Attendance Specialist

Essex County Counci; Basildon; On-site; GBP 30,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

Essex County Council Attendance Specialist based in Basildon works with schools to improve pupil attendance and support early intervention. You will analyse data, present potential solutions, and develop plans to deliver improvements while recognising risks and ensuring realistic, value-driven outcomes.

This permanent, full-time role requires driving/mobility to cover an operational area, and offers a salary band of £29,512 to £34,720 per annum with benefits. Interviews on 16 October 2026.

Qualifications

• Educated to A level or equivalent by experience.
• Experience of analysing and interpreting data to identify trends and support improvement planning would be advantageous.
• Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional area.
• Practical experience within a school environment or enforcement environment.
• Evidence of resilience and prepared to challenge others to ensure progress.
• Practical experience of delivering public services in a complex, multi-stakeholder environment.
• Evidence of skills and experience in understanding and responding to different audiences and recognising the impact of actions on the rest of the organisation.
• Evidence of great communication and negotiation skills to persuade and influence others to accept recommendations, acting boldly in an agile environment.

Responsibilities

• Contributes to the development of plans and initiatives to ensure schools are supported in seeking to improve pupil absence levels from school and agree relevant processes as to when escalation is the only option.
• Contributes to exploring options to improve attendance to ensure positive outputs, ensuring best value for money.
• Contributes to improving school attendance across Essex.
• Responsible for positively challenging education establishment’s policies and activity to improve attendance.
• Works collaboratively by engaging with appropriate stakeholders to define requirements and achieve quality and value for money services.
• Strategically investigates reasons for school absence and assesses appropriate action including legal action to protect children’s education.
• Works collaboratively with partners to ensure the best overall outcome for the people of Essex, whilst protecting ECC’s interests.
• Compile accurate written and computerised data of intervention in a timely manner to ensure comprehensive management reports for the service.

Skills

Data analysis

Stakeholder engagement

Public service delivery

Resilience

Communication & negotiation

Mobility

Education

A level or equivalent

Tools

Driving licence

Job description

Attendance Specialist

Permanent,Full Time

£29,512 up to £34,720 per annum

Location:Basildon

Working Style:Community-based worker

Please note this is a community based role with office attendance expected 1 day per week or as required by the service.

Interviews will be held 16th October 2026.

Please note that visa sponsorship is not available for this role. Applicants must have a current, unrestricted right to work in the UK.

The role:

The Attendance Specialist is responsible for working with schools to improve attendance and encourage early intervention. Offering advice and support in presenting potential solutions to manage intervention effectively and ensure maximum potential opportunities for successful outcomes. In order to understand the underlying issues, investigations will need to be conducted to gain greater insight so that the best way forward for those who have not attended school can be identified.

The role requires knowledge and experience of delivering improvement in the level of attendance in schools. As a confident and assertive individual, this role will utilise individual experience to address concerns ensuring plans are developed to deliver improvements, recognising the risks and consequences of not initiating plans before they escape.

This role supports the Senior Attendance Specialist to support individuals and groups of schools to develop strategies, initiatives and incentive programmes to raise attendance and support schools to achieve performance targets.

To read more about our business area, please visit:Education

Accountabilities

• Contributes to the development of plans and initiatives to ensure schools are supported in seeking to improve pupil absence levels from school and agree relevant processes as to when escalation is the only option.
• Contributes to exploring options to improve attendance to ensure positive outputs, ensuring best value for money.
• Contributes to improving school attendance across Essex.
• Responsible for positively challenging education establishment’s policies and activity to improve attendance.

• Works collaboratively by engaging with appropriate stakeholders to define requirements and achieve quality and value for money services.
• Strategically investigates reasons for school absence and assesses appropriate action including legal action to protect children’s education.
• Works collaboratively with partners to ensure the best overall outcome for the people of Essex, whilst protecting ECC’s interests.
• Compile accurate written and computerised data of intervention in a timely manner to ensure comprehensive management reports for the service.
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

The Experience You Will Bring

• Educated to A level or equivalent by experience.
• Experience of analysing and interpreting data to identify trends and support improvement planning would be advantageous.
• Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional area.
• Practical experience within a school environment or enforcement environment.
• Evidence of resilience and prepared to challenge others to ensure progress.
• Practical experience of delivering public services in a complex, multi-stakeholder environment.
• Evidence of skills and experience in understanding and responding to different audiences and recognising the impact of actions on the rest of the organisation.
• Evidence of great communication and negotiation skills to persuade and influence others to accept recommendations, acting boldly in an agile environment.

Please note that the job role requires you to be mobile throughout an operational area. Therefore, the post holder will need to have a driving licence and access to a vehicle,or the ability to meet the mobility requirements of the role through other means.

Why Essex?

As one of the largest and most dynamic UK local authorities, Essex offers a stimulating public service environment. Covering over 1,420 square miles and serving 1.8 million residents, we’re committed to transformational change and delivering better quality at lower cost. Recognised in the top three of the latest IMPOWER index for productivity, we ensure everyone matters inEveryone's Essex. With flexible working options and a focus on innovation, whether you are looking to develop your career or contribute to the local community, Essex is the ideal place for you.

In March 2026, the Government announced that councils in Greater Essex will be reorganised into five new unitary authorities from April 2028. In addition to this, Greater Essex has been accepted on to the devolution priority programme, where we will work towards establishing a Mayoral Combined County Authority. You can read more about these changes, and what this may mean for this role, on ourcareers site.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process.We’re also committed to interview allveteransandcare leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

Once you’ve secured your role within Essex County Council you will receive many great employee benefits, including support for unpaid carers and flexible working arrangements to accommodate their needs.

At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and theNolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council, please joinThe Essex Talent Community

If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please [e-mail]

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