Rewarding work that will challenge you, with a work-life balance that is hard to beat!

The Isle of Wight Council is recruiting a new Assistant Director for Commissioning and Partnership’s within the Adult Social Care and Housing Needs Directorate, to be part of our leadership team leading our inspirational Adult Social Care and Housing Needs teams and we want you to consider us for your next step!

Here on the Island, we strive to ‘be the best we can be for our community’, with our team of talented Social Care professionals leading the way. Our workforce really is a ‘family at work’ as we care for our colleagues and our community. 

Our local efforts are frequently recognised nationally with Isle of Wight Council staff and services receiving national recognition after being shortlisted in both the Municipal Journal Achievement Awards and the Local Government Chronical Awards in 2021.

As examples of our success, our commissioning approach has been written up as an exemplar of good practice – while our “Raising Standards” initiative has resulted in more than 90% of services now being rated as ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by the CQC. 

We don’t try to hide the fact that Adult Social Care is a demanding and challenging service area to deliver. We face the same daily challenges as our counterparts around the UK (plus very specific obstacles due to our unique location) but here on this beautiful Island we can promise that you’ll be leading the most incredible team, whilst working in a welcoming and interesting rural / coastal community. If you live and work here, you’ll have access to the wonderful lifestyle and community benefits our unique location offers.

Our beautiful beaches and areas of outstanding natural beauty won’t make your work any less complex, but they certainly help when you want to switch off at the end of each day.

THE ROLE:

As our Assistant Director for Commissioning and Partnerships, you’ll be responsible for;

• Leading the commissioning functions across adult social care and housing needs – ensuring that our commissioning strategies are co-produced with users, carers and providers and underpinned by outcomes based and alliance constituted commissioning approaches 

• Leading the Council’s duty to deliver a vibrant and high-quality market for adult social care – focusing on engaging the independent and voluntary and community sectors as equal partners 
  
• Delivering the department’s business development functions – ensuring that we adopt an increasingly commercial approach across key functions such as deputyship and dynamic purchasing systems    

• Providing management and oversight for our Deputyship, Direct Payments, Strategic Commissioning, Brokerage, Personal Assistant Market Development and Finance and Charging Teams.

• Engaging in system resilience and ensure collaborative working with health partners that delivers against national targets and secures improvement in service user experiences.

• Participating in the collective leadership of the department in ensuring that it adheres to corporate policies and procedures, upholds the reputation of the Council and meets departmental performance and financial targets.

• Leading delivery of the requirements of the 'Fair Cost of Care' and to support the application of 'Social Care Reform'

Our focus is on helping local people to use their own strengths in designing their care and support – supporting people to maintain the maximum level of independence possible (and here on the Island we have a vibrant and committed voluntary and community sector who support us with this work).

Integration with health is another key priority on the Island. Being surrounded by water our relationships and care pathways must work effectively as Island’s residents cannot easily go elsewhere.

We’ve invested heavily in our workforce ensuring colleagues are well supported to keep abreast of best practice and research findings, this commitment is supported by our active membership of Research in Practice for Adults and our partnership with the Institute of Public Care at Oxford Brooks University.

THE PERSON: 

Our expectations are high. We need an engaging and inspirational Assistant Director, with a passion for supporting our community, to continue this good work and press forward with effective, innovative service solutions.

We want someone who is just as ambitious about the outcomes delivered to the people who need us, as they are about their own career development and the development of their staff team – because we see these as being intrinsically intertwined.

Whilst a social care qualification is not essential, you will need a deep understanding of our statutory responsibilities for older people and vulnerable adults and have experience of creating and delivering high quality services in partnership with key stakeholder and service users together with experience of commissioning and the ability to form strong and sustainable partnerships.

You will be able to demonstrate a deep understanding of the pressures faced by our independent sector and voluntary sector partners as well as those faced by statutory partners across the health and social care landscape.

THE BENEFITS: 

As well as being a great place to work we also offer a competitive rewards and benefits package, including:

·       31 days annual leave per annum plus public holidays.

·       Agile and flexible working policies to make your role work for you.

·       Local Government pension scheme.

·       Solent ferry travel discounts across all services.

·       Local and national staff discount and benefits schemes.

·       Cycle to work and staff parking permit scheme.

·       Discounted local sports and leisure gym membership.

·       Access to private health care packages.

PLUS: If you are considering a move here to the Isle of Wight, we may also be able to support you with up to £8,000 as a relocation package.

You can read about our Isle of Wight Council Corporate Plan here

50059727 - Job Summary

To apply please click the Apply Now link below.