Advice Line Volunteer Role Description
Title Advice Line Volunteer – Home or Office based (Saffron Walden, Essex)
Co-ordinated by Louise Tweddell (Office based)
Purpose To provide legal advice & support to parents of children with SEN/disability
Main Tasks Working from home, you will give advice over the telephone to parents who call our free phone advice line. The Advice Line advises parents on:
- School-based stages: including targets and reviews associated with Individual Education Plans
- Assessments: how to ask for a statutory assessment of an SEN child’s needs and advice on the assessment procedure
- Proposed Statement Stage: advice on how a statement should be written to maximise the benefits to their child
- When a Statement is finalised: including help with referring parents to our Tribunal Support Service when necessary
- Problems with Statement Implementation: often requiring negotiation with the LA and/or a threat of legal action via a solicitor, where necessary, to ensure that a child’s needs are met
- Annual Reviews of Statements of SEN
- Issues relating to disability discrimination in schools
- Exclusions of children with special educational needs/disabilities.
- Commitment We ask our advice line volunteers to cover one session each week for a three-month period. During any one year we ask that you cover at least two three-month periods. The current Advice Line sessions are Monday to Friday; 10am - 1pm; 1pm - 4pm; 7pm - 9pm.
There is likely to be some follow-up work outside of the session e.g. calling a parent back after checking with your legal support worker or helping parents with paperwork