Designated Social Care Officer

Are you passionate about making a difference in the lives of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)?

We are looking for a dedicated and dynamic Designated Social Care Officer to lead and manage improvement activities in relation to SEND and Social Care. This role is pivotal in ensuring high-quality social care input and engagement with Education, Health, and Care (EHC) needs assessments, planning processes, and annual reviews, ensuring a holistic and needs-led approach to supporting children and young people with SEND and their families.

You will be the key link between social care and education services, championing aspirations and outcomes across education, health, and care for children and young people with SEND.

About us

We are part of the Education, Children’s Services, Improvement, and Transformation Service. Our service is collaborative, innovative, and driven by a shared goal of continuous improvement. We offer a supportive environment with opportunities for professional development and career progression.

In Buckinghamshire our ambition is for every child and young person to reach their full potential, regardless of their starting point. We are proactive about improvement and work collaboratively with partners to support children and young people to achieve positive outcomes. We have a well-established improvement programme, and this role is integral to driving the ongoing developments within this programme.

About the role

As a Designated Social Care Officer, you will:

• Act as the key strategic contact between education and social care, promoting and delivering continuous improvements.
• Lead and manage improvement activity in relation to SEND and Social Care, including initiatives to improve service delivery and performance, meeting stakeholder requirements and improvement targets.
• Provide expert advice, guidance, and support to colleagues and senior leaders around safeguarding and effective partnership working.
• Lead training sessions and events to improve support to families across all aspects of social care and education.
• Lead and contribute to quality assurance activities, ensuring that learning is embedded into the organisation.

This role sits within the SEND Improvement Team and works closely with the SEND Service and Social Care colleagues as well as the wider partnership.

About you

What we’re looking for:

• Substantial experience of SEND reforms, Children’s Act, Children and Social Work Act 2017, SEND Reform 2014, Care Act (adults) and Social Work Practice Standards.
• Expert knowledge of procedural and legislative frameworks, systems, and initiatives.
• Excellent planning, workload, and project management skills.
• Strong partnership working skills and the ability to build relationships, influence, and work collaboratively.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to persuade, influence, develop, and motivate people and partnerships.
• Educated to degree standard or equivalent.
• You will be a Qualified Social Worker (DipSW or equivalent).
• You will be excited about leading and managing change programmes and be solution-focused and needs-led.

Other information

Please note, a full driving licence is required to carry out the role.

Contact

For further information please contact Lucy Pike, Head of Improvement and Transformation.

We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so please be advised to submit your application as early as possible.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare:

• All unspent convictions and conditional cautions.
• All spent convictions and adult cautions that are not protected (i.e. that are not filtered out) as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020 and 2023).