SEND Operations Assistant

Essex County Counci; Colchester; Remote; GBP 20,000 - 26,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a forward-thinking organization as a SEND Operations Assistant, where you will play a crucial role in supporting children with special educational needs. This exciting position involves managing Education Health and Care Plans, coordinating school placements, and ensuring compliance with statutory duties. You will work closely with families, schools, and partner agencies to improve outcomes for children and young people. If you are passionate about making a difference and possess excellent communication and organizational skills, this role offers a unique opportunity to contribute to meaningful change within the community. Be part of a dedicated team committed to enhancing the lives of those with special educational needs.

Qualifications

• Educated to RQF level 2 or equivalent by experience.
• Evidence of continuing professional development in SEND duties.

Responsibilities

• Provide administration support for SEN assessment and monitoring.
• Maintain children and young people's Education Health and Care Plans.
• Coordinate school placements and liaise with various partners.

Skills

Verbal Communication

Written Communication

Time Management

Interpersonal Skills

Knowledge of SEND Code of Practice

Team Collaboration

Education

Educated to RQF level 2 or equivalent

Job description

SEND Operations Assistant

Fixed Term, Full Time

Up to £25,679 per annum

Location: Colchester

Working Style: Anywhere worker

Please note this is a fixed term contract / secondment opportunity for a period of 24 months.

This is an exciting opportunity to support our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Operations team. Essex County Council has embarked upon a programme of change for provision and services with the ambition to profoundly improve the outcomes and life experience of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

Our vision is for a SEND system which identifies and assesses need at an earlier stage and which provides appropriate and impactful support without such high dependence on Essex County Council’s statutory services.

These roles will form part of Essex County Council’s (ECC) unique response to the additional demand and provide additional capacity in the team to deliver ECC’s statutory duties and meet timescales.

Job Purpose and Accountabilities

The SEND Operations Assistant provides administration and support to deliver ECC’s statutory duties for SEN assessment, monitoring and review.

The postholder is responsible for the following:

• Maintaining a specified allocation of children and young people (CYP) with existing Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs). This will include the carrying out of all statutory processes relevant to each child and young person and their EHCP (annual review, amendment to EHCP, cease EHCP), taking responsibility for the progression of all allocated statutory work such that statutory timescales are met.
• Coordinating and securing school placements for CYP at points of transition and liaising with relevant internal and external partners as appropriate. Ensuring ECC’s Admissions Team are advised of decisions. Co-ordinating the amendments of the EHCP following change of placement.
• Recognising issues around individual CYP (attendance, safeguarding, lack of progress) and alerting senior managers, recommending and/or seeking advice on next steps.
• Prepare and present information relating to the EHCPs within their allocation for submission to various decision-making panels and undertaking any follow-up work identified by the panel meeting; sharing the decisions with parents and partner agencies. Communicating and explaining decisions which are not always positively received both verbally and in writing.
• Representing Essex SEND services by acting as a frontline contact for parents/carers, CYP, schools, settings, and other partner agencies. Recognising where issues need to be escalated. Recognising safeguarding concerns and acting accordingly. Signposting service users to relevant teams where appropriate and taking responsibility for responding directly to queries wherever possible.
• Liaising with other local authorities for CYP who have moved into or are leaving Essex. Ensuring correct paperwork is received and actioned accordingly. Consulting and arranging school placements and arranging appropriate information to enable the amendments of the EHCPs.
• Maintain tracking systems for all students who are at the point of phase transfer each year. Provide support to SEND Operations Partners and SEND Operations Co-ordinators to ensure that statutory processes and timescales are fully complied with and that, where appropriate, EHCPs are ceased in a timely manner.
• Preparing a chronology/summary about individual CYPs to support ECC’s response to priority work: Members Enquiries, Local Government Ombudsman Enquiries, Corporate Complaints and SEND Tribunals. Involvement in any additional SEND Tribunal work arising; liaising with the Tribunal Teams and consulting and chasing responses from various provisions.
• Sending out the agreed final versions of EHCPs in the specified timescale.
• Organisation and constant prioritisation of workload to manage high volume of incoming work on a daily basis, alerting senior colleagues where statutory obligations are compromised.

The Experience You Will Bring

• Educated to RQF level 2 or equivalent by experience.
• Evidence of continuing professional development relating to the LA’s statutory duty relating to CYP with SEND.
• Thorough working knowledge of SEND Code of Practice 2015
• Excellent verbal and written communication and interpersonal skills, including an ability to engage positively within difficult conversations.
• Experience of working successfully as part of busy team in a business support or administrative environment.
• Effective time management and prioritisation skills with the ability to manage own workload under pressure and adapt quickly and effectively to changing circumstances/situations.

What you should do next

If you are interested in finding out more about this role, we would love to hear from you. Please apply via the Working for Essex website.

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.