Smethwick, West Bromwich
Circa £21,000 per annum
37hrs - Fixed Term Full-Time up to 31.03.2021
Giving children and young people the foundations they need to thrive.
The role
The Children and Families Act 2014 states that Local Authorities must provide information, advice and support about special educational needs (SEN), disability, health and social care for children, young people and parents. SENDIASS offer accurate, up-to-date and impartial resources and information about the law on special educational needs and disability to children, young people, parents, carers and professionals. The service provides confidential advice by telephone, e-mail or face-to-face, distributes information to enable service users to understand the new legal SEND framework helps service users to work closely with professionals and ensures understanding of rights roles and responsibilities. The SENDIASS service works closely with professionals from education, health and social care as well as children and families.
The successful applicant will co-ordinate and direct the support to Children, Young People and families by agreeing and providing interventions, which may be specialised, enabling positive and agreed outcomes to be achieved, in accordance with organisational policies, procedures and regulatory requirements.
You will make a difference by:
- Providing individual information and advice to parent carers and to children and young people with SEN and disabilities on issues related to SEN, health, social care, personal budgets and preparing for adulthood; via the helpline (phone, email, text or social media).
- Picking up Helpline messages and responding in a timely manner.
- Effectively triage callers, identifying with the caller what information, advice or support they have called to seek from Action for Children and whether this is within the scope of what Action for Children can offer, provide an immediate response and identify if more extended casework is required.
- Delivering helpline work as rostered and to offer cover where required to ensure that the Helpline is staffed during advertised opening hours.
- Providing individual casework, where required, to parent carers and children and young people with SEN and disabilities on issues related to SEN, health, social care, personal budgets and preparing for adulthood, up to and including support with appeals; via phone, email or text, or face to face where capacity allows.
- Maintaining accurate records of all Helpline activity and casework, contributing.
You will need:
- NVQ level 3 in health / social care, advice and guidance or relevant experience
- Experience working within a multi-agency social care, early years or health environment and applying safeguarding procedures.
- Experience of managing cases, in accordance with agreed procedures and completing assessments, planning and reviews to ensure positive outcomes.
- Working knowledge of an outcome based approach to planning, delivering and reviewing services.
- Ability to lead, direct and supervise and where necessary to manage and deliver operational services.
- The ability to keep the child and or young people as the focus and ensure their feelings and wishes are represented in meetings and record keeping
The way we work
We work to make sure every child and young person has the love, support and opportunity they need to reach their potential. If you share the same vision, we want you to join our team. Have a look at our behaviours and values to understand more about the way we work here.
Rewards
We want our employees to feel valued and rewarded for the vital work they do. When you work with us, we'll recognise your efforts with generous annual leave, a comprehensive employer-matched pension scheme and a range of deals and discounts on our dedicated benefits portal. Find out more about our exclusive Action for Children benefits here.
For safe and happy childhoods
At Action for Children, we protect and support children and young people, providing practical and emotional care and support, ensuring their voices are heard, and campaigning to bring lasting improvements to their lives. Last year, we helped more than 387,000 children and families across the UK.
For more information, please contact Neil Birkett on 07741660390 or email
We are committed to safer recruitment practices to protect our service users; therefore, all applicants are expected to have an understanding of and commitment to safeguarding best-practice.
Action for Children is passionate about promoting equality, valuing diversity and working inclusively. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons particularly people with Disabilities and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic applicants, as these groups are currently under-represented in our workforce.
