About the role
Are you looking for a new challenge and want to make a difference for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disability in North Northamptonshire?

The Education Health and Care (EHC) Team are looking to recruit an EHC Officer to work with, and on behalf of, children, young people, and their families, working closely with relevant professionals, enabling the Local Authority to fulfil its statutory duty in respect of children/young people with special educational needs. The EHC Officer will manage Caseworkers and Caseworker Assistants for an area of responsibility ensuring that statutory deadlines are adhered to. They will take an active role in implementing the local strategy for SEN and, where appropriate, to undertake research and development activities which contribute to the development of the EHC team’s processes. The EHC Officer will also play a significant role in monitoring pupil progress and to contribute towards the strategic development of the County SEN provision.

This position will be a hybrid of office and remote working with the expectation that at least one day will be worked in the office at Council Office, Bowling Green Road, Kettering NN16 6SA

**Please note the short closing date 7 May 2024**

Shortlisting will take place on 9 May 2024

Interviews will take place on week commencing 27 May 2024

What will you be doing?
Be part of the EHC Management Team and, have management and reporting responsibility for an area of work.

Attend meetings to contribute to the governance of the EHC Statutory processes in line with SEND Code of Practice 2015.

Have line management responsibility for a team consisting of Caseworkers and Caseworker Assistants.

Be responsible, in consultation with the Caseworkers for the accuracy of statutory SEN documentation and be the authorised officer to sign them, in addition to ensuring reviews of children’s statutory documents are carried out at least annually and agree those that require amending or discontinuing.

Be point of contact for children, young people, their families and other parties relevant to the EHC processes managing difficult conversations and complex situations.

Contribute ideas and embrace change as systems and processes develop to improve service delivery.

About you
Successful applicants will have experience of working with families, children and young people in a professional capacity, being a point of contact for service users as well as being able to manage difficult conversations and manage complex situations.

They will have working knowledge of statutory processes and the ability manage and engage with statutory systems ie decision making functions.

They will have the ability to manage a number of staff with regards to motivating and focusing the team to meet statutory deadlines.

About us
We are a new unitary council, established in April 2021; we are one of the largest unitary councils in the country. Our vision for North Northants is to be 'A place where everyone has the best opportunities and quality of life'.

Our priorities are:

- helping people live active fulfilled lives
- caring for our young people, providing them with high quality education and opportunities
- enabling a thriving and successful economy
- leading on a green and sustainable environment
- ensuring our communities are connected so they can shape their lives and where they live
- providing modern public services

Our values, as chosen by our staff, are - Customer-focused, Respectful, Efficient, Supportive and Trustworthy.

**Your differences make us different - Achieve Together.**

Our benefits
We offer:

- a competitive salary
- a pension scheme, where we pay a significant contribution on top of your contribution. It provides life cover and ill-health protection.
- opportunities to develop your skills, knowledge and potential in a large unitary council
- generous leave entitlement (28 days, rising to 33 days) and bank holidays, plus the option to buy up to an extra 10 days
- agile and flexible working arrangements to help you with a healthy work-life balance.