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Commissioning and Contracts Manager - Alice

As Commissioning and Contracts Manager I manage teams who deal with Commissioning, Contracts, Care Brokerage, Financial Assessment, Receivership and the Supporting People service.  As the areas I cover are so broad, I have to rely on the managers and staff who support me and I am lucky to be able to count on a team of such hard-working and diligent staff.

My role within Denbighshire began in 1989 as a temporary typist, followed by another temporary job as telephonist/receptionist in the Social Services office in Ruthin.  The work involved many clerical tasks including issuing disabled parking permits and yet more typing.  New jobs were created with the restructuring which happened in 1990 and I was lucky enough to be appointed as a Financial Assessment Officer (FAO). My role involved assessing the amount people can afford to pay for the services they receive, charging service users for those services and paying the service providers.

As my experience in the role of Financial Assessment Officer grew, I took on more responsibilities involving training, supporting new FAOs and deputising for the Office Manager.  When an Office Manager position became vacant, I took over that role and had the responsibility of managing the FAOs and the administration team in the South of the county.  I attended managerial courses and obtained an NVQ in management.

My current position became available in March 2005 and I was successful in my application for it.  The various teams I manage identify what services will be needed, pay and charge for those services, and deal with client finances.  I work with colleagues in social work, the voluntary sector, private providers, other Local Authorities and the Health sector.  My work is demanding and interesting, and absolutely never boring.  

My experience prior to working for Denbighshire was varied and included several administration jobs, but also two periods of running my own businesses – one was an employment agency which also dealt with technical translations and, for complete contrast, a DIY/decorating/tiling shop - so my work experience was very wide before I joined Denbighshire!  The breadth of my work history both before and after joining Denbighshire has been of enormous assistance in my last two positions.  I have a far better understanding of how decisions affect other roles within Social Services and the county as a whole.  I would go as far as to thoroughly recommend accepting a lower scale job as a step on the career ladder;  I look at it as a learning opportunity. You can often learn more about an organisation by joining at a lower level than you ever would by going straight in on a higher scale.

Having worked for a number of companies over the years, I can honestly say that Denbighshire County Council, and the Social Services and Housing Directorate in particular, is a very good company to work for.  They encourage their staff to reach their full potential, both through training and development opportunities at work.  They have allowed and encouraged me to reach my current position and to finally achieve a degree qualification, something I had promised myself many years ago when I left college.