Case Officer roles and responsibilities

SEND Case Officers oversee Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans for a caseload of children and young people either aged 0 to 14 or 14 and over (also known as 'Preparation for Adulthood'). They work in partnership with families, education settings, health, and social care services, whilst ensuring compliance with relevant legislation.

The SEND Case Officer is the Local Authority's point of contact for children/young people and their families and is responsible for the completion of all administrative processes where an EHC needs assessment is being undertaken following agreement by a multi-professional panel.

The SEND Case Officer carries out comprehensive casework and oversight of a caseload of children and young people with EHC plans in place or going through assessment, in accordance with the requirements of the Children's and Families Act 2014 and the SEN Code of Practice 2015. On average Case Officers hold a caseload of 170 to 230 children/ young people.

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Tasks carried out by SEND Case Officers

  • Collating information, advice/ reports from families, settings and professionals about children and young people going through an Education, Health, and Care (EHC) needs assessment or where there is a request for a change in provision.
  • Submitting information, advice/reports to multi-professional Education, Health, and Care plan Governance Boards (EGB) or other relevant panels to enable decision making.
  • Combining the advice, reports and information gathered through assessment to create the initial EHC plan, where this is agreed, in collaboration with the family, child/ young person and professionals.
  • Communicating the decisions made at panels to families and professionals involved with the child/ young person. This includes supporting the young person and/or their family to understand the rationale for the decision and what happens next.
  • Attending EHC plan reviews where there is a phase/ key stage transfer (KST) and where there is an issue that needs their involvement, for example a change of placement is being requested. Providing information and guidance on the law, the process, and roles of individuals to ensure everyone knows what their responsibilities are. Case Officers are not decision-makers, but they will record what is said so that it can be submitted to EGB who will make recommendations on decisions. They can also provide information and sign posting to further support where needed.
  • Processing annual reviews, submitting the case to EGB where needed and issuing a response/decision on whether the plan will be maintained as it is, amended or ceased.
  • Amending an EHC plan where there is agreement to do so.
  • Liaising with the Commissioning and SEND Admissions teams to secure placements for children/young people where a change of placement is needed, including for KST.
  • Liaising with families, professionals, and education/training providers about all aspects of the EHC needs assessment and EHC plan if agreed.
  • Dealing with any work that arises throughout the statutory processes and the life of the EHC plan, for example requesting updated advice from professionals.

How are decisions made?

Where a decision is needed, for example to issue an EHC plan or change provision, Case Officers collate the information and submit this for decision to the EGB. This is a multi-professional panel of practitioners who meet to provide professional guidance on matters relating to EHC plans based on the evidence submitted to the EGB; the Local Authority (LA) are responsible for all decisions. Sometimes a decision may be deferred pending additional information or clarification that is needed, in this situation the Case Officer will explain the situation to the family, obtain what is needed and resubmit the case to the EGB.

Case Officers are not able to make decisions. The EGB will make recommendations on decisions but ultimately the decision is the responsibility of the LA.

Hosting and arranging the annual review meeting is delegated to the education setting and the Case Officer will not need to attend all reviews. However, those who know the child/young person best and involved with them day to day will carry out the review meeting. The case officer will complete the review process for the LA, see below. This will be recorded on the review documents and sent to the Case Officer. This is in line with the legal framework that allows the LA to delegate these responsibilities. However, there are times when there is a role for the Case Officer at the review meeting and they will attend these, this will include where there is a transition review for a phase transfer or if there are any concerns raised about the provision in the EHCP or education placement.

Case Officers carry out the annual review process regardless of whether they attend the meeting. All annual reviews meeting recommendations are reviewed by the authority and a decision will be provided to the family within 4 weeks of the meeting.

How do I contact my case officer?

You can contact a case officer by phone or email. If you already have involvement with our Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) teams, you can contact your SEND Case Officer using the details they have given you. If you do not have the contact information for your Case Officer, you can contact the Learners Single Point of Access (LSPA) who will be able to assist you, or contact the SEND area teams directly.

What happens if a Case Officer is on holiday or off sick? Who takes over in the interim and how is this communicated to parents?

The Case Officer's line manager (Senior Case Manager) oversees the case work and will ensure urgent work is covered when one of their Case Officers is absent. They will decide how to cover the case work dependent on the length of time a Case Officer is away from work and whether this is planned or not.

If a Case Officer is absent unexpectedly any urgent actions will be dealt with by a duty Case Officer. If a Case Officer will be away for a longer period, their work may be temporarily reallocated to a specific Case Officer to oversee. In the case of a reallocation the Case Officer taking over will advise the family and school of this where appropriate.

Where a Case Officer is on planned leave, dependent on the length of this, they will manage their work to take account of their leave or refer work to the duty Case Officer to complete in their absence. If there is active case work underway the Case Officer will advise those involved, including families, of their intended absence and who is covering their work where applicable.

The duty Case Officer takes any telephone queries for Case Officers who not working.

Why might the Case Officer be unavailable?

As Case Officers spend a considerable proportion of their working week in meetings, they are not always available to speak to immediately.

However, you can leave a message for them, and they will return calls within two working days. For e-mails they will reply within five working days. They might not have the information or answer to your query straight away, but they should let you know when they need more time to respond.

We know that it causes a great deal of frustration when you can't contact your Case Officer, so we have put in place a duty Case Officer and support through the Learners Single Point of Access (LSPA) to help answer your queries when your Case Officer is unavailable.

The L-SPA are also an excellent source of information; they have a wealth of information and guidance, and can access specific case notes, which enables them to deal with most queries. If the L-SPA cannot deal with your query fully, or if you wish to speak to your specific Case Officer, the L-SPA can request the Case Officer to call you back.

If you are continually struggling to get responses from a Case Officer, you can escalate this to their manager.

What is the role of the duty Case Officer and how is information shared between staff?

Case Officers record their work on Surrey's record keeping system, this shows what work has happened, for example any assessments, correspondence, and case notes. All Case Officers on duty have access to the case records and can see what has happened historically and what actions are needed. The duty Case Officer will manage calls and deal with any urgent work where the allocated Case Officer is on leave or absent from work.

The senior case manager will have some input into what needs to be prioritised when one of their case officers is off unexpectedly. This can include all aspects of case work that arise during the absence, including preparing cases for EGB and writing plans, as well as dealing with general enquiries. The duty Case Officer also records any work undertaken, actions or communications on the system and the substantive Case Officer will be updated with this information on their return to work.

What training do Case Officers receive and what understanding of SEND do they have?

We have a robust recruitment process which ensures we employee the best candidate for the job. We expect all Case Officers to have knowledge and understanding of the SEND system and law and preferably have some experience of SEND. Many of the staff in Surrey have personal experience of the SEND system which supports their knowledge and understanding.

Once employed Case Officers complete an induction programme including mandatory training which is relevant to their role.

The standard qualification for Case Officers is the NASEN award. Since 2020-2021 all Case Officers have been working towards or have achieved the NASEN qualification, this is offered to all new staff as part of induction.

Formal class-based training takes place on some aspects of case work, for example plan writing. We hold regular webinars on specific topics of importance, for example changes in law or process and there is ongoing mentoring and coaching using a system of shadowing and buddying within the teams so that Case Officers can learn and improve in their day-to-day practice.

Who is responsible for oversight of Case Officers?

Within the four areas teams or 'quadrants', Case Officers are line managed by Senior case managers, who are in turn line managed by the Area SEN managers. The area manager reports to the area's Inclusion and Additional Needs Service manager who reports to the area Assistant Director.

Any concerns can be raised through Surrey County Council's Children's social care, education and SEND complaints.

All Case Officers have regular supervision with their line manager where they will receive specific guidance and coaching on their case work and any additional training needs can be identified.

Quality Assurance is carried out in several ways, including line managers quality assuring Case Officers' plans and case work, and providing feedback, guidance, and training to them as needed. We also have a dedicated team of quality managers that carry out termly cycles of auditing. Case Officers receive focused feedback from the audits and any training needs are addressed. The quality assurance enables us to develop specific programmes of training or guidance based on any emerging themes.