Penalty Notice Officer – Access to Education

Seven Resourcing are looking for a temporary Penalty Notice Officer to work in the London Borough of Hillingdon. This position is initially for a period of 5 months and is paying £20.02 per hour (paid to you via an umbrella company).

The role:

Participation Officers work with vulnerable children and their families and schools. The service delivers support and challenge to schools and parents around attendance and punctuality, at both a strategic and case work management level. They provide challenge to schools on policy and practice including challenging poor practice to ensure legislative requirements are met. They provide advice to or lead within professional networks to identify contributing factors and plan interventions to address poor attendance.

Poor attendance can be an indicator for higher need families with complex and multiple difficulties involved in or at risk of being involved in crime, antisocial behaviour, disengagement with education and risk of homelessness or edge of care. The Penalty Notice Officer must be able to weigh up evidence from a variety of sources, determine levels of risk, and determine the most appropriate level at which to intervene.

The Penalty Notice Officer postholder is responsible for ensuring that the preparation of legal cases is clearly evidenced and that pursuing legal proceedings is an efficient use of the council’s resources.

The role requires partnership working across the local authority, schools, alternative provision providers and other relevant agencies assisting in their duties to fulfil statutory responsibilities to safeguard pupils and ensure regular attendance in school.

Key Responsibilities:

• To ensure that Legal action is taken in accordance with Hillingdon’s Code of Conduct to support schools in improving attendance and punctuality in line with national and local benchmarks.
• To be the point of contact within the service providing information, advice and guidance to schools regarding the thresholds for issuing Penalty Notices.

To complete Prosecution Files once a decision has been made to instigate legal proceedings, which may also include acting as the Disclosure Officer. This also applies to cases of non-payment of Penalty Notices. To act as a witness at the Magistrates Court should it be necessary.

To give advice and guidance to Participation Officers and school staff in relation to witness statements and ensure that appropriate evidence is compiled.

To issue Penalty Notices in accordance with the Code of Conduct, review and quality assure all Penalty Notice applications, made by Officers, Schools and other agencies, and consider appropriate action e.g. Court Panel meetings.

To be responsible for the preparations of witness statements and other required documentation for the Hillingdon Legal Team and for submission to court for non-attendance. Act as a witness in all court proceedings.

To coordinate truancy patrols / Targeted Support events at regular intervals across the school year and monitor outcomes on behalf of the Local Authority.

To maintain consistent and accurate data recording in relation to the roles and produce reports as required.

To support the local authority in the discharge of its statutory duties in relation to safeguarding children and young people. The post-holder is responsible for ensuring that any concerns of a Child Protection/Child in Need nature are reported to the designated person in line with Local Authority’s Child Protection Procedure.

To attend team meetings and other meetings as required and make representations at meetings as appropriate.

Applicant Requirements:

• Qualifications: 5 GCSEs including Maths and English or NVQ level 3 in an appropriate field.
• Experience: Experience of paid work directly with families and children and young people experiencing social stress to achieve satisfactory outcomes. Experience of working with schools, Academies, FE and HE providers, training providers and employers in support of young people’s participation. Experience of working in a timely manner to tight deadlines to achieve SMART objectives. Experience of responding to complex and confrontational situations in a calm and professional manner.
• Compliance: Proof of ability to work and live in the UK. Current DBS check and references covering the last 5 years.
• Hours: 36 hours p/w.

Working with Seven Education:

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