SEND Officer

Join our SEND Service - Make a Real Difference! If you're committed to collaboration, advocacy, and making things happen, we'd love to hear from you. We're looking for a compassionate, knowledgeable, and proactive individual who can build trusted relationships and communicate clearly. Our young people want adults who listen, explain things honestly, and keep them at the centre of every decision. Parents and carers value empathy, strong organisational skills, and a deep understanding of SEND legislation and diverse needs. Schools need consistent, accessible professionals who are experts in SEND and can guide them through the system with clarity and confidence. At Surrey County Council, we're committed to providing excellent support for children and young people with SEND. Our SEND services work together to deliver timely, effective support that leads to positive outcomes. We focus on building strong, respectful relationships with families, schools, and partner organisations, with relational and restorative working practices underpinning all our work. Your key responsibilities as a SEND Officer will include:

• Being the first point of contact for all general SEND calls
• Dealing effectively with enquiries wherever possible, or referring to the relevant Officer as required
• Using your passionate approach to drive forward improvement, and your effective organisational skills to ensure the service you deliver is always the best it can be
• Supporting the wider SEND Teams to triage emails in the shared inboxes to the correct member of the team
• Processing children and young people who move out of county
• Working on a rotation basis to record the decisions made by our Multi-Agency Team Discussions
By working in close collaboration with children's Social Care, Health, parents/carers and families, as well as schools, your impact will help us to achieve the best outcomes for the children we support. We offer a thorough induction and there is always support and guidance on hand. Our teams are cohesive and provide ongoing peer support. There are lots of opportunities to develop in the role with ongoing training. Additionally, there are often opportunities to progress within the service to more senior positions.


• Some knowledge or experience of SEND, and a willingness to develop this further
• Ability to communicate clearly, knowledgeably and with compassion, to build trusted relationships
• A proactive and organised approach to managing tasks and meeting deadlines
• Confidence using feedback and data to improve service delivery
• Excellent administrative and IT ability
• A genuine passion for improving outcomes for children and young people
Given the complexity of SEND processes, and the emotional impact they can have on families, there will be times when conversations require sensitivity and understanding. Experience in navigating difficult or emotionally charged situations with empathy and professionalism is essential. An enhanced DBS 'Disclosure and Barring Service' check for regulated activity (formerly known as CRB) and the Children's and Adults' Barred List checks will be required for this role.

The starting salary for this full-time, permanent position is £28,546 per annum based on a 36 hour working week.,
• 26 days' holiday, rising to 28 days after 2 years' service and 31 days after 5 years' service, plus bank holidays
• Option to buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave
• A generous local government salary related pension
• Up to 5 days of carer's leave and 2 paid volunteering days per year
• Paternity, adoption and dependents leave
• An Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing
• Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources
• Wellbeing and lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, and shopping
• A chance to make a real difference to the lives of our residents