Best Start SEND Team Manager

About Us

At West Sussex County Council, we are ambitious for children, families, and our workforce. We are committed to improving outcomes for children through early, inclusive, and coordinated support. Best Start Family Hubs (BSFH) are central to this ambition, bringing together services so families can access the right help at the right time, from pregnancy through to school entry.

The West Sussex Best Start Plan sets out our shared commitment to prevention, early intervention and strong partnerships around families. It is built on a simple belief: when parents and families are supported, children thrive. Whatever a child's background, acting early and working together makes a lasting difference.

Best Start Family Hubs are at the heart of community support, bringing together services for families from pregnancy through to early childhood to ensure every child has the best possible start in life. We offer a welcoming, inclusive environment where parents and carers can access early help, health support, parenting guidance, and opportunities to build confidence and connections within their local community. Working in partnership with health, education, and voluntary services, Best Start focuses on improving outcomes around child development, school readiness, and family wellbeing.

The Best Start Family Hub SEND Team Manager plays a key leadership role within this system. The post provides operational leadership, management and professional oversight of the Best Start Inclusion Practitioners (BSIPs), ensuring high quality early identification and inclusive support for children aged 0-5 with emerging or additional needs across the Best Start Family Hub network.

About the Job

Salary: £48,226 - £51,356 per annum
Working Pattern: Full Time (37 hours)
Contract Length: Fixed-term contract until 30/06/2027
Location: Opportunities available across the county.

Internal candidates wishing to apply for this role will be considered for a secondment position. Please can you therefore discuss and agree this with your manager before applying for this position.

As Best Start Family Hub SEND Team Manager, you will lead, manage and supervise a team of Best Start Inclusion Practitioners working across hubs, outreach locations and community settings. You will be responsible for ensuring consistent, high-quality practice, effective deployment of staff, and a strong focus on early SEND identification and inclusion.

You will provide clear professional leadership to the BSIP team, supporting practitioners to use evidence-based approaches, exercise sound professional judgement and work confidently with families and partners. You will work closely with Best Start Family Hub managers, SEND services, health partners and early years leaders to ensure joined up, inclusive provision aligned with local priorities and SEND reform.

The role focuses on operational leadership and practice quality and ensures that families can access timely early SEND advice and support through every Best Start Family Hub.

We are looking for an experienced and confident leader with a strong background in early years, SEND and inclusion. You will bring a clear understanding of early child development, SEND systems and multi-agency working, alongside proven experience of managing and developing practitioners.

Experience and Skills

Key Skills:

• Ability to anticipate problems, plan solutions and make sound pragmatic problem-solving decisions which will have a wider service impact.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to influence the actions of others and communicate information which may be complex and contentious.
• Effective people and performance management skills and the ability to provide direction and motivate and inspire a team of specialist practitioners to deliver high quality professional practice.
• Able to manage self, is self-aware and understands impact of work on self and others and responds constructively to situations. Understanding the need for emotional intelligence/resilience. Ability to respond calmly and appropriately to situations where others are in a stressful or anxious situation.
• Strong knowledge of early years SEND, inclusion and child development, with the ability to translate this into practice leadership. Using analysis of service-level information and practice feedback to inform decision-making, service development and embed new ways of working.
• Ability to organise/prioritise work, co-ordinate a variety of tasks in a clear and logical way and meet agreed deadlines and outcomes without supervision.

Qualifications and/or experience:

• Post graduate professional qualification in early years, education, SEND, child development, health or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• Substantial experience of working within early years and/or SEND services.
• Knowledge of child development, SEND legislation, early years pedagogy and effective practice to improve outcomes for children with SEND.
• Demonstrable experience of managing, supervising and developing staff.
• Experience of multi-agency working across health, education, SEND and family support services.

Valid and full driving licence and access to a vehicle/ability to travel around the county independently.

Reward and Benefits

As an employer we recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive and dynamic working environment where employees can achieve their full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance, and are rewarded for the work they do.

In addition to working within a great team and a competitive salary you will have access to:

For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee, you can find this at our Rewards and Benefits page.

How to Apply

The reference number for this role is CAFHE06389.

For an informal conversation or further information regarding the role, please contact Emma Parker at or general queries please reach out to our resourcing team at .

To apply, upload your CV and cover letter explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check, 5 years referencing and a health check.

Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application please contact .

For information regarding your eligibility to apply for this role under our Disability, Veteran's or Care Leaver's Guaranteed Interview Scheme, please visit our website.