Senior Attendance & S19 Officer in Gloucester

An opportunity has arisen for a full-time permanent Senior Attendance and Section 19 Officer within the new Wider Access to Education Service from Autumn 2026 following the recent Education Directorate Review.

This role leads the operational delivery of Gloucestershire’s Attendance and Inclusion Service, ensuring children and young people, particularly those who are vulnerable or unable to attend mainstream settings, can access suitable education. The postholder oversees statutory attendance and Section 19 duties, leads a high-performing team, drives attendance improvement, and works collaboratively across services and agencies to remove barriers to education. Through effective partnerships, data-informed decision-making, and a commitment to inclusion, they champion children’s rights and improve educational outcomes.

This Will Be Achieved By

• Influencing policy, strategy, and practice, ensuring educational inclusion and attendance priorities are reflected across the wider system.
• Nurturing effective multi-agency partnerships, constructively supporting and challenging senior leaders to improve outcomes for children and families.
• Championing children’s rights to education, ensuring vulnerable children and those unable to access mainstream education receive suitable, full-time provision.
• Leading projects and service developments that improve educational access, inclusion, and outcomes for children and young people.
• Using data, local intelligence, and performance information to evaluate the effectiveness of Section 19 provision and inform service improvement.
• Supporting the leadership and management of the countywide Attendance and Inclusion Service, ensuring the consistent and effective delivery of statutory attendance and Section 19 responsibilities.
• Improving sustained engagement with education by promoting early identification, assessment, and intervention, working closely with the Lead.
• Valuing collaboration with education, early help, social care, health, and other partners to remove barriers to education and promote child-centred practice.
• Ensuring compliance with education legislation, particularly attendance requirements and Section 19 duties, through informed decision-making and statutory oversight.

Please refer to the job profile for more detail on these aspects and for the other parts of the role.

Please note: This post is subject to enhanced and barred DBS clearance and safeguarding references, as well as usual references. There may be some evening working. You will need to be a car owner/driver, with access to a vehicle within working hours, and hold a current full driving licence valid for driving in the UK due to some travel across the county.

About You

To be successful, you will have experience of supporting children and young people who face barriers to education and a commitment to inclusive, child-centred practice. You will be confident providing advice, support, and challenge to schools and partners, building effective relationships and influencing positive outcomes. You will demonstrate a restorative approach, balancing high support with high challenge, and meet the knowledge, skills, qualifications, and behaviours outlined in the job profile.

About Us

For all your hard work, you will receive the following:

• Flexible and agile working opportunities
• 25.5 days Annual Leave (pro-rata for part-time staff), rising to 30.5 days at the end of five years continuous local government employment
• An option to purchase 10 days of additional leave per year (pro-rata for part-time staff)
• Family friendly employer offering benefits to support you and your family
• Career development and qualification opportunities
• Supportive, positive, and relational working environment with regular, robust supervision
• Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• Access to our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) that provides free, confidential counselling and advice for employees, available 24 hours a day online or by telephone
• An in-house Occupational Health service
• Employee discount scheme
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Gloucestershire Salary Sacrifice Green Car scheme (T&Cs apply)
• Links to employee networks such as Prism (LGBT+) network, dNet (disability and mental health network), and the Young Employees Network

Additional Information

To access the Job Profile for this role, please follow the link below: Senior Attendance and Section 19 Officer - Job Profile. This Position is subject to an enhanced and barred DBS check. The council is not currently able to offer sponsorship in this role. Candidates will need to have right to work that enables them to commit to at least 6 months' employment. Right to work is not transferable from a sponsored role held with another employer. Applications from any Gloucestershire County Council's employees who are currently on the redeployment register or at risk of redundancy will be considered first at shortlisting stage. Gloucestershire County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people or vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. We want to be an employer of choice, attracting and retaining excellent people to work for us, so that we can best serve all of Gloucestershire’s diverse communities. Our promise to you is that we will provide an inclusive and supportive working environment that enables you to bring your whole self to work and realise your full potential. It is a legal requirement, under the Immigration Act 2016, that anyone appointed to a ‘customer facing role’ must be able to demonstrate an ability to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence in fluent English. Hybrid working arrangements are available for the majority of our roles, giving teams the opportunity to work in a way that suits them, balancing service need and individual choice, with a mix of both remote and office working.