a rota basis.
About You
- The best placements teams are made up of a variety of people with a mixture of skills, experiences and qualifications.
- You will need to be able to work well as part of a team, prioritise and flex your work depending on cases, work quickly and effectively, be organised, ensure recordings are accurate and timely, and put the child at the heart of all you do.
- Values in line with the Trust’s values and a strong work ethic are key. The service consists of colleagues from a variety of backgrounds and qualifications including social work, teaching, housing, commercial and commissioning. Applications are welcome from those with the right values, skills and mindset – this is a busy yet rewarding service.
- Relationships are fundamental to being able to find children’s placements, so you will need to be able to forge strong working relationships as well as have experience working across multi-agency and partners.
- We all have a responsibility to ensure that the Trust’s money is used wisely, so you’ll need to be able to understand the commissioning and contractual elements of placements brokerage, ensuring that any placements made make effective use of the Trust’s resources.
You’ll also be joining an organisation that truly values its people, offering a range of benefits designed to support your wellbeing, growth, and work-life balance, including:
- Enhanced annual leave entitlement: 31 days rising to 34 with service (plus bank holidays)
- Excellent local Government pension
- Competitive salary and pay progression structure
- Supportive carer and parental policies
- Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave
- Access to Occupational Health and confidential counselling services
- Supportive staff networks
- Access to Blue Light Carddiscounts, including cost of living support
- Professional development/support and opportunities career progression
Next Steps
- For an informal discussion please contact Emma Belaid, Service Manager emma.belaid2@bradfordcft.org.uk
The closing date for this role is 09 November 2025.
Bradford Children and Families Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all employees to share this commitment.
If shortlisted, you will be required to disclose relevant information regarding criminal history prior to interview.
A Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check including a check against the Children’s barred list, will be carried out on preferred candidates.