Amaze Job Description

Last updated 23rd July 2014

Job Title:

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Independent Supporter – West Sussex

Grade: / NJC Scale Point 23-26
FTE £20,400-£22,443 (depending on experience)
Responsible to: / Independent Support Regional Manager
Hours of work: / 12-21 hours per week (depending on availability)
Annual Leave: / 25 days pro rata

Main Purpose of the Job:

The new Children and Families Act 2014 brings into effect many reforms in the Special Educational Needs and Disability arena from September 2014. Independent Supporters will offer impartial advice and support to families with children with SEND who are being assessed for the first time, or for those who already have a statement of SEN and who need support with this being ‘converted’ to the new system.

The post-holder will need to work in close partnership with colleagues in the statutory sector to ensure the best assessment and planning process for families is achieved, and the service will be part of their ‘Local Offer’.

The role will need to demonstrate positive outcomes in terms of a young person’s or their parent carer’s confidence in the system, their involvement in their own plan, their feelings of satisfaction and resilience etc.

Specific Job responsibilities:

•To ensure families understand and are confident about their involvement and contribution to the local area’s new assessment and planning process.

•To quickly build a supportive and trusted relationship with the family, helping to identify the strengths and needs of individual family members

•To provide support to families with children with SENDto ensure their wishes are at the centre of the new 20-week assessment and planning process, whilst respecting the legal parameters, and supporting them to contribute to conversions from statements to EHCPsor new EHCPs. This support could be provided via telephone, 1:1 meetings, report and letter writing, support in meetings and group information sessions.

•To offer home visits to families who are assessed as needing additional support

•To empower and support children and young people and parent carers to think about what they might like (their child with SEND) to achieve - contributing to aspirational as well as realistic short/medium/long-term outcomes crossing different aspects of their life, including building their resilience

•To provide information to young people and parent carers on the options for personal budgets

•To provide practical and emotional support as part of a trusting relationship

•To act as a named contact person for the young person and parent carerthroughout the assessment and planning process

•To liaise with other professionals about the status of the plan

•To support young people and parent carers by signposting them to different local and regional services, including the Local Offer(s), in order to provide (creative) options to support the family to make well-informed decisions

•To signpostyoung people and parent carers to the local Information, Advice and Support Service and other relevant services

•To carry out the necessary administration for this role including accurately and regularly updating the case management system, maintaining confidentiality at all times

•To contribute to good practice and development of the service including service evaluations as required, feeding up strategic issues or trends as these are identified

•To be an effective member of the team, attending regular team meeting and supervisions

•To complete nationally co-ordinated and accredited training and all locally provided training

•To adhere to policies and procedures of the employing organisation

IS workers will be recruited specifically to take a lead supporting young people and parent carers as the skill sets to work with each are likely to be different.

Person Specification

Attributes / Essential / Desirable
Education & Qualifications / Good standard of English & Maths
Full driving licence, or ability to travel freely within the county
Experience & Knowledge / Experience of working with a broad range of people – including families, parents and or young people
Knowledge/understanding of the new SEND reforms (Children and Families Act 2014)
Experience of providing information, advice or support to adults or young people
An understanding of (and empathy with) the issues facing children and young people with SEND and their families
Experience of communicating in a variety of ways
Experience of partnership working and building excellent working relationships with a wide range of other professionals / Experience of working with families and/or young people with special educational needs or disabilities
Knowledge/experience working on the local SEN Pathfinder e.g. personal budgets, local offer etc
Experience of different communication aids e.g. Makaton, PECS
Knowledge of building-resilience models
Abilities & Skills / Motivated to deliver positive change for families with disabled children
Desire to be committed to the development of high quality EHCPs
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
Ability to be resourceful and seek out information, suggestions or possible solutions for families
Positive, ‘can-do’ approach
Strong IT skills
Ability to present different options in an honest and transparent way
Ability to empower individuals where possible and build their own confidence and resilience
Excellent listening skills
The ability to work using own initiative and part of a multi-disciplinary team
Ability to prioritise, plan ahead and meet deadlines (especially those agreed with families)
Ability to be flexible – responding to the role as the service develops over time
Ability to demonstrate understanding of equal opportunities and the value of inclusion and diversity
Ability to travel across their patch of the County and to undertake visits in the homes of parent carers or other suitable venues (adhering to the Lone Working policy)
If working to support young people – you will need the ability to work in the afternoons/evenings with young people at locations accessible to them / Ability to write SMART objectives and outcomes