Volunteering for IPSEA |
||
|
Every year we advise and support around 4,500 parents and carers of children with special educational needs and our services are mainly provided by volunteers. We are always keen to expand our team. We are currently recruiting volunteers for both the Advice Line and the Tribunal Support Service (telephone and representation). |
Download the volunteer recruitment
pack: |
|
What IPSEA provides for volunteers |
TrainingAll applicants are required to complete successfully the IPSEA training programme before becoming an IPSEA volunteer. The programme consists of 20 hours of preliminary home study followed by a two-day course to consolidate this study and introduce practical work. This is followed by further practical work supported and supervised by a mentor. SupportWhen volunteers have successfully completed the training they receive a certificate and are given ongoing volunteer support which includes:
|
|
What IPSEA asks from volunteers |
CommitmentIn view of the time and costs involved in recruiting and training new volunteers, IPSEA asks that new volunteers commit themselves to a minimum of two years with the organisation. IPSEA reserves the right to request all or part payment of training costs should a volunteer leave within two years of joining IPSEA. Criminal Records DisclosureAlthough your work with IPSEA may not bring you into direct contact with children it creates an opportunity for contact to be made. All volunteers who undergo our training will be subject to an enhanced criminal records check from the Criminal Records Bureau. Criminal records will be taken into account for recruitment purposes only when the conviction is relevant. All information received will be dealt with fairly and discreetly in line with the recommendations outlined in the Criminal Records Bureau Code of Practice. Completion of paperwork and compliance with monitoring proceduresAll volunteers will be required to fill in and submit the necessary paperwork in relation to each parent they advise. Volunteers will also be required to comply with IPSEA's monitoring procedures which enable us to quality control and evaluate our services. These procedures will be explained in detail during the volunteer training. |
|
Volunteering for IPSEA's Advice Line |
The kind of support you will provideWorking from home, you will give advice over the telephone to parents who call our freephone Advice Line. The Advice Line advises parents on all aspects of the statutory assessment and statementing processes, except for Tribunal appeals, including advice on:
What we ask our volunteers to doWe 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:
There is likely to be some follow-up work which may take place outside of the allocated session, e.g. calling a parent back after researching an issue (or checking with your legal support worker) or after receiving papers from a parent. How the Advice Line worksThe Advice Line operates from one central freephone number which is diverted by volunteers to their own telephone via BT's remote control diversion system. |
|
Volunteering for IPSEA's Tribunal Support Service |
The kind of support you will provideIPSEA's Tribunal Support Service (TSS) provides two levels of support to parents, and volunteers choose to be either a telephone support volunteer or a tribunal representative volunteer. It is possible to switch between the two if your circumstances change. All volunteers would assist parents with:
Telephone Support VolunteersWorking from home, you will provide the initial contact for parents who are appealing to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST) and will make an initial assessment of the level of support a parent requires. If the parent is able to represent themselves at the Tribunal hearing you would then continue to advise them through the process. This advice would be over the telephone, perhaps asking for papers to be sent to you in order to enable you to provide more detailed and effective advice. If the parent is not able to represent themselves at the Tribunal hearing the case would then be passed to a Tribunal Representative volunteer. Tribunal Representative VolunteersWorking from home, you will provide advice, support and representation for parents who are appealing to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST) and who have been assessed as requiring a higher level of support including representation at the Tribunal hearing. This is likely to involve the drafting of papers for the Tribunal and some liaison with potential witnesses, schools and the local authority. What we ask our volunteers to doWe ask telephone support volunteers to take a minimum of three new cases per month. The volunteer will telephone the new parents given to them every month, talk through their situation and after applying the relevant criteria, advise the parent of the level of service IPSEA can offer them. If telephone support is sufficient the volunteer will take the case themselves and give the parent their own contact details for future contact. If the parent requires full representation the case will be referred back to the service coordinator to allocate to the tribunal representative volunteer. We estimate that approximately a third of all cases will be referred back for full representation. We estimate that each telephone support case which a volunteer keeps will take an average of 5 hours of preparation work. We ask tribunal representative volunteers to take a minimum of five cases per year in their nominated geographical area. The volunteer will telephone the parent and advise them in detail on their case and continue to advise them up to the hearing. The volunteer will then represent the parent at the Tribunal hearing. We estimate that each case will take on average 10 hours of preparation work followed by on average one day in Tribunal. This varies depending on the type of case and the stage at which the parent contacts IPSEA. How the Tribunal Support Service worksThe Tribunal Support service is coordinated from IPSEA head office. Parents call the Tribunal support telephone number and are then allocated to a telephone support volunteer who will telephone them and decide on the level of support they require. Telephone support volunteers are emailed three new cases every month by the service co-ordinator. Parents who are referred for the full representation service are then placed on a spreadsheet which is emailed to tribunal representative volunteers on a weekly basis, volunteers are asked to choose a case from the list when they are able to do so (minimum of five cases per year). How to apply to be an IPSEA volunteerRelevant experienceProviding advice and advocacy to parents of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities can be demanding. However, it's our experience that the ability to perform well as an IPSEA volunteer does not depend on a individual's formal educational qualifications. We ask that prospective volunteers are or have at least one of the following:
|
|
Next steps |
If you are interested in applying to be an IPSEA volunteer please download and complete the Volunteer Application Form and task sheets, then return them to us at:
Or telephone 01394 446576 for a copy of the pack to be posted to you. |
|