Care Sourcing Manager Adult Care 18521/3435

Job summary
We are establishing a new approach to Care Sourcing within our Adult Care Directorate and seek an experienced, motivational manager to help us establish this business-critical function and play a key role in meeting our statutory obligations and duties through ensuring the right advice, care and support is provided, at the right time and at the right costs.

If you are someone who knows how to get the best out of their team, can collaborate with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders and partners and also has proven successful experience of developing and utilising contract and framework mechanisms as well as micro-commissioning, compliant public procurement, sourcing, tender process management, brokerage and negotiation, then come and join us at the start of this exciting journey.

This is a challenging post which is responsible for operationalising the strategic vision and direction for Care Sourcing, working across a range of commissioning categories including Residential and Nursing Care, Homecare, Reablement, Community Supported Living, Short Breaks and Emergency Provision, Intermediate Care, Day Services, Shared Lives Schemes.

As the Care Sourcing Manager, you will provide effective leadership and management, supporting your team to drive cost effective, value for money, high quality, timely care arrangements which deliver the desired outcomes and make a real difference to people's lives.

Main duties of the job
What we are looking for:

A relevant degree level qualification or extensive relevant professional experience in commissioning and public procurement; the social, health care profession; programme and project principles which support strategic commissioning; delivering change management within a complex organisation. Ideally with a Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) Professional Qualification or equivalent experience.
Knowledge, experience and direct application of principles which support strategic procurement and deliver commissioning outcomes and value for money. Along with demonstrable commercial astuteness to manage markets, undertake complex negotiations and address contractual performance issues in a manner which constructively resolves conflict.
Proven ability to manage and develop a successful multi disciplined team, establish and maintain effective partnerships and relationships. Someone who demonstrating excellent interpersonal, organisational and problem-solving skills. Combined with exceptional verbal and written communication skills, so as to produce comprehensive and technical analysis, reports, presentations, briefings and correspondence with an understanding of the service, political context and wider potential implications.

About us
Lincolnshire County Council, is one of the largest employers in the county. We are an organisation that embraces diversity, innovation and progress. We value our people and want to ensure that we can support you in joining and growing with us.

We will view you as an integral member of our community and recognise that your well-being is paramount. To show our appreciation, weve crafted a competitive package designed to not only acknowledge your hard work but also foster a healthy work-life balance.

From health benefits and retirement plans, we strive to provide a package that supports well-being and financial stability and that meets the diverse needs of our workforce.

We want everyone who works with us to feel included and celebrate their uniqueness. We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity, eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and promoting good relations for both employee and for the people of Lincolnshire.

People often say every day is a learning day and at LCC a culture of learning is something we really believe in. We recognise the importance of supporting your learning and development and can offer a variety of different learning opportunities depending on what is right for you and the organisation. This could be through your everyday tasks, through hands-on experience, structured programs, formal qualifications, coaching, or informal learning opportunities.

Details
Date posted
24 September 2026
Pay scheme
Other
Salary
£54,143 to £62,032 a year
Contract
Permanent
Working pattern
Full-time,
Flexible working,
Home or remote working
Reference number
F0067-260005185213435
Job locations
Lincolnshire County Council
County Offices
Newland
Lincoln
Lincolnshire
LN1 1YL
United Kingdom

Job description
Job responsibilities
The Care Sourcing Team is a business critical function for the Adult Care and Community Wellbeing (ACCW) Directorate and plays a key part in helping the Council meet its adult care statutory obligations and duties within allocated budgets, whilst driving cost effective, high quality care arrangements for individuals and delivering value for money principles.
The Team Manager will lead in operationalising the strategic vision and direction for Care Sourcing, providing effective leadership and management of the Care Sourcing Team working on services across the whole of the ACCW Directorate. Incorporating all sourcing, including for cases of complex care, acting as the key interface between practitioners, providers and adults with an assessed eligible need, to ensure the right advice, care and support is provided, at the right time and at the right costs through established contract and framework mechanisms and also for example, micro-commissioning, compliant procurement, sourcing, tenders, brokerage and negotiation.
Working with services for all care requirements to facilitate delivery across a range of commissioning categories throughout the ACCW directorate including for example, but not restricted to: Residential and Nursing Care, Homecare, Reablement, Community Supported Living, Short Breaks and Emergency Provision, Intermediate Care, Day Services, Shared Lives Schemes, supporting timely placements in all cases.
1
Oversee the day-to-day leadership and management of the care sourcing function for all advice, care and support, encompassing cases of all levels of complexity, leading a multi skilled team of 25-30 officers, to understand needs, provide advice, co-design delivery, plan, source and secure services through optimising the most appropriate mechanisms, and monitoring delivery to improve outcomes.
With direct line management responsibilities for the Team Leader and Complex Care Senior Officers to ensure care sourcing alignment in all instances with commissioning strategies, Directorate priorities, Council ambitions and the discharge of statutory duties, including the Procurement Act 2023, Care Act 2014 as well as the Councils constitution, standing orders, financial regulations, Contract and Procurement Procedure Rules CPPRS, commissioning and procurement frameworks.
Operating across the full care sourcing team to deliver the right care, at the right time and cost with the right outcomes, through the most appropriate mechanism including but not restricted to transparent, fair and compliant micro-commissioning, tendering, contracting and negotiations along with securing successful outcomes from commercially astute brokerage, securing commitments and utilizing contractual levers to meet needs.
To step into any of the brokerage functions as required and have oversight of all packages or placement requirements across the team, for all levels of complexity. To ensure that all support requirements are commissioned appropriately, that support packages and placements that are purchased are in line with commissioning and contractual arrangements and any outstanding cases are appropriately escalated to ensure resolution.
2
Responsible for resource management of the care sourcing team: planning, coordinating and allocating resources, ensuring adequate staffing levels to meet business needs for all referrals into the service, including managing and maintaining a team rota, which supports the requirements of social work practitioners, which may at times may include working on urgent cases and responding in a timely manner following emergency referrals.
3
Effectively leading the team to ensure commissioned, sourced and delivered care packages meet requirements and standards, whilst ensuring flexibility of deployment within the team to respond to peaks in demand and urgent needs as well as a changing environment and expectations at a national and local level.
4
Manage, monitor and oversee all care sourcing activity, including the appropriate use of established contracts and frameworks, and in circumstances where established contracts and frameworks are not suitable to meet the needs of individuals with care and support needs; design, develop and implement procurement and contract solutions that meet the needs of commissioners and individuals with care and support needs.
5
Identify, mitigate and manage risks, price negotiations for care delivery, safeguarding vulnerable adults, resolve disputes or complaints, as well as meeting deadlines and agreed quality standards which will frequently be urgent and require immediate reprioritisation of the teams workload. Escalating appropriately to the Strategic Procurement and Care Sourcing Manager issues which may affect service delivery so as to implement early intervention and ensure performance does not fall below an acceptable level.
6
Lead and manage ongoing improvements and successful change management which embeds new ways of thinking and working, to optimise benefits resulting from changes in national and local priorities and policies. Continually developing creative and innovative approaches which will deliver the best outcomes and establishing a team culture that is focused on learning and continual improvement.
7
Proactively build, develop and maintain strong, positive working relationships across service areas, with practitioners, specialist teams, providers (independent, voluntary and commissioned), partners, agencies and individuals. Leading and providing assurance on the delivery of service agreements. Attending and contributing to multi-disciplinary meetings and reviews to deliver the best outcomes and value for adults with assessed and eligible care and support needs.
8
Influence the development and maintenance of effective care sourcing procedures, processes, systems, electronic records and data, including accurate complex financial information, tracking and oversight. Maximising utilisation of systems and technology.
9
Identify and drive opportunities for synergy and efficiency, continuously reviewing, streamlining and improving adult care sourcing practices and processes, capturing placement activity and intelligence relating to all care sourcing along with monitoring capacity, capability and forecasting needs to contribute to strategic commissioning.
10
Analyse care sourcing data, management and performance information and draft reports to support the wider service strategic commissioning, market, procurement and contracting functions. Leading on Care Sourcing elements to support reviewing and reshaping the market, helping ensure gaps are identified and a cost effective and flexible marketplace is available, which offers diverse solutions and meets the Councils obligations under the Care Act. Providing feedback and key information to support the contracts team and commissioners in reviews and contract meetings. Contributing to the continual improvement of the quality of services and the care and support individuals receive, promoting better outcomes and enhance value for money.
11
Maintain, control and authorise expenditure within budgets for which responsibility has been delegated. Having oversight of the care sourcing budget, monitoring and forecasting to support budgetary control and income generation through individual contribution to care costs, cost avoidance and/or savings where practicable, from the spend on services for placements and support packages, in line with the ACCW commissioning portfolio and policies.
12
Lead on care sourcing activity, deputise for the Strategic Procurement & Care Sourcing Manager and cover for other service managers and colleagues as required. Working with the wider Strategic Commissioning Team to undertake integrated commissioning activities across the full breadth of the commissioning cycle, including but not restricted to:
planning commissioning and procurement
contract management, assurance and improvement processes
quality assurance, monitoring and review of services and Providers
market engagement and shaping activities
performance analysis and desktop data analysis

Job responsibilities
The Care Sourcing Team is a business critical function for the Adult Care and Community Wellbeing (ACCW) Directorate and plays a key part in helping the Council meet its adult care statutory obligations and duties within allocated budgets, whilst driving cost effective, high quality care arrangements for individuals and delivering value for money principles.

The Team Manager will lead in operationalising the strategic vision and direction for Care Sourcing, providing effective leadership and management of the Care Sourcing Team working on services across the whole of the ACCW Directorate. Incorporating all sourcing, including for cases of complex care, acting as the key interface between practitioners, providers and adults with an assessed eligible need, to ensure the right advice, care and support is provided, at the right time and at the right costs through established contract and framework mechanisms and also for example, micro-commissioning, compliant procurement, sourcing, tenders, brokerage and negotiation.

Working with services for all care requirements to facilitate delivery across a range of commissioning categories throughout the ACCW directorate including for example, but not restricted to: Residential and Nursing Care, Homecare, Reablement, Community Supported Living, Short Breaks and Emergency Provision, Intermediate Care, Day Services, Shared Lives Schemes, supporting timely placements in all cases.

1

Oversee the day-to-day leadership and management of the care sourcing function for all advice, care and support, encompassing cases of all levels of complexity, leading a multi skilled team of 25-30 officers, to understand needs, provide advice, co-design delivery, plan, source and secure services through optimising the most appropriate mechanisms, and monitoring delivery to improve outcomes.

With direct line management responsibilities for the Team Leader and Complex Care Senior Officers to ensure care sourcing alignment in all instances with commissioning strategies, Directorate priorities, Council ambitions and the discharge of statutory duties, including the Procurement Act 2023, Care Act 2014 as well as the Councils constitution, standing orders, financial regulations, Contract and Procurement Procedure Rules CPPRS, commissioning and procurement frameworks.

Operating across the full care sourcing team to deliver the right care, at the right time and cost with the right outcomes, through the most appropriate mechanism including but not restricted to transparent, fair and compliant micro-commissioning, tendering, contracting and negotiations along with securing successful outcomes from commercially astute brokerage, securing commitments and utilizing contractual levers to meet needs.

To step into any of the brokerage functions as required and have oversight of all packages or placement requirements across the team, for all levels of complexity. To ensure that all support requirements are commissioned appropriately, that support packages and placements that are purchased are in line with commissioning and contractual arrangements and any outstanding cases are appropriately escalated to ensure resolution.

2

Responsible for resource management of the care sourcing team: planning, coordinating and allocating resources, ensuring adequate staffing levels to meet business needs for all referrals into the service, including managing and maintaining a team rota, which supports the requirements of social work practitioners, which may at times may include working on urgent cases and responding in a timely manner following emergency referrals.

3

Effectively leading the team to ensure commissioned, sourced and delivered care packages meet requirements and standards, whilst ensuring flexibility of deployment within the team to respond to peaks in demand and urgent needs as well as a changing environment and expectations at a national and local level.

4

Manage, monitor and oversee all care sourcing activity, including the appropriate use of established contracts and frameworks, and in circumstances where established contracts and frameworks are not suitable to meet the needs of individuals with care and support needs; design, develop and implement procurement and contract solutions that meet the needs of commissioners and individuals with care and support needs.

5

Identify, mitigate and manage risks, price negotiations for care delivery, safeguarding vulnerable adults, resolve disputes or complaints, as well as meeting deadlines and agreed quality standards which will frequently be urgent and require immediate reprioritisation of the teams workload. Escalating appropriately to the Strategic Procurement and Care Sourcing Manager issues which may affect service delivery so as to implement early intervention and ensure performance does not fall below an acceptable level.

6

Lead and manage ongoing improvements and successful change management which embeds new ways of thinking and working, to optimise benefits resulting from changes in national and local priorities and policies. Continually developing creative and innovative approaches which will deliver the best outcomes and establishing a team culture that is focused on learning and continual improvement.

7

Proactively build, develop and maintain strong, positive working relationships across service areas, with practitioners, specialist teams, providers (independent, voluntary and commissioned), partners, agencies and individuals. Leading and providing assurance on the delivery of service agreements. Attending and contributing to multi-disciplinary meetings and reviews to deliver the best outcomes and value for adults with assessed and eligible care and support needs.