Senior Community Assessment & Support Officer

This job is a secondment/ temporary role for up to 12 months Grade 8.

 As a Community Assessment & Support Officer – (Placement Officer) you will be supporting the Learning Disability Team and Mental Health Teams with identifying placements against current placement vacancies and ensuring consideration of the individual’s needs as well as the compatibility with other individuals in the placements.

As a Placement Officer you will be allocated referrals by a manager. Your role will be to check referrals for accuracy, balance and completeness referring to the assessor for additional information where needed. Referrals will relate to young adults and adults from 16 onwards.

• Your role will include providing recommendations on the individual need and appropriateness of each placement based on your knowledge of the market.
• You will work closely with our contracts and commissioning team as well as carry out additional research and discussion with placement providers before presenting options to the assessor

In addition, your role will also include:

• Carrying out quality assurance checks with providers; CQC, and other partners before presenting as options to assessor
• In accordance with GDPR share relevant assessments and other documentation with providers via secure email
• Close working relationships with commissioning in identifying gaps in accommodation market
• To coordinate the interface between the individuals, assessors and providers to ensure timely transfer of care in accordance with the Care Act 2014.
• Liaising with providers to facilitate and monitor transitional support plans.
• Ensure placements are matched in line with the valuing care tool to ensure best value.

• It is important that you keep accurate and up to date records relevant systems in relation to your work to create reports to be shared with assessors and managers. As part of this you will make full use of the IT systems.
• Your role will be reactive and fast paced so a flexible approach will be key.
• You will respond quickly, positively, and proactively to request for placement matching to achieve the best possible match for the individua with available placements.
• The role involves checking referrals against current placement vacancies and ensuring consideration of the individual’s needs as well as the compatibility with other individuals.
• You will effectively liaise with the Individual’s assessor to ensure informed and accurate placement search.
• Deals with queries and issues relating to placement packages in a timely and efficient way.
• Works effectively with other partners to identify additional funding/grants to support the individual with their move

Requirements for this job:

•  Experience of working in a caring environment in a paid or unpaid capacity with a relevant service group.
• An understanding of legislation, procedures etc. relating to the relevant service user group.
• Ability to demonstrate literacy, numeracy and computer skills to complete assessments and correspondence, complete financial statements and keep accurate records.
• IT skills to be able to maintain accurate electronic records.
• An understanding of the differing physical and emotional needs pertaining to the specific user group.

You will receive regular supervision from your line manager and have the support of other team members. As a Community Assessment and Support Officer you will be expected to share learning and provide mentoring to new or less experienced members of the team.

Travel is an essential part of this job and therefore it would be extremely difficult for you to do your job effectively if you did not use a car for all or most of the time. It is essential that you hold a full and valid driving licence, and it is expected that you will either use a council vehicle or your own car.