Oldham SEND Information Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) Officer

To provide accurate, relevant information, advice and support to Parents and Carers of Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities; and Young People 16+ about their own Special Educational Needs and Disabilities through casework.

To promote effective working partnerships with, but not limited to Parents, Carers, Children, Young People, Education Settings, Local Authority Practitioners, Health Practitioner, Voluntary and Private Sector Organisations.

General Duties:

The general duties that you will be expected to undertake in the role are as follows:

1. To work in a person-centered way, ensuring that apply POINT's co-production values in all aspects of case work with children, young people, and their families.

2. Respond to enquiries received through the SENDIAS Service telephone helpline, face to face meetings, events, email and website, within the agreed service response time.

3. Ensure service users are provided with up to date, accurate and impartial information, and advice with specific regard to the SEND Code of Practice 2015 and the Children and Families Act 2014.

4. Empower service users to self-support by signposting to relevant information, with a particular focus on local policy and practice, the Local Offer, Personal Budgets, the law on SEN & Disability, Health and Social Care.

5. To provide confidential and impartial advice to young people 16+ in their own right, which may be independent of their parent or carer.

6. Actively promoting the voice of the child/young person throughout the work with families.

7. To provide information, advice and support for parents, carers, young people and practitioners through:

• Phone
• Email
• Webchat contact
• Face to face meetings, including home visits where required.
• Representation and support in preparing for and attending meetings.
• Signposting to other local or national sources of support.
• Delivering empowerment training to enable self-support and improved understanding of SEN and Disability legislation, policy and practice.

8. Help to complete forms, write letters and reports, tailoring support to individual need to ensure equitable access to the service.

9. Planning support to ensure the best use of time.

10. To provide support for parents and young people preparing and during the EHC needs assessment and planning process. This will involve:

• Acting as a named contact throughout the process.
• Liaison and co-ordination across a range of agencies.
• Providing information to help with understanding of Personal Budgets.

11. To provide support in resolving disagreements including where necessary case working and attendance at Mediation meeting, Disagreement Resolution meetings and SEND Tribunals.

12. To provide information and advice on exclusions.

13. To work in a conciliatory way to facilitate communication between all stakeholders. This includes representing the SENDIAS Service at SEND Partnership meetings where required.

14. To develop and maintain positive working relationships with all agencies involved.

15. To keep accurate, up to date and confidential records and case notes.

16. To assist with such admin support as required, including general admin, production of case studies and production of detailed monitoring information.

17. Take responsibility for accessing supervision and responding to any case or service decisions effectively, recording all decisions and ensuring confidentiality and professional boundaries are maintained at all times.

18. To work flexibly and in a way which supports the needs of the service which includes evening and weekend working where necessary.

19. To work flexibly and in a way which supports the needs of the

20. Undertake any other reasonable duties as required.

The following accountability measures are relevant to the role of SENDIAS Officer:

1. For the delivery of independent, impartial, confidential Information, Advice and Support service which complies with the SEND Code of Practice, Children and Families Act and the SENDIASS minimum standards framework.

2. To undertake training including IASS Legal Training and to undertake further training and development as required for your continuing professional development. Note these sessions may be outside of your usual working hours.

3. Contribute to the timely production of both quantitative and qualitative data that demonstrates the Impact and Outcomes that are delivered by the service for families, children and young people.

4. Accurate recording of contact, actions and outcomes using POINT's database systems.

5. Contribute to the development and delivery of the SENDIAS Service Development Plan, taking ownership of assigned actions to ensure that the service continues to deliver best practice standards.

6. Evidence full compliance with all POINT's policies including those related to Health and Safety, Data Protection/ GDPR in order to protect your own and others' health, safety and welfare.

7. To act as an ambassador of POINT at all times, representing the ethos and service standards required in this role.

Do you have experience in Special education?

Pulled from the full job description

• Life insurance
• Free parking
• Company pension
• Health & wellbeing programme
• Company events