MAIN PURPOSE OF THE JOB
* To strengthen financial decision making and governance and commissioning across the division.
* To have a full understanding of the current position and projected outturn of the SEN Budgets and report to the Head of Service and finance departments when required.
* To monitor the expenditure within the High Needs Funding block on school top-ups, College and ISP charges and Independent and Non-Maintained Special School fees.
* To ensure systems are in place to track funding agreements with service providers.
* To check that requests for payment are approved and accurate.
* To provide regular reports to the Head of SEN regarding patterns of spend on top-ups and fees and charges.
DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES
* To draft the High Needs Funding budgets on an annual basis for review by the Head of SEND.
* To allocate top-up funding bands to early education settings, schools, sixth form and further education colleges as appropriate and consistent with established council procedures for the delegation of High Needs funding to settings and in accordance with Panel decisions; including the production of termly schedules to support schools with the management of their SEN Finances.
* To negotiate fee levels with Non-Maintained and Independent Special Schools (NM/ISS), Independent Schools and Independent FE Colleges and Service Providers, including any requested increase in fees, and report any concerns to the Head of SEND/SEND Team Manager as appropriate.
* To design and maintain systems for the monitoring of top-up funding, including processes for the cessation of top-ups if placements are changed.
* To monitor the service use of the management information system in relation to the placement and finance for children and young people with EHCPS; including providing training and advice to support the updating of the system.
* To advise and update the SEN Panel on the current budget position of the High Needs funding block and provide advice on finance and statistical analysis in order to inform planning and future provision.
* Provide financial and placement details for planning future provision, including completing the annual ESFA place change process.
* Provide SEN Panel and Post-16 Panel with financial advice, to ensure transparency of process and equity in decision making around top-up funding issued to schools.
* To lead on the monitoring and forecasting of all SEN operational budgets, including SEN Transport and advise the budget holder on the current position of the SEN budgets and complete the monthly budget projections (CRBM).
* To liaise with the school funding team regarding the financial detail of decisions on EHC Plans, in particular the allocation of a top-up funding band and a specialist place.
* To advise the Head of SEND / SEND Team Managers on spending trends in order to assist in the forecasting of budget pressures against the High Needs budget.
* To liaise with the SEND Team Managers and prepare the detail of contracts for non-maintained and independent special school placements.
* To check and ensure timely payment of invoices from independent providers.
* Manage the process for issuing payments, joint payments and managed payments for personal budgets, including the raising of relevant purchase orders and payment of invoices accurately and in a timely manner.
* To manage the requests for special equipment and develop systems for ensuring that equipment requests are responded to in a timely and cost-effective manner.
* To lead in the operational delivery and monitoring of contracts, Service level Agreements and Internal recharges in line with the LA’s financial regulation and year end closure of accounts.
* To ensure responses to complaints and FOI requests are accurate, evidence-based and compliant with Council standards.
* To line manage LBTH teaching assistants and Learning Support Assistants deployed within PVI Early Years settings.
* Liaise with the managers of the Early Years Settings to monitor attendance, performance and development of teaching assistants and learning assistants deployed to those settings.
* To deploy teaching assistant/learning support assistant resources as directed by the SEN Panel.
General Terms
* To maintain personal and professional development to meet the changing demands of the job and participate in appropriate training/development activities including the council’s performance, development and review scheme. To engage and develop all staff in the team to ensure they have clear personal development plans.
* To ensure that all duties and responsibilities are discharged in accordance with the council’s policies and procedures, Code of Conduct and relevant regulations and legislation. To comply with the council’s equal opportunities and diversity policies ensuring anti-discriminatory practice within the service area.
* To undertake additional duties that may arise from time to time commensurate with the grade of the post.
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