Participation Officer for Children and Young People with Additional Needs (special educational needs and disabilities, alternative provision and short breaks services)
Hours: 22.20 (3 days per week)
Salary: HC7 £29,777 - £33,945 pro rata (£17,866 - £20,367 per annum)
Contract: Permanent
Closing date: 13/05/2024
Interview date: 06/06/2024
The Role
Required for 1st July 2024 or earlier if available.
This new permanent post offers an exciting opportunity to coordinate and develop the voice of children and young people with additional needs 0-25 years across Local Authority services in Herefordshire. This is a joint role across education and children’s social care and is an important new post that is part of our improvement plan for the services to the children and young people of Herefordshire. The successful candidate will be working with youngsters with special educational needs and disabilities, and those accessing alternative provision and short breaks.
This is an exciting new opportunity to work directly with children and young people and those supporting them to ensure that our planning and service development is fully informed by the views and voices of children and young people. Coproduction and listening to lived experience is crucial and so our children and young people are important partners. Relevant qualifications and experience are required.
The role is based in Plough Lane but will involve travel across the County. The successful candidate will be working with other participation leads in the Council and other agencies to ensure we have an ambitious and consistent approach to ensuring that our children and young people’s ideas and view are part of our service planning and priorities.
If you have queries, please contact [email protected]
Benefits of working for Herefordshire Council:
A competitive salary, generous holiday entitlement, and access to our contributory pension and staff benefits scheme, which includes:
- Pension Scheme Enrolment in the Local Government (LGPS)
- Generous Annual Leave: 31 days (pro rata) plus bank holidays. You can also purchase an additional 10 days per annum
- Flexible working: flexi-time, job-share, part-time hours and, in some instances, home working
- Employee Assistance Programme: 24/7 access to support and counselling
- Payment of professional membership fees
- Pick your perks – our benefits include access to a range of retail, leisure, holiday and health benefits. This includes savings, cash back and discounts.
About Us
Herefordshire is a beautiful, historic county located in the heart of the Marches on the border with Wales. We are one of the most rural and sparsely populated counties in England with a wealth of unspoilt countryside, distinctive heritage, and lively and attractive market towns.
Our priority in Herefordshire is to keep children safe and give them a great start in life. It’s the priority for the council, our partners and for all of us who work with Children & Young People.
How do we do this? By having dynamic, dedicated, passionate and professional staff who work in a culture that focuses on what we can achieve with children, what they can achieve themselves, and the relationship we build with families and partners to enable this. We have invested heavily in training and developing staff in our relational practice approach with our improvement partner Leeds City Council, so it's an exciting time to join Herefordshire – we believe in investing in you so you can be the best you can be!
Herefordshire has a really strong team ethos. Our teams are passionate about the work they do and the positive difference they and the teams they are in make to people’s lives. This is all underpinned by the focus and support from their managers and the council as a whole.
We will deliver better support to our most vulnerable children and their families, develop stronger relationships with partners across the region, and beyond.
Therefore, we take our commitment to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults seriously and expect all of our staff, visitors and volunteers to share in this commitment.
Come to Herefordshire and join the journey.
Herefordshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children & young people and vulnerable adults. If you are offered this position, it will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service enhanced check and further pre-employment checks.
We welcome applicants whatever their personal characteristics or social identity. All requests for flexible working arrangements and reasonable adjustments will be considered.
The following candidates will be interviewed if they meet the essential criteria for the post they are applying for:
- Those who indicate that they have a disability. This is part of our commitment to the “Disability Confident” scheme;
- Those who indicate in their supporting statement that they are an Armed Forces Veteran or Reservist. This is part of our pledge to support the Armed Forces Covenant; and
- Those who indicate in their supporting statement that they are a Herefordshire care leaver. This is part of our commitment to supporting young people leaving our care.
Please refer to the Job Description and Person Specification for more details of this role.
To apply, please submit your CV and complete the supporting statement within the application form, referring to the job description & person specification, detailing how you meet the specific requirements of the role.