Referral & Placement Officer; Lead Short Breaks

Referral and Placement Officer with a lead in Short Breaks for Children with Disabilities

Warwickshire County Council are looking to recruit a Referral and Placement Officer who will lead in Short Breaks for Children with Disabilities.

Here at Warwickshire County Council, we put children and families at the heart of everything we do and want to build on family's strengths and find the right support for them and our children.

You will join the Home Finding Hub, consisting of 2 managers, 2 full‑time social workers, 7 fostering and hub social workers and currently 4 Referral and Placement Officers.

Short breaks give families caring for children with disabilities the breathing space they need. They’re a key part of our preventative approach to care by helping families stay strong, preventing crisis, and reducing the need for children to enter care.

Short breaks give children fun and enriching experiences either away from home, or in the familiar comfort of home with trusted adults. They help children build relationships, try new things, and enjoy time just being themselves, while families get their much needed rest. It’s support that truly makes a difference to family life.

Now is an exciting time to be part of our team as Warwickshire begins to embed our Families First teams who support the young people in our County. Our approach is about locality working, multi disciplinary and multi agency teams that support the whole family. Building strong partnerships with local services, Health, Police and Education.

to find out more about Warwickshire County Council’s Children and Families Service.

• Supportive managers who provide recognition and a robust supervision policy focussed on wellbeing and workload.
• A Volunteering & Wellbeing Day in addition to generous annual leave and an additional day at Christmas.
• We also offer a Refer a Friend package for some roles. Terms and Conditions apply.

In this role, you’ll be at the heart of making this life‑changing short breaks happen.

You’ll work closely with our Referral and Placement Officers (RPOs), who carry out all external placement searches for fostering, supported accommodation and residential care. Together, you’ll use strong partnerships and a developing network of specialist providers to find the right match for children with disabilities.

You’ll take the lead in:

• Finding and sourcing high‑quality short break providers.
• Building strong relationships with organisations who can meet children’s individual needs.
• Supporting social workers in key discussions with providers.
• Negotiating contract terms.
• Ensuring any issues are resolved quickly and effectively.

It’s fast paced, varied, and no two days are the same.

And the best part? Our RPOs often say that nothing beats the feeling of securing the right support or home for a child. The difference you can make to a child and their family is an incredible feeling.

We’re proud of the work we do, and we’re determined to keep improving outcomes for local children, and we need passionate people to help us do that.

If you’re someone who isn’t afraid to dive in and get things done, brings passion, persistence, and purpose to everything you do and wants to be part of a team driven by making a positive impact then we want you to work with us.

Why work for Us Brochure

For further information please see the Job Description and Person Specification below;

Referral and Placements Officer (lead on short breaks)

Warwickshire County Council is a place where everyone feels valued, included, safe, supported, and welcome. Our people are at the heart of this vision, could you be one of them!

At Warwickshire County Council we are committed to ensuring Warwickshire’s economy is vibrant and supported by the right jobs, training, skills and infrastructure. Our people vision for Warwickshire County Council is a great place to work where diverse and talented people are enabled to be their best.

Your future matters to us, we provide a generous pension scheme which includes an employer contribution rate of typically around 19…