Senior Attendance, Prosecutions and S19 Complaints Officer

The Service & Team

This role sits within Cornwall Councils Attendance and Alternative Provision services and works closely with Education Legal Services Social Care Health Police Youth Justice and other partners. The team is responsible for delivering the Councils statutory duties relating to school attendance enforcement Section 19 provision and complaints with a strong focus on safeguarding fairness and achieving positive outcomes for children and families.

The Role

Cornwall Council is seeking a Senior Attendance Prosecutions and Section 19 Complaints Officer to lead the delivery of its statutory school attendance enforcement and complaints function.

The role provides strategic and operational oversight of the full legal process from the issuing of Penalty Notices through to the preparation and authorisation of Section 444 prosecutions ensuring all actions are lawful proportionate robust and compliant with statutory requirements. You will also lead on complex highrisk and Ombudsmanlinked complaints delivering clear thorough investigations and resolutions that protect children families and the Councils legal and reputational position.

The postholder will provide strategic oversight of the Councils Section 19 duties ensuring children with medical needs SEND or safeguarding vulnerabilities are properly assessed and offered suitable education before any enforcement action is pursued. Working collaboratively with schools and multiagency partners you will help ensure consistent evidencebased decisionmaking and strong safeguarding practice across the county.

This role includes line management of two Senior Business Support (Legal Intervention) Officers and two Attendance Officers responsible for Section 19 along with adhoc operational oversight of staff across the wider Attendance and Alternative Provision services where needed. You will support performance management quality assurance and professional development within the team.

This is a public/customerfacing role where the statutory English language requirement for public sector workers applies.
This position will be subject to a criminal record disclosure check.

Working Pattern

The role is offered on a fulltime basis and operates within Cornwall Councils flexible working arrangements. Hybrid working and other flexible options may be available in line with service requirements and Council policy.

What Youll Need to Succeed

The successful candidate will bring a solid foundation of knowledge and experience relevant to education safeguarding and statutory attendance work.

You will be educated to degree level in a suitable field and able to demonstrate clear analytical thinking sound judgement and strong organisational skills. Effective written and verbal communication will be important along with the ability to approach complex situations calmly and professionally.

Experience in managing staff or leading within an education or local authority setting is desirable as is familiarity with attendance legislation safeguarding responsibilities and the processes linked to penalty notices and Section 444 prosecutions. An understanding of handling complaints including those of a complex nature and experience preparing or presenting casework will also be beneficial.

Overall we are looking for someone who can work collaboratively respond thoughtfully to challenges and contribute positively to a service focused on achieving the best outcomes for children and families.

Please read the role profile for the full details of this role attached below in this advert

What youll get in return:

Cornwall Councils ambition is to be an employer of choice a high performing Council and a learning organisation. We commit to providing a reward and benefits package to attract motivate and reward our employees. We offer a range of flexible working options to our staff. This helps provide our employees with a greater work/life balance. Whilst still ensuring that service needs are met.

Our core employee rewards and benefits include:

a competitive salary.

a defined benefit pension scheme based on your career average earnings. This includes the option for extra voluntary contributions

a generous annual leave entitlement with the potential to purchase additional leave.

A national award-winning employee health and wellbeing programme

Employee benefits scheme giving employees access to a wide range of discounts to local and national goods and services.

Additional Information:

Cornwall Council is unable to offer visa sponsorship or transfer existing sponsorship for this role.

The full role profile is attached here

We recommend saving a copy of this to refer to if you are invited to an interview.

For more information or an informal chat about the role please contact Jacqueline Lewis at

Application Process

Please attach a supporting statement to your application you can add your Education & Qualifications details manually using the application form timeline or you can upload your CV. Remember to demonstratewhy you are suitable against each of the points marked as Application on the Role Profile using examples from your experience or transferable skills. This might be through qualifications or descriptive examples from your work / personal experience which clearly illustrates what you did and the effect it had. Guidance on how to complete your application can be found here The application process.

Please note that applications cannot be edited after they have been submitted please contact if you have any queries or require assistance with your application.

Existing employees must apply using their Cornwall Council email address through the Opportunity Marketplace on Oracle.