EDUCATION WELFARE OFFICER

Job description
Full Time Term Time / 37 Hours Per Week / Permanent
Play a key role in ensuring every child of compulsory school age receives efficient full-time education.
The Education Welfare Service has statutory duties under the 1996 Education Act. This means we work with schools, children, their parents/carers, and other agencies to ensure every child of school age receives a suitable full-time education according to age, ability, aptitude, and special needs either by regular attendance or otherwise (home education). Where children are identified as not receiving a suitable education, or where they are not attending school regularly, this can result in the parent/s being prosecuted, or in Penalty Notices being issued.
The service is also responsible for child performance and child employment licensing, and also the licensing of chaperones.
Join our friendly and welcoming team, where children are the heart of everything we do. Investigating cases of children who are poor attenders, or who are not on a school roll and who are missing from education, we provide support and encouragement to parents to return their children to school or to send them to school for the first time.
This is a full-time, term time post working 37 hours per week, 39 weeks per year. Working from home, and on occasions from an office or school, you’ll be required to do home visits, attend school meetings, case conferences, core groups and Team Around the Family meetings. These can be in person or online. You’ll be able to work outside normal office hours on occasions when required.
What you’ll be doing
As the responsible officer for a number of schools investigating the reasons for pupil absence and following the appropriate process, you’ll take cases through to prosecution in the Magistrates’ Court, and act as the key witness. You’ll investigate the whereabouts of children by undertaking home visits and engaging with families about education and barriers which prevent a child from attending school. You’ll identify and refer children who are home educated and follow up on cases where parents have opted to home educate their children. Liaising with other Local Authorities you’ll track children safely into and from other areas, and work collaboratively with colleagues from school admissions, family support and social work to ensure children return to regular attendance.
What you’ll need
With experience of education welfare work or working with children and/or young people in a closely related field, you’ll have knowledge of Children’s Act and Education Law regarding school attendance. Using a high level of literacy skills and being proficient in IT, you’ll be able to prepare documents for court, write clear and concise reports and accurately maintain case record files. With strong assessment skills, you’ll be able to undertake risk assessments and formulate plans to address presenting issues. Acting as a link between home and school, you’ll be able to effectively liaise with a wide variety of people, use conflict resolution and challenge parents to reduce the level of absence, or to register their children at a school.
You’ll have a full Driving Licence with access to a car. Appointment will be subject to an Enhanced DBS check.
What we can offer you
As well as the satisfaction of helping to improve thousands of lives across Leicester, you can look forward to a work environment that encourages a healthy work/life balance. You’ll enjoy generous annual leave, membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme and the option of flexible working. We’ll also give you the chance to develop your skills and expertise with a variety of training and development opportunities. In addition, you can choose from several flexible benefits, including discounts on city buses and trains. For an illustrative value of your benefits package, take a look at our benefits calculator.
Join us
We’re committed to recruiting a diverse and highly-talented workforce as we continue to build a council that is fitting and representative of our great city. That’s why we’ve designed our recruitment process to put you at your ease, make you feel welcome and bring the best out of you. We’ll do all we can to make our recruitment process as fair as possible. To help you with your application, take a look at the ‘our approach to recruitment’ page.
If you’d like a chat about this post then please feel free to contact Ellen Collier on 0116 454 5510 or Ellen.Collier@leicester.gov.uk

Please refer the Job description for details