Job Description

Salary: £30 - £32 per hour
Working pattern: Hybrid minimum 2 days per week in the office
Recruitment: We Do Social Work Recruitment

We Do Social Work Recruitment is currently recruiting for an experienced and highly organised Business Support Officer to join the Experts at Hand service.

Experts at Hand is a multidisciplinary service supporting the educational progress and inclusion of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in mainstream schools.

This is a varied and rewarding business support role, providing essential administrative, coordination, financial monitoring and data-management support to a busy professional team.

You will work closely with professionals including Area SENCos, Educational Psychologists, Associate Educational Psychologists, Speech and Language Therapists and Occupational Therapists, helping to ensure that panels, strategic planning meetings, referrals, training and wider service activities are delivered effectively.

The role is hybrid, with a requirement to work at least 2 days per week in the office.

As Business Support Officer, you will:

• Develop and maintain effective administrative and information systems to support the service and ensure deadlines are met.
• Provide administrative coordination for Exceptional Needs Grant (ENG) panels, including processing referrals, obtaining documentation, tracking outcomes and scheduling reviews.
• Monitor ENG and pooled funding expenditure, ensuring spending remains within agreed budgets and relevant financial procedures are followed.
• Coordinate strategic planning meetings, including diary management for multiple professionals and ensuring all required papers are prepared and circulated.
• Organise meetings, conferences, training days and professional events, including invitations, calendars, venues, refreshments and resources.
• Prepare agendas, minutes, reports, correspondence and panel outcome letters.
• Maintain accurate records of correspondence and contact with schools, professionals and partner agencies.
• Ensure information is securely and appropriately recorded and uploaded to systems including SharePoint and Mosaic.
• Act as a key point of contact for panel members, professionals and schools, managing enquiries and ensuring information is communicated accurately.
• Maintain accurate contact lists across education, health and social care professionals.
• Liaise with colleagues to ensure relevant professionals are involved in discussions and have access to appropriate information.
• Coordinate cluster-related activities and provide logistical support to professional networks and events.
• Track pooled cluster fund expenditure and support equitable distribution of available funding.
• Maintain accurate records of schools' inclusion priorities and focus areas identified through strategic planning.
• Develop and maintain systems to ensure panel information and data is accurate, secure, current and appropriately shared.
• Produce clear and accurate monitoring and impact reports to support service decision-making.
• Analyse performance and engagement data, including school participation in strategic planning meetings, identified priorities and the impact of support provided.
• Contribute to the ongoing evaluation and development of the Experts at Hand service.

We are looking for an individual who is highly organised, proactive and detail-oriented, with excellent communication and coordination skills.

You will ideally have experience in a business support, administration, education, social care, healthcare, public sector or similarly complex environment.

You should be able to demonstrate:

• Excellent organisational and time-management skills.
• The ability to manage multiple priorities and meet demanding deadlines.
• Strong attention to detail and a high level of accuracy.
• Experience coordinating meetings, diaries, events and multiple stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Confidence handling sensitive and confidential information.
• Experience maintaining electronic records and information systems.
• Good IT skills and confidence working with databases, spreadsheets and digital filing systems.
• The ability to collate, analyse and present data clearly.
• Experience monitoring expenditure, purchase orders or financial information would be advantageous.
• The ability to build effective working relationships with a wide range of professionals.
• A proactive approach to problem-solving and improving administrative processes.
• The ability to work independently while also being an effective member of a multidisciplinary team.

Experience of working with SEND, education, children's services or multidisciplinary professional teams would be particularly beneficial.

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced Business Support Officer to join a purpose-driven multidisciplinary service where effective administration and coordination directly contribute to better outcomes for children and young people with SEND.

You will have the opportunity to work alongside a range of specialist professionals and play a central role in ensuring that the service operates efficiently, information is managed effectively and schools receive coordinated support.

This is a hybrid role, with a requirement to work a minimum of 2 days per week in the office. The remaining working days will be available to work remotely, subject to the requirements of the service.

If you are an experienced Business Support Officer with strong organisational skills and an interest in supporting services that improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND, We Do Social Work Recruitment would love to hear from you.

Please submit your CV and application for consideration.