Job Description

Number of Vacancies:

1

Time Type:

Full time

Worker Type:

Regular

Proposed Interview Date:

Monday, November 23, 2026

Hours of Work:

37

Hiring Manager:

Alexandra Campbell

Contact Number:

01482 616317

Job Description Summary:

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Alex Campbell or Mary Meredith on Mary.Meredith@hullcc.gov.uk or 07894463777

Lead SEND Reform. Shape Inclusion. Change Lives.

We are seeking an exceptional leader with a passion for inclusion and improving outcomes for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

This is a unique opportunity to play a pivotal role in delivering Hull's ambitious SEND Local Area Reform Programme at a time of significant national change. Working collaboratively across education, health, social care and wider partners, you will lead strategic developments that strengthen inclusion, improve outcomes and ensure children, young people and families are at the heart of decision-making.

As SEND Reform & Inclusion Lead, you will provide strategic leadership for Hull's innovative Experts at Hand offer, oversee the effective deployment of significant SEND Reform investment, and drive the delivery of a financially sustainable and inclusive local SEND system.

About the Role

Working with schools, academies, early years providers, colleges, commissioners and wider partners, you will champion inclusion across the city and lead the implementation of national SEND reforms locally.

You will be responsible for delivering Hull's three-year SEND Reform Delivery Plan, ensuring progress is monitored, partners are held to account and improvements result in tangible benefits for children and young people with SEND. You will oversee the management of the multi-million-pound SEND Reform Grant, ensuring investment delivers value for money and contributes to the development of a sustainable SEND system.

A key aspect of the role will be leading Hull's Experts at Hand offer, ensuring resources are deployed fairly, transparently and according to need. You will promote approaches that build inclusive capability within mainstream settings and support schools to meet the needs of children and young people closer to home.

Working directly with Headteachers, Trust Leaders, SENCOs and governing bodies, you will support the improvement of SEND provision across the city. Through effective partnership working, performance monitoring and quality assurance activity, you will help create a culture of inclusion, early intervention and accountability for outcomes.

You will lead SEND Inclusion Audits, using evidence to identify strengths, areas for development and emerging trends. You will also take responsibility for Local Area SEND inspection readiness, maintaining Hull's Self-Evaluation Framework (SEF) and ensuring that inspection findings and peer review outcomes drive continuous improvement.

You will line manage the commissioning team manager in Children’s Services to ensure that evidence, the principles of co-production and value for money shape services.

Central to the role is a commitment to co-production. You will ensure that children, young people and their families have a meaningful voice in shaping services and influencing how support is designed and delivered.

About You

We are looking for a strategic, influential and collaborative leader who is passionate about improving the lives of children and young people with SEND.

You will bring:

• Significant experience of SEND leadership within education
• A strong understanding of national SEND policy, reform and inclusion
• Experience of leading complex programmes, partnerships or improvement initiatives
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to use performance information, feedback and evidence to drive improvement
• Experience of budget management and demonstrating value for money
• Knowledge of quality assurance, self-evaluation and inspection frameworks
• A strong understanding of commissioning within Children's Services, including experience of working with commissioners to design, procure, monitor and evaluate services that improve outcomes for children, young people and families
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills, with the ability to influence and challenge constructively at all levels
• A commitment to co-production and ensuring the voices of children, young people and families shape decision-making
• The ability to translate strategy into practical action and deliver measurable outcomes

Why Hull?

Hull is a city on the rise: ambitious, affordable and proud of its strong sense of community. Situated on the banks of the Humber with easy access to stunning coastline and countryside, Hull offers an excellent quality of life, affordable housing, outstanding cultural and leisure opportunities, and a commitment to making a real difference for children and families.

This is an exciting time to join Hull Children's Services, which has recently achieved its strongest ever Ofsted outcome through the ILACS framework, being rated Good overall with Outstanding features. Inspectors recognised sustained improvement, strong leadership, effective partnership working and exceptional support for care leavers, highlighting services that are helping children and families to thrive.

Joining Hull means becoming part of a high-performing, values-driven organisation that is ambitious for its workforce and determined to deliver the very best outcomes for children and young people with SEND.

This role offers a unique opportunity to shape the future of SEND provision across the city. Working at the heart of Hull's SEND Reform Programme, you will influence strategy, drive system-wide improvement and strengthen inclusive practice across schools, settings and services.

If you are an ambitious and collaborative leader with the credibility to inspire partners, challenge effectively and deliver meaningful change, we would love to hear from you. Together, we can create a more inclusive education system where every child and young person can thrive.

ROLE AND PURPOSE

Working collaboratively with schools, academies, early years providers, post-16 settings and wider partners, the post holder will champion inclusion and support the implementation of national SEND reforms in Hull. They will provide strategic leadership of the city’s Experts at Hand offer and will closely monitor the multi-million SEND Reform grant so that it contributes to the delivery of a financially sustainable SEND system.

The post-holder will ensure that parents, carers and young people are meaningfully engaged in shaping services and will work with commissioners to monitor the impact of these on the experiences and outcomes of young people with SEND. They will prepare quarterly reports for stakeholders, including the Department for Education, the SEND Strategic Board and the Learning Partnership, and will maintain a risk register, working with partners to introduce mitigations as required.

The post holder will work directly with Headteachers, Trust Leaders, SENCOs and governing bodies to improve standards of SEND provision, monitor outcomes for children and young people with SEND, and support the delivery of priorities within the Local Area SEND Reform and Improvement Plan. Through effective partnership working, performance monitoring and quality assurance activity, the post holder will promote a culture of inclusion, early intervention and accountability for outcomes across the education system.

The post holder will lead on Local Area SEND inspection readiness, drawing qualitative and quantitative data from across the SEND partnership to maintain an up-to-date and accurate Self Evaluation Form (SEF). They will seek feedback and learn from it, benchmarking performance. They will engage in regional and national SEND networks, both to learn and to share Hull’s best practice.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Lead on the implementation of a three year SEND Reform delivery plan which is jointly owned across the SEND partnership, monitors progress, holds to account and makes a measurable difference to standards of inclusion, city-wide.

Lead and coordinate SEND Inclusion Audits, inclusion reviews, thematic evaluations and other quality assurance activities to monitor the effectiveness of SEND provision and identify strengths, areas for development and emerging trends across the city.

Monitor and evaluate the impact of SEND Reform actions within educational settings and provide assurance regarding progress against local and national improvement priorities.

Manage the SEND Reform grant budget, ensuring that investment represents value for money.

Build and maintain strong relationships with schools and partners to identify and remove barriers to successful implementation of the Reform programme.

Deploy Experts at Hand resource in a fair, transparent and needs-led way, ensuring this builds inclusive capability within mainstream schools rather than focusing on within-child difficulties.

Promote coproduction so that children, young people and their families remain central to the design and delivery of the Experts at Hand offer.

Lead on the development and maintenance of the Local Area SEND Self-Evaluation Framework (SEF), providing evidence and analysis regarding the effectiveness of inclusion, SEND provision and educational outcomes.

Lead on SEND Inspection readiness and ensures that outcomes of inspection and peer review drive continuous improvement.

If the postholder requires a Standard or Enhanced DBS disclosure the candidate is required to declare full details of everything on their criminal record unless the conviction/s and/or caution/s are considered “protected” in line with filtering rules for DBS checks.

NC5103.Head of Performance and Quality, Inclusive Education

Compensation Grades:

GRADES 14.

Pay Ranges:

£76,738.00 - £76,738.00

Job Classifications:

3- Not Politically Restricted - Designated As Not Politically Sensitive (Politically Restricted Posts), 5- Enhanced & Childrens Barring List - (Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)), Casual - (Travel Allowance Policy), No - (Statutory Post)

Benefits of Working of Hull City Council:

• A competitive salary
• An excellent pension through the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
• Initially 23 days annual leave depending on length of service. You will also get eight public holidays per year, and three additional days off, one in May/August and one during the Christmas/New year period
• Career development and learning experiences from a range of training courses and learning methods
• Supportive and forward-thinking culture
• Great career development opportunities

Please ensure that you complete and submit your application by midnight prior to the closing date. Please ensure that your application demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria against the person specification as listed in the job description.

We are committed to increasing the diversity, equality, and inclusion within our workforce to represent the people we serve and build an environment in which everyone can feel like they belong. We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply.

We adopt a ‘name blind’ approach to shortlisting. Recruiting managers will not have access to personal information, including your name and contact details, until a shortlisting decision has been made. Equality monitoring information is not accessible by recruiting managers at any stage.

We reserve the right to amend the dates associated with this advert, which may include closing the advert early where required.

The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

Online searches, including social media, may be carried out as part of the recruitment process.