SEND Placements Coordinator

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. 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. As our Placements Coordinator, you will provide strategic and operational leadership for SEND placement activity across the county, ensuring placement decisions for children and young people with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) are needs-led, lawful, financially sustainable and aligned to sufficiency and commissioning plans. Your key responsibilities as a Placements Coordinator will include:

• Maintaining a countywide overview of placement demand, capacity and risk
• Leading consultation processes
• Providing assurance to senior leaders and acting as a key escalation point for complex cases
Through relational, solution-focused engagement with schools and settings, and close working with Commissioning and Finance, your role will support effective decision-making, manage risk and help secure sustainable placements and successful transitions., 1. Please describe your experience of applying SEND legislation and statutory guidance to placement or service decisions, while also considering wider system impact. How did you balance individual case requirements with lawful, defensible and sustainable decision making, particularly where there was challenge? 2. This role requires both day to day operational collaboration and longer term partnership working. Please give an example of how you built strong relationships with schools, families or partners to resolve a complex issue and support shared outcomes. How did your approach support both immediate and longer term aims? 3. Please describe your experience of overseeing complex or high volume activity (such as placements, services or resources). How did you maintain operational control while also developing a strategic overview of demand, capacity and risk to inform planning and decisions? 4. Please tell us about a time you used data, information or multiple sources of evidence to understand demand, capacity or risk across the SEND system. How did your analysis influence both short term actions and longer term strategic decisions or recommendations?


• Teaching qualification, degree or relevant qualification or substantial experience in SEN
• Extensive knowledge of SEND legislation including the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND Code of Practice (0-25)
• Comprehensive understanding of consultation duties, placement decision-making and legal compliance in SEND
• Knowledge of SEND placement sufficiency and the education landscape across mainstream, specialist and alternative provision
• Proven experience at senior manager level in SEND, education or a Local Authority context
• Experience of contributing to multi-agency planning or decision-making forums
• Strong analytical skills and ability to manage large amounts of data accurately
• Excellent negotiation, communication and partnership-building skills
An enhanced DBS 'Disclosure and Barring Service' check for regulated activity (formerly known as CRB) will be required for this role.

This role has a starting salary of £53,713 per annum per annum, based on a 36 hour working week. We are excited to be hiring a new SEND Placements Coordinator to join our fantastic SEND Operations team based in Woking. This role is open to hybrid working and as a team we split our time between collaborating with colleagues in the office and working from home. Our Offer to You
• 26 days' holiday, rising to 28 days after 2 years' service and 31 days after 5 years' service
• 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