Designated Social Care Officer OCC617050

Job details

Salary range: £55,783 - £59,010 per annum

Work location: County Hall, Oxford 

Hours per week: 37 - we are open to discussions about flexible working 

Contract type: Permanent

Vetting requirements: This role is subject to a Criminal Records Check

Closing date: Wednesday 10th July 2024

Interview date: week commencing Monday 22nd July 2024

About us

Are you an experienced Social Worker or Manager with significant experience of working with children with special educational needs and disability?

Does the idea of improved partnership working excite you?

Are you keen to be part of achieving “Better Outcomes” together for children with SEND in Oxfordshire?

Are you keen to develop new and innovative approaches to managing the strategic approach to SEND in Oxfordshire?

If you can answer YES to these four questions, then this new role might be exactly what you are looking for.

We are looking to develop our strategic multi agency approach to SEND in Oxfordshire, to this end we have committed to developing the role of the Designated Social Care Officer.

This post will be funded for a year initially, and the postholder will assist the senior management team, in scoping out the permanent role.
 

About the role

This role is the lead officer for Social Care in the Local Area SEND service. You will strategically lead in framing and developing social care elements of the Local Area SEND Services strategy across the local authority, in compliance with the legislative requirements of the SEND Code of Practice (2015) and Children and Families Act (2014).

The role is a “Lead Officer” working alongside the DFE and NHS England and will directly inform and influence the direction of wider Local Area SEND Services through intelligence and insight. The Designated Social care Officer will have in-depth knowledge and understanding of both Social Care processes and the SEND reform agenda and will look to strengthen practice and generate solutions.

The role works very closely with parents/carers and children, gathering their views  on the system and will feed this back to the Local Area SEND Services. The Designated Social Care Officer will ensure both parent/carers and children’s voice’s are represented and acted upon.  

Key to success of this role will be the ability of the post holder to negotiate with and influence others, building and nurturing effective, authentic partnerships. While  working collaboratively with a wide range of stakeholders across the Local Authority to make the most of every opportunity for co-production with all of our partners.

About you

You will need to share the commitment of all our partners to create “Better Outcomes Together” for children living in Oxfordshire with SEND.

You will have significant experience of working as a Social Worker or Manager with children who have SEND. This will include experience of working with children and their families/carers together with multi-agency partners.

You will be a confident practitioner who is able to constructively and proactively challenge practice, systems and processes to improve the outcomes for children with SEND living in Oxfordshire. 

You will also be happy to undertake any other duties as might be required within the remit and responsibilities of the post.

You will be in a position to undertake a strategic role, and able to develop strategies, action plans and processes which support and enable the SEND reform agenda to become embedded within social care operational practice.

Rewards and benefits

•  
• Culture of flexible working
• Technology to support agile working where role permits
• Up to 33 days holiday p.a. plus bank holidays
• Option to ‘buy’ additional holiday
• Employee Assistance Programme including access to health and wellbeing support
• Membership of the Local Government contributory pension scheme, with an employer’s contribution of up to 19.9%
• Enhanced family friendly policies
• Local and national discounts for shopping and travel
• Great learning and development opportunities to support your ongoing development

Would you like to know more?

Please click here to view the Job Description and Selection Criteria

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Senay Nidai at senay.nidai@oxfordshire.gov.uk

Application Procedure