Quality and Contracts Officer

Overview

Are you passionate about making a real difference to people's lives through high-quality care and support services? Do you enjoy building strong relationships, solving problems, and driving continuous improvement?

We're looking for a Quality and Contracts Officer to join our Children’s Social Care Commissioning team. In this rewarding role, you'll help ensure that commissioned care and support services deliver excellent outcomes to children and young people, provide value for money, and meet the highest quality standards for the people who rely on them every day.

About us

Buckinghamshire Council is a relatively new organisation that combines the strengths and expertise of the previous five councils in the county to create positive change for local people, communities, and businesses. We are firmly focused on the future and have made a clear commitment to serve residents better and to provide stronger representation for Buckinghamshire, both locally and nationally. 

About the role

As a Quality and Contracts Officer you will be working closely with the Placements Team to strengthen the link between placement commissioning and operational decision-making. The role will lead the consistent application of cost benchmarking and negotiation to support the development of needs-led, appropriately costed care packages, providing robust challenge to secure the right placement at the best value. The postholder will provide analysis and oversight to ensure benchmarking tools including Care Cubed informs all placement decisions, supporting improved value for money and financial sustainability. In addition, the role will support compliant procurement, contract and market management activity, using quality assurance, provider performance and market intelligence to inform decisions and balance considerations of quality, sufficiency and cost to achieve the best outcomes for children and young people.

This is a varied and rewarding position where no two days are the same. One day you may be visiting providers and reviewing service quality and the next you could be analysing performance data, supporting improvement plans, or working collaboratively with partners to address emerging challenges. You'll have the opportunity to influence service improvement, support market development and contribute to ensuring vulnerable people receive safe, effective, and person-centred care.

Key responsibilities include:

• Ensuring value for money through cost benchmarking and robust negotiation with providers
• Monitoring the quality, performance, and value of commissioned care and support services.
• Analysing data and intelligence to identify risks, trends, and opportunities for improvement.
• Building positive relationships with providers and supporting quality improvement initiatives.

For a full list of duties and responsibilities, please refer to the Job Description.

Any-Desk:

As an ‘any-desk’ worker, you’ll need a desk, screen a keyboard to get your job done. You’ll need to be connected to our network to access digital folders and resources, but this can either be from home or an office location when required. You will be required to work from the office a couple of times a week, depending on your role and team requirements.

About you

We're looking for someone who is passionate about improving outcomes for children and young people in care.

You'll be proactive, organised and confident in building effective relationships with a wide range of stakeholders. You'll enjoy working collaboratively, be comfortable having constructive conversations and can balance competing priorities in a dynamic environment.

To be successful in this role, you'll bring experience of working within commissioning, contract management, quality assurance, health and social care, or a similar environment. You'll have strong analytical skills, be able to interpret information and data effectively and use your judgement to identify risks and develop practical solutions. Excellent communication skills, attention to detail and the ability to influence and engage others are essential.

You'll also have:

• Experience of monitoring performance, quality, or contract compliance.
• Strong relationship-building and stakeholder management skills.
• Good understanding of health and social care services and relevant regulatory frameworks.
• Excellent IT skills, including Microsoft Office applications.
• Degree-level education (or equivalent experience), with relevant professional qualifications or a commitment to ongoing professional development being advantageous.
• A full UK driving licence.

If you're looking for an opportunity where you can make a meaningful impact, help shape quality services and work alongside colleagues who are committed to continuous improvement, we'd love to hear from you.

For full details of the essential and desirable criteria, please refer to the Job Description.

We understand that candidates may use AI tools to assist with their applications. While we welcome innovation, we expect all submissions to reflect your own experience, skills, and achievements accurately. Please ensure your application is truthful and demonstrates your personal capabilities, as this will be assessed during the selection process.

Other information

For more information about this role, please contact Jessica Hunter at [email protected]

Closing date: 11th November 2026

Interview Date: 16th November 2026

We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so please be advised to submit your application as early as possible.

Buckinghamshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults at risk.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare:

• All unspent convictions and conditional cautions
• All spent convictions and adult cautions that are not protected (i.e. that are not filtered out) as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020 and 2023).

For further information on filtering please refer to Nacro guidance and the guidance published by the Ministry of Justice (see, in particular, the section titled ‘Exceptions Order’).

Our values

We have a set of values, which our employees have chosen, that represent what we are – Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy.

By joining Buckinghamshire Council, you can expect:

• a fair and inclusive culture
• the chance to really make a difference to those around you
• health and well-being initiatives including an Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and mindfulness workshops
• a unified voice through our Employee Representative Group
• ongoing support, and the opportunity to develop and progress in your career with us
• opportunities to take part in fun activities such as fundraising and social events

At Buckinghamshire Council, we know that our biggest strength comes from the people that work for us, and that’s why we’re working hard to ensure we continue to be an accessible and inclusive organisation.

From dedicated staff networks overseen by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, to proudly standing as a Disability Confident employer, it’s important to us that all our colleagues feel engaged, listened to, and valued. Our offer of flexible working empowers a productive and happy workforce and allows employees to combine work with other responsibilities and commitments.

We believe our workforce should reflect the diverse communities we service in Buckinghamshire, and are looking for like-minded individuals to join us in promoting equality, fairness, and inclusion for everyone.

About the Service Area

The Children’s Social Care Commissioning Team is responsible for ensuring that Buckinghamshire has safe, high-quality, and sustainable services for children and young people through both operational and strategic commissioning. The team commissions and oversees a range of external placements, including residential children’s homes, fostering, supported accommodation, domiciliary care, secure welfare placements, parent and child assessment units, and SEND residential schools. Operational responsibilities include quality assurance and risk-based assessments, fee negotiations and governance, cost benchmarking using CareCubed, contract and provider performance management, and due diligence for new providers. Strategically, the team leads framework and regional commissioning activity to shape, strengthen, and diversify the provider market, increase local sufficiency, and ensure services meet the current and future needs of children and young people.

We recognise and reward you

Hard work and success deserves recognition. That’s why we pride ourselves on the benefits we give our people. We actively encourage a good work-life balance and promote flexible and agile working arrangements. We provide discounts on various Cafés, restaurants, shops and auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme. In addition to the opportunity to gain membership to Costco, we have discounted gym memberships, travel discounts with Arriva and much more.

https://jobs.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/working-buckinghamshire-council/