Short Breaks Solutions Officer
- Durham County Council
- Full Time
- Durham
- Grade 6 £25,979 - £28,770 (Pay Award Pending)
Job Description
An exciting opportunity has arisen in the One Point & Think Family Service for a Short Breaks Solution Officer, on a temporary basis for 6 months.
WHAT IS INVOLVED?
You will work to ensure sufficiency of short breaks opportunities for families of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities in County Durham (0-25).
The role will provide a central point of contact for families and professionals to offer advice, guidance and information on local community activities and services available to them. The aims of the role will be to empower families to be able to make their own choices to access community activities for children and young people with SEND to allow parent/ carers a short break from caring.
This role will capture the needs of families, understand gaps in services, barriers to access and impact. The postholder will work jointly with families to identify solutions to meet their needs and fill gaps in service provision. The postholder will be proactive working with a range of organisations to extend and enhance the local community offer available for families in line with the direction of travel within the wider SEND Strategy, Think Autism Strategy and Short Breaks Statement.
You will work closely with families and young people up to the age of 25, SENDIASS, Making Changes together Parent/ Carer Forum, Durham County Carers, Investing in Children, the VCS Alliance, Children and Young Peoples Network, Community Services and Leisure Service Providers and Commissioners.
We encourage you to contact Lisa Kirkton, SEND Information & Advice Coordinator, via email at [email protected] to arrange an informal discussion about the role.
WHAT WILL I NEED?
Essential qualifications for this role are:
- Level 3 qualification in a relevant field.
- Evidence of continuous professional development.
- Competitive salaries and 27 days holiday per year rising to 32 days after five years continuous local government service.
- Option to purchase up to 10 additional days annual leave per year.
- Excellent work/life balance through schemes including job sharing, compressed hours and flexi-time (allowing up to 13 flexi days per year).
- Hybrid working (home and office working).
- Excellent contributory career average Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). Plus, top up options - Salary Sacrifice Shared Cost AVC scheme and standard AVC scheme for members of the LGPS.
- Wellbeing Portal and access to an Employee Assist Scheme.
- Wide range of learning and development opportunities including professional qualifications, coaching and mentoring.
- Employee Benefits Portal and Lifestyle Savings Scheme (discounts across a host of major retailers).
- Discounted DCC gym membership.
- Staff networks run by staff for our staff, including Race Equality and Diversity, Disability, LGBT+, Armed Forces, Carers, Menopause.
- Trade Union membership.
- A range of other salary sacrifice schemes such as car leasing.