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Job Information
Achieving for Children is a Community Interest Company that has a public sector ethos, combined with the freedom to innovate enabling us to do things differently. As a not-for-profit social enterprise owned by three local authorities (Windsor & Maidenhead, Kingston and Richmond), we offer the freedoms of a social enterprise with the employment benefits of local government. To find out more about us click here.
EHCP Coordinator (Pre 14 Team)
Join an Outstanding Team
We're proud to announce that AfC's Children's Services in Richmond have been awarded an Outstanding rating by Ofsted. This places Richmond alongside Kingston, which also holds an Outstanding rating, as a top-performing service. Our separately inspected Fostering Service has achieved a strong ‘Good’ rating, recognising our skilled and dedicated fostering workforce.
Come work with a skilled, stable workforce and be part of an organization that's truly making a difference.
The SEND Service is responsible for managing the statutory functions involved in educational, health and care needs assessments and maintaining all Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), whilst working collaboratively with the child or young person and their families, the educational setting and all other professionals involved.
This is a hybrid role, 2 days in the office.
About the role
Coordinators manage the Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan process to ensure that children and young people with SEND aged 0-25 receive appropriate assessments, services and provision from Education, Health and Social Care. You will be responsible for a caseload as defined by the Service Manager and have prime responsibility for coordinating the entire process with families to create an EHC Plan. This will include managing the EHC Needs Assessment, presenting requests to the SEN Panel, coordinating assessments from other agencies, drafting and finalising the plan with families. As part of this process you will be expected to act as a professional exemplar in carrying out all duties with a ‘can do’ attitude and continue to improve customer satisfaction levels for the service. You will be expected to undertake statutory SEN assessment and placement processes in an efficient and timely manner, reaching appropriate placement decisions for children and young people aged 0-25, including being responsible for managing the arrangements for Secondary and Key Stage Transfer through liaison with the admission service, schools and parents/carers. You will work closely with service providers and families in order to ensure that the provision outlined in the EHC Plans is being effectively delivered and to take appropriate action where this is not the case. To support this coordinators will be expected to manage processes including Annual Reviews, Transition Reviews, provision and placement requests and requests to change parts of the EHCP. Coordinators are also expected to lead Annual Reviews as required and to input into monitoring systems for the management of all Review processes. As part of this role you will be required to meet with parents, schools and other agency representatives in order to negotiate, identify and develop positive solutions where children and young people have a complex range of needs.
Should you wish to have an informal discussion about this role please contact: elizabeth.pearce@achievingforchildren.org.uk
About you
Qualifications:
- Educated to GCSE English and Maths or equivalent.
Skills and experience:
- Knowledge of the principles and practice of; Service providers across Education, Health and Care
- Effective people management; Excellent customer service; Safeguarding issues; Equality and disability issues.
- Detailed knowledge of SEN law and the SEN Code of Practice.
- Thorough knowledge of the services and agencies which might be involved in the EHC assessment and EHC Plan delivery.
- High level communication and customer service skills.
- Ability to prioritise work.
- Excellent written communication skills including ability to draft clear and concise plans.
- Ability to work in a pressurised environment.
- Experience in drafting high quality documents in relation to statutory requirements.
- Working within timescales.
- Good ICT skills.
- Relevant experience within SEN.
- Experience of promoting equality and diversity.
- Experience of working in a multi-agency environment and partnership working.
About our benefits
We are focused on creating a positive supportive environment, where you will have access to a really wide range of resources, as well as a competitive salary and all the perks to enable hybrid working. In AfC you will also have access to:
- 29 days annual leave, increasing to 33 days after 2 years and 35 days after 4 years with an additional day off in your birthday month (Or for term-time workers, your leave entitlement consists of the non-working periods in your contract)
- Tailored induction sessions commencing on the date you start working for AfC
- Local Government salary and pension scheme (LGPS or Teachers Pension)
- Flexible working options - helping to keep a good work life balance
- A comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme
- A range of staff benefits and discounts
- An excellent learning and development offer to support your career pathway
To find out about all of the breadth of benefits of working for Achieving for Children click here. For our social work offer click here. For our Recruitment Journey, click here.
Important Information
Start dates: Achieving for Children have set start dates meaning successful candidates join on a set date in each month. Candidates are advised to prepare for this should a job offer be accepted to ensure eligible continuous service is not affected.
Right to work: The UK has introduced a new points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance.
Equality: We particularly welcome applications from sections of the community who are currently underrepresented within our teams. Achieving for Children are committed to making our recruitment practices as inclusive as possible for everyone. We are committed to promoting equality and diversity and developing a culture that values differences, recognising that employees from a variety of backgrounds bring important and positive contributions and can improve the way we deliver services. We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer.
Safeguarding: We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).
We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you complete and return your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
