Fair Access Officer

Job Title: Fair Access Officer
Starting Salary: £38,220 progressing to £41,771 per annum (pro rata for part time)
Hours: 15
Location: Stevenage
Contract Type: Fixed Term until 31st March 2026
Directorate: Childrens Services

About the team

The Admissions & Transport Team is a fast paced, dynamic service working within Childrens Services. The Fair Access Team sits within this department and secures school places for children who may have had a disrupted education or may have had difficulties in accessing an educational placement.

About the role

You will take responsibility for securing educational provision for a caseload of children who are reintegrating into school, and coordinating their support package.

This is a high volume role where you will make full use of your negotiation, communication and professional skills to place children in appropriate education provision in accordance with Hertfordshire’s Fair Access Protocol.

You will be working in partnership with schools and a range of other agencies to make a real difference to the outcomes for children.

About you

Essential:

• You will need experience of working with challenging/vulnerable young people within an educational environment.
• You should have the ability to influence and work collaboratively with schools, and experience of successful liaison with senior school staff including Head Teachers.
• Experience of effective and successful working in multi-agency settings and seeking solutions including the chairing of multi-agency meetings and constructing support packages for children with additional needs.
• You will be confident, diplomatic and calm in sensitive situations (including discussing children’s disabilities or special needs with parents/carers) and resilient when dealing with complex issues and complaints.
• You must be a proficient IT user - word processing, spreadsheets, databases and email, with good problem solving and analytical skills to produce and manipulate statistics and reports.
• You will be educated to minimum A Level or equivalent, with a minimum GCSE Grade C in English and Maths or able to demonstrate equivalent level of achievement through work experience. Knowledge of legislation of school admissions, exclusions and education administration would be an advantage.

Desirable:

• Driving licence and access to a vehicle - the ability to get to meetings within schools by car

We welcome applications from candidates who currently reside in the UK with established proof of right to work documentation. We are not able to offer sponsorship at this time for this role.

This job role is within the Community Services, level COM10 job profile. Please locate this via:

Job profiles - Community services

To hear more about this opportunity please contact Deborah Roberts (deborah.roberts@hertfordshire.gov.uk)

Interview Date: TBC

Benefits of working for us

How to apply

As part of your application, please upload your most recent CV. Ensure your CV is up to date with your employment history (including any employment gaps), and including any training/qualifications. We encourage you to include examples of where you have demonstrated the requirements/criteria in the advert / job profile to allow the panel to fully recognise your skills and abilities. You will have the opportunity to include a short covering paragraph within your application to give us a little more information about your skills, knowledge, and experiences.

Secondment
This position is open to secondments. If you work for HCC or any other Local Authority and would like to be considered as a Secondment contract, please ensure you complete the Secondment Form as part of your application. If you do not, your application will be considered as a Fixed Term Contract only.

Additional information

Disability Confident
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer and guarantee an interview to anyone disclosing a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the post.

English Fluency
The ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English is essential for the post (for those whose language is a signed language the provision of a sign language interpreter who speaks English to the necessary standard of fluency will be required). Further information about the legal requirement can be found here.