Independent Travel Trainer
About the job
Salary: £30,024 - £32,597 a year
Hours per week: 37
Contract type: Permanent
As an Independent Travel Trainer, you will support children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) to develop the skills and confidence required to travel independently and safely. You will carry out in-home assessments to determine suitability and eligibility for the Independent Travel Training Scheme, creating bespoke training plans and schedules that reflect each individual’s needs and circumstances.
You will deliver one-to-one travel training, implementing agreed plans and adapting programmes as required to accommodate progress or unforeseen changes. This will include planning travel routes, undertaking risk assessments, and ensuring that children and young people are not exposed to unnecessary risk during or after training.
Working closely with parents/carers, schools, and other professionals, you will monitor and assess progress after each session, maintaining accurate records and an audit trail of each service user’s journey through the scheme. You will provide regular progress reports to the Independent Travel Training Manager, including recommendations, next steps, and justification where training cannot be progressed.
The role also involves producing post-completion training plans to support ongoing development and refresher training at key transition points. You will contribute to the ongoing monitoring, review, and development of the travel training programme to ensure positive outcomes for children and young people and value for money for Luton Borough Council.
In addition, you will work as part of the wider SEND Travel Service team to actively promote the Independent Travel Training Scheme, including attending school and college open events and parent/carer evenings, and assisting with the development and delivery of classroom-based training where appropriate.
You will be responsible for ensuring that all decisions relating to travel assistance requests are of high quality, compliant with policy, and aligned with statutory and legal duties. At all times, you must promote and safeguard the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable individuals you work with or come into contact with.
About you
You will have experience of working with people and the general public and an understanding of, or appreciation for, the needs of children, young people, and older people with disabilities. You are confident engaging with a wide range of individuals and are able to provide effective help and advice using accurate and fluent written and spoken English.
You can communicate clearly, tactfully, and politely with parents, carers, relatives, colleagues, and children and young people, demonstrating empathy, professionalism, and respect at all times. You understand the importance of building positive relationships and maintaining clear, appropriate communication in a sensitive service area.
You will have a good understanding of how IT systems are used to manage service user records and submit reports, ensuring information is recorded accurately and in line with data protection requirements. You are also able to recognise some common forms of discrimination and understand the importance of equality, diversity, and inclusion in service delivery.
You must be willing to attend and participate in regular training essential to the role, including Safeguarding Adults and Children, Autism Awareness, Dementia Awareness, First Aid, GDPR, Contextual Safeguarding, FGM and Radicalisation, as well as any other training required to effectively deliver the service.
You are committed to promoting and safeguarding the welfare of children, young people, and vulnerable individuals and understand the responsibilities associated with working in a public-facing SEND service.
About us
Our ambitiousLuton 2040 Vision– that no-one in Luton will have to live in poverty – is at the heart of everything we do. We recognise that our people are remarkable, talented, committed and passionate about serving our residents.
The people of Luton depend heavily on this council – and that means our workforce! Are you ready to realise the remarkable and help us deliver our vision?
We welcome applications from all sections of the community and are committed to developing a workforce that reflects the diversity of our borough
Application Process
Because of the nature of this job, it will be necessary for the appropriate level of criminal record disclosure to be undertaken. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare all unspent cautions and convictions; and also any adult cautions (simple or conditional), and spent convictions that are not protected as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020). A person’s criminal record will not in itself prevent a person from being appointed to this post. Applicants will not be refused posts because of offences which are not relevant to, and do not place them at or make them a risk in, the role for which they are applying. However in the event of the employment being taken up, any failure to disclose such offence, as detailed above, will result in dismissal or disciplinary action by the Authority.
On occasions, we may close a vacancy early due to a very high number of applications being received.
Benefits
We offer a range of excellent staff benefits which include:
- From 25 to 32 days’ annual leave: linked to length of service and grade
- Buying annual leave scheme: buy up to 20 days additional annual leave
- Career Pathways: step up in your career or move into a specialist area
- Pension scheme: with generous employer contributions of up to 20.2 per cent (at July 2023) and 3x salary death in service grant
- Generous relocation package: up to £8,000 (subject to eligibility)
- Employee Assistance Programme: a free, 24/7 confidential counselling and wellbeing support service available to all employees, their partner or spouse and dependent children over 16 still living at home
- Work/life balance: flexible working options including working from home where possible. We welcome requests for flexible working arrangements including part-time hours and alternative working patterns
- Training and support: unlimited access to development courses, mentoring and support and clear career pathways
- Staff offers: includes discounts on your MOT, gym and fitness, restaurants and salons
- Arriva Travel Club: great value savings on local bus travel
How to apply
We understand that job applications take time and effort, but a high-quality application shows that you are professional with a good attention to detail. The recruiting manager may receive a number of applications for each job advertised so you want yours to stand out!
Our ‘How to apply' page has more tips to help with your application: How to apply
Available documents
Attached documents are available under links. Clicking a document link will initialize its download.Salary range
- £30,024 - £32,597 per year