SEND Officer
Job Description
ABOUT US
The Special Educational Needs Assessment Team (SENAT) manages the decisions and processes concerned with statutory education health and care needs assessment process for learners with an education, health, and care plan (EHCP), the placement of children in learning settings and the allocation of resources to settings.
The team considers suitability of and where appropriate arranges the assessment and placement of children, young people, and young adults with special educational needs in accordance with the provisions of the Children and Families Act 2014 (Pt 3, SEN) and associated regulations including the SEN Code of Practice to ensure that the statutory assessment procedures are followed and proposed EHCPs are issued and reviewed within the timescales laid down by the regulations.
This will be achieved through direct work with parents, educational settings, young people, health, Social Care and other external customers and partnership organisations to establish the best ways to support learning for children and Young People (0-25).
For more information about West Sussex County Council, please visit our WSCC About Us page.
ABOUT THE ROLE
Salary: NJC Grade 8, £33,673 to £36,581 per annum
Contract: Permanent
Working Pattern: Full time, 37 hours per week
Location: County Hall, Chichester
Closing date: 11 November 2026
Interview date: 16 November 2026
Are you looking for a new opportunity?
Do you have administrative experience within Special Educational Needs?
Do you enjoy offering advice to children and their families?
This is an exciting time to join our Special Educational Needs Assessment Team (SENAT) as we are increasing our service to further support those with SEN.
As a SEND Officer within the SEN Assessment team, you will have a caseload of children and young people with complex SEN, offering support and guidance to their families, early years providers, schools, colleges, and external agencies.
You will be the first point of contact for co-ordinating the Education, Health, and Care Needs (EHC) assessments and annual review process, set out in the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND Code of Practice 2014. Your key responsibilities will be to ensure that statutory processes and timescales are followed. This includes good quality considerations, assessments, and reviews of the needs of learners.
Please note that this is an administrative role, where you will support the creation of EHCP’s (Education, Health, and Care Plans); you will not be working directly with children.
KEY SKILLS
We are looking for someone who is excellent at communicating and building positive relationships with a diverse range of customers, colleagues, and services.
You will need to have sensitivity to individual needs and use your judgement in complex situations.
If you enjoy working creatively and collaboratively you will thrive in this role.
Please refer to the key skills in your cover letter as these will be used for shortlisting criteria.
Key Skills:
Excellent communication (both written and verbal) and interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate complicated or sensitive information with a range of audiences, including non-specialists. Excellent negotiation skills with the ability to convince others to adopt a specific course of action, for example, partnership agencies.
Ability to work creatively and sensitively with young people and their families in a problem-solving way.
Active listening skills and the ability to build excellent working relationships with a diverse range of managers, colleagues and key stakeholders, building rapport and developing positive partnership ways of working and a good understanding of parent/carer requirements.
Ability to liaise effectively with other professionals and work both as a member of a team and independently within structured guidelines and policies.
Ability to interpret complex information from a range of agencies and ensure EHCP’s meet the requirement of the SEND Legislation.
Sound and accurate keyboard and analytical writing skills, in order to produce Education Health and Care plans that are clear, concise, understandable and accessible to parents, children, young people, providers and practitioners.
Excellent organisational skills with the ability to manage competing demands and meet statutory timescales.
For more information on the Responsibilities, Key Skills, Qualifications and/or Experience required, please refer to the Job Description under Application Attachments.
REWARDS 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 brilliant opportunity you will receive:
Employer Pension Contribution: 15% (this alters per annum on the 1 April each year)
Annual leave: 27 days holiday + Bank Holidays = 35days
For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee you can find them on our Rewards and Benefits page.
HOW TO APPLY
To apply, please 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.
In your cover letter please outline your motivations for applying and explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role (please refer to the key skills) 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.
Application Attachments
FURTHER INFORMATION
The reference number for this role is 224
For an informal conversation or further information regarding the role, please contact one of the following people;
Hiring Manager contact:Lauren Matthews, SENAT Team Manager, at Lauren.Matthews@westsussex.gov.uk
Recruitment Specialist / HR Recruitment contact: Natalie Greene, Recruitment Specialist, at Natalie.Greene@westsussex.gov.uk
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.
This post is subject to three years referencing and an occupational 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.
We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.
Responsibilities
Responsibilities of this role include:
- Co-producing EHCPs with parents/young people and other professionals, ensuring that the desired outcomes are reflected using person centred approaches.
- Collating and summarising professional information and advice and the views and aspirations of the child or young person and their parents or carers into a statutory EHCP ensuring legal compliance in accordance with the SEND legislation.
- Drafting Education, Health and Care plans and specifying the educational, health and care provision necessary to meet those needs, and the resources required to do so.
- Ensuring EHCPs are clear, concise, and accessible to parents, children, young people, education providers and practitioners and completed to a high standard.
- Amending Education, Health, and Care plans following annual and other reviews.
- Working closely with parents and carers to support them through the EHC needs assessment and annual review processes to enable them to make informed and realistic decisions about special educational provision and placement.
- Consultation and negotiations with providers on securing an appropriate placement and ensure efficient use of resources.
- Managing a caseload of children/young people who have an EHCP and ensure their needs are appropriately met.
Qualifications
NVQ 3 or equivalent qualification with demonstrable experience of working within a SEN related area.
Experience of report writing and maintaining accurate records.
Experience of working with different stakeholders to achieve required results.
Experience of applying knowledge, providing advice and working in partnership with other agencies.
An understanding of families and individuals in relation to disability and special educational needs.
Theoretical, practical and procedural knowledge of SEN assessment practices and implementation.
Relevant technical knowledge of procedures and practices associated with working with internal and external partners and stakeholders.
Experience of producing detailed documents/reports to provide complicated information to others.
General knowledge of IT such as Word and Excel (or equivalent packages), for example using database systems to record information.
Evidence of working in the SEN sector, carrying out SEN casework - Desirable
An understanding of families and individuals in relation to disability and special educational needs - Desirable
Awareness of the associated legislation, policies, practices and procedures of special educational needs service - Desirable
Salary range
- £33,673 - £36,581 per year