Vacancies

SEND IASS Officer

Please Note: The application deadline for this job has now passed.

About the role

The WNC Special Educational Needs & Disability Information Advice and Support Service (SEND IASS) is looking to recruit a full-time, permanent Officer to join our amazing team and help play an important role in achieving positive outcomes for children and young people with SEND and their families. This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the delivery of SEND support as part of a dedicated and experienced team.

SEND IASS provides statutory impartial, confidential information, advice and support service on matters relating to children and young people with SEND. The service is offered to children and young people aged 0-25 years old and their parents.

This is an exciting opportunity to develop the Officer role within the team. The post holder will contribute to the development and delivery of the service by providing high quality impartial information, advice and support to children and young people with SEND and their families.

Working closely with the Service Manager, this post will be an important link between the operational role of the service and the strategic development within the local area SEND Services

The Officer will be required to support the Service Manager to develop and deliver training and the supervision and retention of IASS Caseworkers to ensure they are supported and able to give appropriate and relevant support to empower service users.

The post holder will also be required to deliver information sessions to parents.

The post holder will work with the Service Manager to ensure accurate recording of data and have the ability analyse and present data that can be used to develop the Service and feed into the development of local SEND Services.

The Officer will be responsible for developing and delivering the Service’s offer directly to children and young people. Liaising with local schools and colleges the post holder will develop the CYP Advisory Council, ensuring the Voice of Young people is in the development of the SEND IAS Service but also in the other local SEND Services.

What will you be doing?

Work with the Service Manager to develop a high-quality, comprehensive, relevant SEND IAS Service for CYP with SEND and their families as outlined in the SEND Code of Practice (2015). This includes managing and analysing the operational aspects of the service and feeding them into the strategic plan and the local area SEND strategic plans.

Disseminate outcomes of the work of the IAS Service locally and nationally via conferences, training events, newsletters, website and social media as appropriate so that the service is able to develop and improve.

Manage the day to day activities of the caseworkers and ensure the operational delivery of the adviceline meets service needs.

Provide a high-quality point of contact for service users, statutory and voluntary agencies to address their queries and requests, provide them with information, advice and support to help them understand procedure and interventions and empower service users to express their views and have their voice heard in decision making both at an individual and strategic level. Support the operational delivery of the Adviceline.

Manage and develop the IASS Advisory Council for Young People ensuring that the VOC is captured and fed into local are SEND Strategy. This will include facilitating meetings and conferences for young people with SEND and liaising with schools and parents.

About you

You will have outstanding interpersonal skills, including oral and written communication, listening skills, empathy and ability to build rapport. The ability to be flexible in approach in dealing with difficult situations, working with sensitive and confidential information and working well under pressure is also essential requirement.

You will have the ability to work on your own initiative but also be a confident team player, with the ability to communicate complex information to a wide range of people.

You will have the ability to find creative approaches to some of the challenges faced by children and young people and their families and other SEND Services.

The ability to deliver training to individuals and groups is also a requirement.

You will be required to work with the Service Manager to ensure accurate recording of data and have the ability analyse and present data that can be used to develop the Service and feed into the development of local SEND Services.

The ability to work directly with young people will also be essential to this role as the post holder will manage and develop our young person’s advisory group.

A demonstrable understanding and knowledge of current SEND working practice and educational legislation would be a distinct advantage. You will be computer literate.

The post holder will be required to have the ability to work across Northamptonshire. An Enhanced DBS is required for this post.

For an informal chat about this post, please contact Nikki Taylor - Nikki.Taylor@westnorthants.gov.uk or call 07736 638533

Our benefits

We offer a wide range of benefits to our employees, these include:

Generous annual leave entitlement starting at 28 days annual leave per year, 29 days for senior managers (pro rata, depending on how many hours per week you work), plus bank holidays. An additional 5 days, linked to continuous service, and ability to purchase up to 6 weeks additional leave per year.
Cycle to Work scheme.
Local Government Pension Scheme plus immediate life cover (3 times your annual salary from day one) and ill-health protection.
Employee discounts with local and national retailers, days out, finance, health and beauty, travel and eating out plus lots more.
Car Lease scheme
Payment of professional subscription / membership - If your job description requires that you are registered with or are a member of a professional body, WNC will pay for your professional subscription or membership fees.
Employee Assistance Programme - We have an employee support programme run by Health Assured, an independent, external organisation. Health Assured is available for you and your immediate family members, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and includes telephone counselling, legal advice, bereavement support and medical information.
Ongoing training and development opportunities.
A variety of flexible working options to support your work/life balance, including full or part time, term time, 9-day fortnight, etc. (subject to business needs).
Our West Ways of Working – We want our workforce to thrive, and we equip our employees with the right technology to support hybrid and collaborative working, on or off site, depending on the role.
Making a difference - If you want to use your skills and experience with an organisation that are genuinely invested in making a difference, are committed to improving people's lives, and whose success has a direct impact on the wellbeing of your family, friends and people in your local area, then West Northamptonshire Council is the place for you.

About us

We’re a new council, following one of the largest shake-ups in local government reform in recent history. As a new authority, we’re embarking on an exciting journey to deliver exceptional services for our residents, customers and communities.

Our vision at West Northamptonshire Council is ‘to make West Northants a great place to live, work, visit and thrive’. We truly stand by this and work hard every day to make this a reality. Our corporate values, THRIVE, stand for: Trust, High Performance, Respect, Innovate and Empower, they underpin everything we do and how we deliver services.

Hear more from our Chief Executive, Anna Earnshaw, about what it's like to work at West Northants Council https://youtu.be/lV0EfeUF4aU

At West Northants Council, it’s about our people. People who thrive with ambition, bubble with new ideas, demand better ways of working, caring about every detail, and who never shy away from a challenge. Our culture is a gateway for new experiences. A place to forge new opportunities. To empower you in your career and unite you with like-minded people.

When potential is unlocked, talent thrives.

Choose a career that offers you a true sense of achievement, fills you with pride and challenges you in a positive way, every day.

West Northants Council, where careers thrive.