SEN Case Officer

The position of SEN Case Officer is to carry out casework and phase transfer work in the secondary and post 16 Team working with schools, social care both children's and adults', health colleagues and providers of supported internships in Reading. The job holder will lead and co-ordinate the casework required to meet Brighter Futures for Children's (BFfC) statutory duties such as phased transfers, to ceasing, initiating, processing and maintaining EHC plans for Children and young people between the ages of 11 - 25 years old. Role responsibilities

• Work in partnership with parents and ensure that children, young people and their families are fully involved in the assessment process and the plan builds upon the aspirations of children and young people.
• Ensure the Education, Health and Care assessment process is carried out efficiently, consistently and in line with the statutory requirements set out in the Children and Families Act and the SEN Code of Practice. This will include ensuring that we meet our Statutory timescales and manage the Statutory processes especially in relation to transition points, the ceasing, initiating, processing and maintaining of EHCPs. Lead on advising partners on the key SEN legislation and ensure the Code of Practice is implemented.
• Support effective multi-agency working to support the development of comprehensive Education, Health and Care Plan, Annual Reviews and positive multi-agency working relationships. This may include chasing assessment reports, facilitating multi-agency meetings and meetings with families.
• Chair the EHC Production meeting with family, school and other agencies, ensuring that it is conducted using person centred approaches and that the family are able to participate fully.
• Ensure that the EHC Production meeting addresses all aspects of the child's development and facilitate the meeting in a way which encourages creative, personalised solutions to achieve the child's outcomes.
• Draft high-quality Education, Health and Care Plans, which are clear, accessible and outcome focused and in line with the legal and statutory requirements described in the Children and Family's Act and SEN Code of Practice.
• To ensure that parents, educational psychologists, head teachers and others, as appropriate, are fully consulted in the assessment of an individual child and that they are kept fully informed as to the reasons for the decisions made by the LA.
• Discuss the completed assessments with parents, including clarifying assessment content to aid understanding and present a summary to the SEND Panel for allocation of resources.
• Work with the family, and other agencies as required, if an EHC Assessment is refused or if an EHC Assessment does not result in a statutory EHC Plan, in order to plan a way forward.
• Represent BFFC at admissions panels for maintained special schools and resource units and be responsible for communicating the outcomes of panel meetings to parents and other authorities.
• Be a named Officer for a number of identified schools, both within and outside of the authority (mainstream and special) and special resources.
• Manage and maintain a designated caseload of children/young people with special educational needs ensuring that BFfC's statutory obligations are met. This will include co-ordination of EHC needs assessment, monitoring the agreed Education, Health and Care Plans and ensuring that a review is held at least annually, attending where possible, and that the plan continues to meet the identified needs of the child and young person.
• Ensure Education, Health and Care plans are amended following annual reviews within statutory timescales.
• Create and maintain up to date records ensuring the relevant databases are updated. Collate and write reports as required for meetings such as the SEN Panel, funding requests and for SEND tribunals.
Inclusion and Diversity We want Brighter Futures for Children to be a great place to work and to ensure that our children, young people and families are represented in leadership roles and positions of power. A vital part of this is ensuring we are a truly inclusive organisation that encourages diversity in all respects, including diversity of thinking. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and those of Other Ethnicities, LGBT+, disabled and neurodiverse communities to make a real difference to our children, young people and families so that equalities and justice remains at the heart of everything we do. Asking for Adjustments Brighter Futures for Children is committed to making our recruitment practices barrier-free and as accessible as possible for everyone. This includes making adjustments or changes for disabled people, neurodiverse people or people with long-term health conditions. If you would like us to do anything differently during the application, interview or assessment process, including providing information in an alternative format, please let us know.

Disability Confident About Disability Confident A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.