Senior Programme Officer (SME Children’s Social Care) | 48,738 – 51,928

Overview

In this role you drive the Children in Care Sufficiency strategy, ensuring effective commissioning and provision for looked after children. You will anchor programme governance, track milestones, and translate complex data into clear leadership insights. You’ll collaborate with social work teams, commissioners, and the PMO to maintain progress and preempt risks. This is a chance to shape services that strengthen kinship, foster care, and residential provision while supporting Barnsley’s child-centred mission.

Pay / Benefits

• flexible working
• health and wellbeing support
• training and development opportunities
• pension scheme
• employee discounts

Responsibilities

• Maintain and track the Children in Care programme against milestones
• Provide governance and assurance to keep the programme on track
• Analyse complex demand and cost data and translate into senior governance intelligence
• Produce reports and briefings for gateway decisions and senior leadership
• Collaborate with social work teams, commissioners and the Head of PMO to manage the workstream and escalate risks
• Demonstrate subject matter expertise in looked after children, placement sufficiency or children in care commissioning

Key requirements

• Subject matter expertise in looked after children, placement sufficiency, or children in care commissioning
• Strong analytical skills and experience with complex demand and cost data
• Ability to translate analysis into clear programme intelligence for governance
• Excellent written communication for reports and briefings
• Experience working with governance structures and senior leadership

• Analytical thinking
• Proactive risk spotting
• Clear written communication
• Data analysis of demand and cost data
• Programme governance and reporting
• Management of milestones and risk escalation

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