Education Welfare Officer

We are currently looking to recruit an Education Welfare Officer to join our busy team, to assist our drive to increase and sustain school attendance for all our pupils, by identifying barriers to engagement with learning and being proactive in referrals for early help support where applicable, and supporting effective partnership working.

Please note this is a term time working position where salary will be pro rata based on percentage of weeks worked per year (40 plus one week).

Attendance at school is a legal requirement, and regular attendance has many essential benefits, which help enable a young person to achieve their potential. Working as part of a wider team of Education Welfare Officers and Attendance Support Officers, you will provide support, advice and guidance to schools, governors, other professionals, pupils and parent/carers to ensure the regular attendance of all pupils within your allocation is achieved.

As an officer of the Local Authority, your role is to assist schools to improve pupil attendance, reducing general absenteeism and persistent absences in the schools allocated to you. On occasions where improvement is not successful and there are no acceptable reasons for the level of absence, enforcement through fixed penalty notices or Court action may be necessary.

To be successful in this role you must have previous experience of working in a busy, challenging environment and vast experience of partnership working, demonstrating positive support to children, young people and their families gaining improved outcomes. Experience of working in the area of promoting school attendance would be advantageous.

Although employed by the Local Authority, Education Welfare Officers are based within individual schools. Experience of working with schools and improving the outcomes of children is essential, along with a solid understanding of the use of management information systems such as SIMS/EMS/Capita One or other similar systems.

You must have a full driving licence and the ability to travel extensively around the County Borough. Occasionally you will be required to travel to meetings outside of the immediate area. Alternatively, should you not possess a driving licence or vehicle, you should have the ability to travel for business purposes without unreasonable disruption to the requirements of the post.

Training will be provided and you will have the opportunity to work with many different departments across the directorate as well as wider council services, schools and external agencies.

As an Education Welfare Officer, you will have strong communication and interpersonal skills. You will work to identify the cause of the absences and provide early intervention support, ensuring pupil voice is captured at all times.

The successful candidate will be responsible for:

• Effective tracking of young people moving out of county and following CME processes.
• Supporting the Local Authority, schools and Governors.
• Undertaking register consultations.
• Early identification of irregular attendance.
• One to one person-centred approaches to help identify barriers to engagement.
• House visits.
• Attend safeguarding/CP Meetings linked to your allocated caseload.
• Attend ALN meetings linked to your allocated caseload.
• Ensure a high standard of excellent attendance for all pupils.
• Attendance at court where required.
• Referrals to social services and early help support.
• Provide advice and guidance where difficulties and/or barriers to engagement with learning have been established.
• Make phone calls and send letters to parent/carers where applicable to offer support and guidance.

Do you have:

• Experience of partnership working and the ability to demonstrate positive support to children, young people and their families gaining improved outcomes.
• Experience of working with schools and improving the outcomes of children is essential, along with a solid understanding of the use of management information systems such as SIMS/EMS/Capita One.
• Minimum education qualification of 4 GCSEs at grade C or above, one of which must be either English or Welsh, plus Mathematics, or a qualification of a comparable level.

If you think that you have the necessary experience and qualifications for this role, we would love to hear from you.

About us: We believe in rewarding and recognising our colleagues’ efforts and achievements. We also believe that there’s life at work and life outside of work. We want everyone to be healthy and happy and have the financial resources and support they need.

Choose to work for us and you’ll be rewarded with a range of attractive benefits and support to help you live your best life:

• Benefit from a competitive employee package with a remarkable 22.4% employer pension contribution.
• Access discounted gym membership with Celtic Leisure.
• Utilise the cycle to work scheme with up to 40% off bikes and cycling equipment.
• Purchase a new car through Tusker salary sacrifice scheme.
• Enjoy exclusive discounts at local and national retailers with the Smart Spend app through our staff wellbeing group.

If you would like to start a rewarding career with a company that values and invests in its employees and you have the necessary experience and qualifications, this could be your dream job and we would love to hear from you.

This post is subject to an enhanced DBS disclosure with both adult & child barred list.

Neath Port Talbot Council is totally committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Our schools/employees are equally committed to ensuring the safety and protection of all children and young people/vulnerable adults and will take action to safeguard their wellbeing.

The recruitment process for this post will be underpinned by rigorous safer recruitment assessment to ensure that children and young people are protected.

Welsh Language skills are not required. Applications may be submitted in Welsh; applications submitted in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than an application submitted in English.

We offer a guaranteed interview scheme for candidates who have a disability and armed forces veterans. In support of employees of Tata Steel who are at risk of redundancy, or have been made redundant in 2024, Neath Port Talbot Council is offering a guaranteed interview for jobs across the Council. Please note that applicants must meet all the essential criteria, as shown in the person specification, to qualify for a guaranteed interview. If you are or going to be affected by the job losses at Tata Steel then we would welcome an application from you. Just make it known on your application form that you are currently at risk of redundancy or you have been made redundant.

At Team NPT, we all work together to serve the people, communities and businesses of Neath Port Talbot. We are committed to providing training opportunities and the professional development of all our employees. We look forward to welcoming you to Team NPT.