SEN Casework Officer

As a SEN Casework Officer, you'll thrive on unlocking the talent and potential of children and young people by enabling their full participation in education, whatever challenges they face. It's not all about plans and processes, you bring creativity and passion to your work with young people and their families. You involve them in conversations and decisions and work productively with partners who share your ambition for all young people to live and learn to their full ability.

This role is integral to our Education, Health, and Care (EHC) casework team. We work closely with the wider SENSAP service to ensure young people with SEND can achieve their life aspirations. In SENSAP we take a forward‑thinking, innovative approach to our statutory duty, which is to delegate high needs funding, support inclusive SEND practice in education settings and manage education, health and care assessments and plans.

We fully engage children, young people and families in key decision making to help them understand their options and we work together to find the educational placement that best meets an individual's needs. As a SEN Casework Officer, you will work closely with children and families, other practitioners, and agencies to gather the insight you need to conduct an EHC assessment and, if appropriate, write an EHC plan.

You will identify clear objectives and hold annual reviews to support the child or young person to make progress and become equipped for adulthood in time. You will use your skills to research and communicate the local authority's legal duties to our families, schools, and other professionals. The EHC team oversee provision and admissions for children and young people who have an EHC plan, at all levels from nursery to school and post-16, in both mainstream and specialist settings.

• Be the named officer for a caseload of children and young people in the city, fulfilling the council's statutory responsibilities relating to Education, Health & Care (EHC) assessment, plans and reviews.
• Work flexibly within the service to provide support where it is needed in line with key priorities and pressures.
• Work collaboratively with other services to ensure that CYP have a holistic assessment and so that families experience a coordinated and robust assessment process.
• Make appropriate, independent judgements about complex cases in relation to children and young people with SEND, and look for and discuss solutions with families and young people.
• Work to ensure that children and young people with SEND have a voice and are enabled to positively influence their assessments, provision and learning outcomes.
• Ensure that parents/carers and children and young people with SEND fully understand their rights, and are empowered to express their views regarding the education of their children.
• Oversee and implement the administration of the statutory EHC assessment procedures outlined in the Children and Families Act 2014.
• Write and amend EHC plans in line with the SEND Regulations 2014 and SEND Code of Practice 2015, and in keeping with local and national standards.
• Support with the overall improvement of the quality of EHC plans, ensuring compliance with locally agreed quality assurance protocols.
• Represent Leeds City Council in the EHC plan review process as and when required.
• Support the completion of key national deadlines such as transfers of children and young people between phases of their education.
• Support parents/carers and children and young people in the identification and analysis of appropriate educational placements in line with their rights under the Children and Families Act 2014.
• To provide advice and information to families in relation to transport for children and young people with SEND in line with local policy.
• Organise and chair restorative conciliation meetings in order to prevent complaints and appeals.
• Organise, chair and attend meetings with parents/carers and schools/settings including multi‑agency professionals to discuss specific issues for individual children and young people with SEND.
• Provide information and advice to parents/carers and young people in relation to the…