SEN Caseworker

Salary: NJC Grade 5 £24,294 - £24,702 per annum
Working Pattern: 37 hours per week, full time
Contract Length: Permanent
Location: County Hall, Chichester

Closing Date: 06 August 2024

Interview Date: 14 August 2024

Do you have experience in customer service?

Do you enjoy working as a team to complete shared tasks?

Are you passionate about supporting children and young people with Special Educational Needs (SEN)?

We would love to hear from you, find out more about being a SEN Caseworker below.

This is an exciting time to join our Special Educational Needs Assessment Team (SENAT) as we are increasing our service to further support those with SEN. This role is covering a secondment.

As SEN Caseworker you will offer specialist administrative support of Early Years referrals, Education, Health, and Care Needs (EHCN) Assessment requests and to the assessment and review process.

You will work in collaboration with colleagues and partners to support the delivery of customer service and administrative tasks. Key areas of the admin in this role are despatching post or e-mail with information to customers, updating and maintaining files, databases, electronic records, and systems.

Key responsibilities of this role include:

• Managing contact and communication with customers and colleagues.
• Dealing with enquiries, ensuring appropriate referrals for more complex issues.
• Providing support on allocated cases.
• Assisting in the monitoring, analysis, and evaluation of the service by recording statistical information.
• Inputting information into an electronic system and/or type documents such as standard letters.
• Keep accurate records of enquiries and correspondence with customers.

We are looking for someone who has a passion for supporting children and families, with a strong customer focus. You will need to adapt and respond to the changing needs of the service.

Key skills required for the role:

• Organisational skills including meeting set targets and deadlines.
• Being able to present information clearly and accurately and interpret complex data.
• Experience with Word and Excel (or equivalent).
• Experience of working with customers to provide high level advice and guidance.
• NVQ 3 or equivalent qualification or experience

For more information on the Key Skills as well as the Qualifications and/or experience required, please refer to the Job Description attached.

The Special Educational Needs Assessment Team (SENAT) manages the decisions and processes concerned with statutory education health and care needs assessment process for learners with an education, health, and care plan (EHCP), the placement of children in learning settings and the allocation of resources to settings.

The team considers suitability of and where appropriate arranges the assessment and placement of children, young people, and young adults with special educational needs in accordance with the provisions of the Children and Families Act 2014 (Pt 3, SEN) and associated regulations including the SEN Code of Practice to ensure that the statutory assessment procedures are followed and proposed EHCPs are issued and reviewed within the timescales laid down by the regulations.

This will be achieved through direct work with parents, educational settings, young people, health, Social Care and other external customers and partnership organisations to establish the best ways to support learning for children and Young People (0-25).

For more information about West Sussex County Council, please visit our WSCC About Us page.

For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee you can find them on our Rewards and Benefits page.

The reference number for this role is CAFHE05307.

For an informal conversation or for further information regarding the role, please contact Kim Clayton, Operational Lead SENAT, at Kim.Clayton@westsussex.gov.uk

To apply, please follow the links below to upload your CV and Cover Letter.

In your cover letter please outline your motivations for applying and explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role (please refer to the key skills) ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable adults.

This post is subject to three years referencing and an occupational health check.

Equity, inclusion, and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.