SEND Local Area Partnership Area Manager

About the job

Salary: £60,379 - £63,721 a year plus £3,203 car benefit allowance
Hours per week: 37
Contract type: Permanent

We are seeking to appoint a permanent SEND Local Area Partnership Manager to lead and strengthen collaboration between the council, schools, health services, and our parent carers association.

This role will play a vital part in shaping and improving services and outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

As part of the senior leadership team within our Education Service, you will hold strategic responsibility alongside senior colleagues for driving forward the co-ordination, development, and continuous improvement of SEND services across the partnership, ensuring that the lived experiences of our children and young people are at the heart of everything we do.

This is an exciting new role, offering the opportunity to influence and design provision alongside our multi-agency Inclusion and SEND team.

You will play a key role in shaping the future of SEND and inclusion in Luton, fostering a culture of collaboration and improvement across all services.

We are looking for an individual who is:

• Passionate about improving provision and outcomes for children and young people with SEND.
• Skilled at co-creating strategy and services with partners, professionals, and families.
• Experienced in building strong, effective partnerships across education, health, and social care.
• Knowledgeable about the SEND regulatory framework, with strategic leadership experience in multi-agency projects.

Luton is a unique place, strongly committed to inclusion and to ensuring that children and young people with SEND are supported effectively, accessing high-quality, needs-led provision.

This is a key leadership role for the council and an opportunity to make a real, lasting difference.

For an initial conversation about the vision for this role, please contact our Director of Education at helen.goddard@luton.gov.uk.

Please note this role does not attract sponsorship.

About you

You are a highly experienced and strategic leader with a strong track record of driving improvement programmes across complex organisations, delivering tangible service transformation. With substantial leadership experience in education, social care, or health systems, you are confident working in dynamic, multi-agency environments and have a deep understanding of how to lead change within adaptive partnerships. You have successfully developed and embedded strong collaborative approaches, working closely with service users, staff, and the wider public through co-production, engagement, and co-design.

Your expertise includes navigating political environments with sensitivity and professionalism, and you are skilled at building consensus and influencing a diverse range of stakeholders—including headteachers, NHS partners, senior council officers, and elected members. You bring in-depth knowledge of SEND legislation, particularly the Children and Families Act 2014, and understand its practical application across education, health, and care settings. Your awareness of the legislative and policy landscape, as well as the full range of services related to SEND, ensures you are well-equipped to lead and shape local strategies. You hold a relevant professional qualification at NVQ Level 4 or equivalent degree level in education, health, or social care.

About us

Our ambitious Luton 2040 Vision – that no-one in Luton will have to live in poverty – is at the heart of everything we do. We recognise that our people are remarkable, talented, committed and passionate about serving our residents.

The people of Luton depend heavily on this council – and that means our workforce! Are you ready to realise the remarkable and help us deliver our vision?

We welcome applications from all sections of the community and are committed to developing a workforce that reflects the diversity of our borough

Application process

Because of the nature of this job, it will be necessary for the appropriate level of criminal record disclosure to be undertaken. This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare all unspent cautions and convictions; and also any adult cautions (simple or conditional), and spent convictions that are not protected as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020). A person’s criminal record will not in itself prevent a person from being appointed to this post. Applicants will not be refused posts because of offences which are not relevant to, and do not place them at or make them a risk in, the role for which they are applying. However in the event of the employment being taken up, any failure to disclose such offence, as detailed above, will result in dismissal or disciplinary action by the Authority.

Additional information

We offer a range of excellent staff benefits which include:

• From 25 to 32 days’ annual leave: linked to length of service and grade
• Buying annual leave scheme: buy up to 20 days additional annual leave
• Career Pathways: step up in your career or move into a specialist area
• Pension scheme: with generous employer contributions of up to 20.2 per cent (at July 2023) and 3x salary death in service grant
• Generous relocation package: up to £8,000 (subject to eligibility)
• Employee Assistance Programme: a free, 24/7 confidential counselling and wellbeing support service available to all employees, their partner or spouse and dependent children over 16 still living at home
• Work/life balance: flexible working options including working from home where possible. We welcome requests for flexible working arrangements including part-time hours and alternative working patterns
• Training and support: unlimited access to development courses, mentoring and support and clear career pathways
• Staff offers: includes discounts on your MOT, gym and fitness, restaurants and salons
• Arriva Travel Club: great value savings on local bus travel
• Friday Funday Socials - One Friday every 2 months where we encourage our staff to get together to socialise after work

Available documents

Attached documents are available under links. Clicking a document link will initialize its download.

• download: Luton_Values_Flyer.pdf
• download: SEND Partnership Manager job-description-and-person-specification final.pdf