The posting
Core Objectives
Vulnerable children and young people are safe from harm and build resilience.
Children and young people achieve their full potential in education, learning and future employment.
Children and young people enjoy heathy lifestyles and know how to help others.
Children, young people and families have a voice in shaping the support they receive.
Children and young people live in Lancashire where they can enjoy a good quality of life, be happy and want to stay.
To deliver these objectives it will be necessary for the post holder:
To ensure the delivery of services for children and young people with SEND and their families at a strategic and operational level is aligned with the 'Our vision for SEND in Lancashire' agreement.
To work in collaboration with children, young people, their families, education providers and other stakeholders to ensure the best possible outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities across the local area.
To support the council to fulfil its statutory duties in relation to children and young people with special educational needs, ensuring that within an allocated caseload, all assessments and education, health and care plans are of the highest possible quality and that all plans and processes meet statutory requirements and timescales. Casework is likely to include complex work that could involve tribunal work and/or multi-agency work with higher tier adult, social care and/or health services.
To work with team managers to identify early solutions to complex issues raised by service users.
To question proactively and/or challenge organisations who work with and support children and young people who have special educational needs or disabilities, in order to address multiple and often conflicting priorities.
To support an inclusive approach to special educational needs in Lancashire.
To support specific activities that address the priorities of the service and local area.
To provide technical reference in terms of specific service delivery areas of improvement.
To support daily supervision for a small team of professionals or a larger team of paraprofessionals.
Accountabilities/Responsibilities
Service delivery
The post holder will be required to manage a large and complex caseload of children and young people to ensure that the duties of the Authority are carried out in relation to:
- All children and young people up to the age of 25 years in the statutory assessment, planning and preparing the Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan.
- Preparing evidence and presenting an objective view to inform decision making for children and young people
- Maintaining and reviewing EHC plans
- Undertaking the reassessment of an EHC plan in relation to a child or young person's needs
- Ceasing an EHC plan
- Compliance with all statutory timescales and other performance indicators to ensure they are adhered to.
In addition the post holder will be required:
- To lead (chair as appropriate) specific meetings in relation to children and young people with SEND, including but not exhaustive of meetings associate with statutory assessment, review processes and mediation.
- To prepare, manage and represent the Authority at First-tier Tribunal (SEND) hearings. As part of this task management, the SEND Case Manager provides technical expertise to advise and support witnesses.
- To attend and contribute to Area and County Panels and plan meetings as required.
- To attend statutory multi-agency meetings.
- To fulfil the role of lead officer for an identified number of schools or specific groups of pupils.
- To support specific identified tasks across different service areas.
- To contribute to County wide SEND team initiatives which shape and influence service planning.
- To ensure that all relevant issues relating to key stage transitions or transition from children to adults' services of children and young people with education, health and care plans are being met and any issues brought to the attention of the SEND Team Manager or Inclusion Transitions Coordinator.
- To analyse and prepare transport appeals to enable the student support panel to make an informed decision.
Effective Processes
The post holder will be required:
- To complete all work within statutory timescales.
- To make effective use of the monitoring and tracking systems that are in place.
- To complete, monitor and review the arrangements for making provision within all settings including the independent and non-maintained sector.
- To ensure that data is accurate, complete and up to date.
Communication skills and information sharing
The post holder will be required:
- To provide children and young people and/or their families with the information they need to participate in making decisions about their special educational needs and the provision required and the support they need.
- To communicate regularly with service users and other stakeholders including those working in education, health and care services to provide information, advice and guidance by interpreting established procedures, using technical experience and by applying best practice within the field.
- To build partnerships and networks both internally and externally to ensure the effective and improved service delivery for children and young people with SEND.
- Provide technical advice to an extensive range of professionals, settings, children, young people and their families ensuring compliance with all relevant legislation relating to the SEND Code of Practice.
- Design, develop and deliver formal and informal technical training in respect of specific identified areas within the Integrated Assessment Team.
- To liaise with SEND Assistant Case Managers, SEND Caseworkers and other officers within the Inclusion Service to assist with casework as required.
Development and skills
The post holder will be required:
- To keep up to date with all developments in the area of SEND.
- To participate in continued professional development and performance management arrangements.
- To support the development of improvements to current working methods to contribute to improvements in service delivery
- To ensure knowledge of and compliance with Lancashire County Council policies, guidance and procedures.
Other
The post holder will be required:
- To attend team, service and local authority meetings as required.
- To undertake any other reasonable duties in relation to the service delivery plan of the Inclusion Service and the SEND Improvement Plan.
- Key tasks and accountabilities are intended to be a guide to the range and level of work expected of the post-holder. This is not an exhaustive list of all tasks that may fall to the post-holder and employees will be expected to carry out such other reasonable duties which may be required from time to time.
- Equal Opportunities
We are committed to achieving equal opportunities in the way we deliver services to the community and in our employment arrangements. We expect all employees to understand and promote this policy in their work.
- Health and Safety
All employees have a responsibility for their own health and safety and that of others when carrying out their duties and must help us to apply our general statement of health and safety policy.
- Customer Focused
We put our customers' needs and expectations at the heart of all that we do. We expect our employees to have a full understanding of those needs and expectations so that we can provide high quality, appropriate services at all times.
Qualifications:
Essential
- Professional qualification or relevant degree, plus substantial experience OR substantial vocational experience at a demonstrably professional level.
- Evidence of continuous professional development
Experience:
Essential
- Experience of using up to date and authoritative knowledge in a technical/specialist area to support delivery of a complex operation, function or service.
- Experience of working in different operational areas or supporting activity across different services that includes working within a multi-agency environment and/or partnership working.
- Experience of working with children, young people, families and the public.
Desirable
- Experience of working with children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities and their families.
Knowledge, skills and abilities:
- Demonstrative knowledge of the application, principles, theory and practice of the specialist area of responsibility, including up-to-date knowledge of relevant legislation, statutory guidance and local authority SEND procedures and those required to safeguard and promote the welfare of the child.
- Proven ability to implement and deliver effective implementation of complex and challenging solutions which are consistent with existing, new or evolving policy/procedure.
- Proven technical ability in the interpretation of reports from a wide range of professionals and in exercising technical ability and judgment of these.
- Ability to produce high quality reports and documents that present complex information in a straightforward easy to read manner.
- Ability to apply technical/specialist judgement to ensure service area objectives are achieved.
- Ability to plan and organise a range of complex activities and priorities within a focused area of service
- Flexible and responsive approach to work that will support effective and creative problem solving
- Comprehensive understanding of all existing Policy and Procedures in the service area and application in a changeable and challenging environment
- Experience of working independently with relevant specialised systems, equipment and/ or software to utilise ICT skills to support working practise
- Ability to work in a team and develop and sustain partnerships across teams and services
- In addition to the skills knowledge and experience described above, you may be required to undertake a lower graded role as appropriate
Desirable
- Knowledge of services relevant to children, young people, families, carers, groups and partner agencies.
