Designated Social Care Officer

Organisation:

Leicestershire County Council

Work Location:

Coalville Social Care, 3 High St, Coalville LE67 3EA

Salary:

£43,860 - £47,829 per annum (pro rata for part time)

Working Hours:

37 hours per week

Contract Type:

Permanent

Closing Date:

22nd March 2026

Interview Date(s):

TBC

Are you passionate about improving outcomes for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)? Do you want to play a key role in strengthening how Education, Health and Social Care work together across Leicestershire?

If so, this could be the perfect opportunity for you.

About the Role

Leicestershire Children's Disability Service is seeking a Designated Social Care Officer (DSCO) at Senior Social Work Practitioner level to support the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Service.

In this pivotal role, you will provide expert social care advice to support:

• Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs)
• Annual Reviews
• Ongoing improvement work linked to the SEN Annual Review Programme
• Strategic developments underpinning Every Child Achieving and Thriving White Paper
• The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill

You will be at the heart of connecting Social Care, Education SEND, and Health, ensuring that children and young people receive high quality, coordinated support that helps them thrive and achieve their aspirations.

As the Designated Social Care Officer, you will:

• Provide consistent, high quality social care advice for EHCP processes
• Support timely and effective Annual Reviews
• Offer training and awareness raising across Children's Services
• Contribute to service improvements and strategic SEND developments
• Ensure children's voices and needs are central to planning
• Work collaboratively across Education, Health and Social Care
• Attend weekly SENA Case Decision Panels, with access to Mosaic and Synergy to provide advice on social care issues in a case by case basis
• Oversee Tribunal work within Social Care, ensuring relevant staff are briefed, that the local authority position is clear, that any funding issues are resolved prior to Tribunal (including referral to JSP where needed)
• Produce periodic reports for Senior Management Team on such things as the quality and timeliness of social care advice, tribunal outcomes, joint funding issues, training provided and any other relevant matters
• To model good social work practice and encourage continuing professional development of colleagues via coaching, joint working and contributing to the development and delivery of training

An enhanced with barred list DBS check is required for this post.

For information on our approach to the recruitment of ex offenders, please see our policy statement.

About You

To apply for this post, you must:

• Appropriate social work professional qualifications such as MA, DipSW CQSW or equivalent, and evidence of continuing professional development
• Experience working within or alongside SEN services and health partners.
• A strong understanding of the needs of children with disabilities, complex health needs and/or SEND and their families.
• The ability to deliver high quality, child centred social care advice within statutory frameworks and extensive knowledge of a range of relevant theories, research, serious case review findings and models of social work interventions and how these can be integrated into service delivery to enhance outcomes for children.
• Excellent communication skills, with confidence in drafting clear written advice, presenting information and delivering training (online and face to face).
• The ability to form effective working relationships with key partners, young people and families, with a commitment to contributing to strategic developments that improve outcomes across the SEND system.
• You will be part of a supportive, ambitious service that is committed to delivering excellence for children with disabilities. This role offers a unique opportunity to influence how SEND services work together locally and to help shape improved outcomes for children and families across Leicestershire. We are committed to becoming a trauma informed service where we believe "we are stronger together." This means understanding trauma, recognising how it can affect children, families, and carers we work with, and knowing how to respond.

In addition, we also expect you to share our commitment to our values and to delivering accessible and inclusive services which meet the needs of all of our residents. You will be asked to demonstrate your understanding of these commitments as part of the selection process.

Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability. We are a Disability Confident Employer.

Interested in Flexible Working?

We are open to discussions about flexible working, which may include part time working, job sharing, term time working, flexible start and finish times, and hybrid working, depending on the requirements of the role and the service. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below.

For more information or an informal discussion, please contact:

Helen Middleton, Service Manager Children's Disability Service

Telephone:

Email:

How to Apply

At Leicestershire County Council we're looking for top talent from all walks of life. Whoever you are, wherever you're from, and whatever your background - we care about what you bring to our organisation, not just what's on your CV. That's why we've designed a recruitment process that's fair, accessible, and focused on potential. And with benefits that support people at every age and stage of life, we make sure you can thrive - both personally and professionally.

If you share our passion to make a difference for the people of Leicestershire, we'd love to hear from you. Click the apply button to submit your application, ensuring that you upload a supporting statement that explains how you meet the criteria listed in the 'About You' section above. Without this information, we won't be able to assess your suitability for the role, and your application will be rejected. For tips on how to write your statement, see the How to Apply section on our career site.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post or you want to request an application pack in an alternative format, please contact our Employee Service Centre by telephoning (select option 2) or raising a ticket via our online portal:

By applying for this post, you agree to our Terms and Conditions.