QA SEND Resolutions Manager

Job Title: QA SEND Resolutions Manager
Starting Salary: £53,806 progressing to £59,497 per annum
Hours: 37 per week
Base Location: Countywide; hybrid working model; combination of home working with proximity to Hertfordshire and able to work at base office at least one day per week, more depending on the needs of the role at specific times.
Contract Type: Permanent
Directorate: Childrens Services

Do you enjoy working in a fast-paced environment, have a passion for developing services and improving outcomes for children, young people and families with SEND?

About the role

This is a strategically significant leadership role at the heart of Hertfordshire’s SEND transformation. As the QA SEND Resolutions Manager, you will be instrumental in driving systemic improvement across the local area partnership, ensuring that dispute resolution pathways are not only effective but also a catalyst for continuous learning and service excellence.

Operating within the Making SEND Everyone’s Business transformation and investment programme, you will lead the development and implementation of a robust Quality Assurance and Learning Framework, ensuring that insights from dispute resolution are translated into tangible improvements in practice, policy, and outcomes, to make a real difference to the lives of children, young people and families with SEND.

The role is located in the Quality Assurance, Audit, Policy and Practice Service to enable a strong QA and improvement focus.

The postholder will be responsible for:

• Policy and Practice Leadership: Provide leadership and oversight of SEND resolution pathways, ensuring learning from feedback, complaints, mediations and tribunals informs service development and drives improvement in policy and practice, aligned with statutory duties and local priorities.
• Insight and Intelligence: Produce and present high-quality analytical reports to senior leadership and strategic boards, using data and lived experience to drive evidence-informed decision-making.
• Collaborative Improvement: Build and sustain strong multi-agency partnerships, including working with health partners to share learning and good practice across the Local SEND Partnership.
• Operational Oversight: Provide line management to a Project Officer and professional oversight to staff involved in resolution processes, ensuring high standards of delivery and accountability.

About you

Essential

• Educated to degree level/management qualification and to have the relevant professional qualifications and/or equivalent experience (e.g. experience in SEND/QA).
• Experience of working in SEND services in a professional capacity.
• Experience of managing conflict and change.
• Experience of working in a complex multi-agency environment.
• Knowledge of SEND and the legislative and policy drivers behind the work of Local Authority Children’s Services SEND provision.
• Excellent interpersonal skills; ability to recognise and respond appropriately to situations requiring tactful or diplomatic handling at all levels of the organisation.
• Analytical skills; ability to interpret, summarise and draw conclusions from complex data and quality audits.
• Confident and competent presentation skills for a range of audiences in politically sensitive situations.
• Experience of managing staff through both line management and/or project team arrangements.

Desirable:

• Experience of developing and implementing quality assurance processes, including auditing of children and young people’s records.
• Ability to design and implement quality audits of SEND practice across different professional roles.
• Experience of managing projects.
• Experience of developing and planning services.
• Business focus and political awareness; ability to operate in sensitive political environments.

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 Level 13. Please locate the job profile here: Job profiles - Health and social care

To hear more about this opportunity please contact lauren.sheppard@hertfordshire.gov.uk for an informal discussion about the role.

Interview Date: 19th May - Face to Face, Stevenage office

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.

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.

Safeguarding
This role has been identified as requiring a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.