Child Missing Education/Elective Home Education Caseworker
Team: Access and Inclusion Job Family: Supporting – CBG8
Salary: £31,022 – £33,851 per annum pro rata Hours: 25.9 hours per week, term time only (39 weeks)
Location: You will be expected to attend a CBC office location at least twice per month Contract Type: Hybrid – Fixed Term until 26th March 2027 – Term Time only – Suitable for Secondment
Closing Date: 12th May 2026
Interview Date: 21st May 2026 About the role Are you passionate about safeguarding children and ensuring every child receives a suitable education? We’re looking for a skilled and proactive caseworker to lead and manage a complex caseload of children identified as Children Missing Education (CME) or Electively Home Educated (EHE). We are happy to discuss working patterns for these roles. Central Bedfordshire Council is a forward-thinking, dynamic and ambitious organisation that wants to ensure the area continues to be a great place to live and work. Within Children’s Services, the Access & Inclusion Service supports and challenges schools and settings to meet the needs of our most vulnerable learners. The team ensures that statutory duties are met in relation to Attendance, CME, EHE, Performance and Chaperone licences, Work Permits and Exclusions. Our team are dedicated to ensuring every child we work with reaches their full potential at school or at home. By supporting families and keeping children safe, we help children and young people grow up safely, achieve more, and be happy. What you’ll do
This is a varied role with a strong focus on working in a supportive and collaborative way with professionals, families, and children. You will:
- Conduct investigations to locate and support children missing education
- Complete both school and home visits on a regular basis mainly in the north area of Central Bedfordshire.
- Work in close partnership to support and advise schools and families around aspects of home education
- Build positive relationships with families while maintaining oversight of a cohort of home-educated children
- Work directly with families from diverse communities, including Refugee and Gypsy and Traveller families
- At times, provide evidence as part of legal processes
- Contribute to policy development, training, and continuous improvement
What we’re looking for:
- Strong working knowledge of CME and EHE legislation, safeguarding, and SEND requirements
- Excellent communication and analytical skills to assess education provision and risk
- Ability to work independently and make informed decisions on complex cases
- Experience of collaborating across multiple agencies and presenting cases formally if needed
Our Offer We have a number of rewards and benefits available to our staff, to view these please visit our Rewards and Benefits page Our aspiration is to be a truly flexible employer. We welcome discussion on location, hours and working pattern as part of the application process. —————————————————————————————————————- You will be expected to demonstrate how you meet the key accountabilities and competencies in this Recruitment Pack.. Our Competency Framework and Qualification Guidance are to be read in conjunction with our Recruitment Pack. For an informal discussion about this position, please contact: Andrew Copperwheat at andrew.copperwheat@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk or on 0300 300 6291 —————————————————————————————————————- Safeguarding: Central Bedfordshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees, volunteers and contractors to share this commitment. This post is subject to the disclosure of criminal records.
To maintain a fair and consistent approach for applicants, it is Central Bedfordshire Council’s policy to only consider applications made via our online application system and we therefore thank you for not submitting your application offline.
Our National Careers Service team offer a free monthly workshop covering CV writing and how to complete the statement sections of the Central Bedfordshire Council online application form. This MS Teams workshop is open to anyone from the UK and lasts around 1.5 hours. Please book your place here.
More information about this service can be found here: Support getting into work or learning | Central Bedfordshire Council
Please note we are unable to offer sponsorship for our roles. Successful applicants that may require a visa will need to consider the options for obtaining and/or maintaining the legal right to live and work in the UK. Please confirm you have right to work in the UK.
