Travel Assessment Officer

Overview

Buckinghamshire Council is recruiting for a Travel Assessment Officer to work within the Client Transport Team.

This position is being advertised for Buckinghamshire Council internal and agency employees only.

About us

The Client Transport Team delivers transport for approximately 7,500 school children and 300 adult social care clients daily.

The role of the Travel Assessment Officer is to create robust ‘Travel Assessments’ to ensure the needs of children and young people with Educational, Health Care Plans aged 0-25 years and Adult Social Care Clients with additional needs are kept safe during their journey.

Your assessment of needs would facilitate the safety and wellbeing of the Client, other passengers, vehicle crews and third parties.

Many of our clients have very specialist needs and disabilities, which impact on what travel provisions are suitable; the responsibility of ensuring that these needs are correctly assessed falls to the Travel Assessment Officer.

As an ‘any-desk’ worker, you’ll need to be connected to our network to access digital folders and resources, but this can either be from home or an office location when required.

You will be required to work from the office a couple of times a week, depending on your role and team requirements.

This Role also requires the use of a car and involves on-site visits and delivery of safety equipment to families.

About the role

The Client Transport Team delivers transport for approximately 7,500 school children and 300 adult social care clients daily.

The role of the Travel Assessment Officer is to create robust ‘Travel Assessments’ to ensure the needs of children and young people with Educational, Health Care Plans aged 0-25 years and Adult Social Care Clients with additional needs are kept safe during their journey.

Your assessment of needs would facilitate the safety and wellbeing of the Client, other passengers, vehicle crews and third parties.

Many of our clients have very specialist needs and disabilities, which impact on what travel provisions are suitable; the responsibility of ensuring that these needs are correctly assessed falls to the Travel Assessment Officer.

As an ‘any-desk’ worker, you’ll need to be connected to our network to access digital folders and resources, but this can either be from home or an office location when required.

You will be required to work from the office a couple of times a week, depending on your role and team requirements.

This Role also requires the use of a car and involves on-site visits and delivery of safety equipment to families.

About you

You will have good experience of working with both adults and children with Additional Needs and Disabilities and have sound knowledge of SEND or Social Care legislation, processes and understanding of assessing risk.

Knowledge relating to Home to School Transport, especially operational matters, and experience in this sector is preferred but not essential.

You must be highly motivated and organised, with well-developed interpersonal skills to be able to collaborate and demonstrate the ability to work with parents, carers and other professionals.

IT skills and an understanding of the importance of accurate data management and recording are also required for this role.

Other information

Driver with access to own car required

Please note, you will be required to undergo an Enhanced DBS check for this role.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and therefore applicants are required to declare:

• All unspent convictions and conditional cautions
• All spent convictions and adult cautions that are not protected (i.e. that are not filtered out) as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2020).

For further information on filtering please refer to Nacro guidance and the guidance published by the Ministry of Justice (see, in particular, the section titled ‘Exceptions Order’). 

We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so please be advised to submit your application as early as possible.

Our values and culture

We have a set of values, which our employees have chosen, that represent what we are – Proud, Ambitious, Collaborative and Trustworthy.

By joining Buckinghamshire Council, you can expect:

• a fair and inclusive culture
• the chance to really make a difference to those around you
• health and well-being initiatives including an Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and mindfulness workshops
• a unified voice through our Employee Representative Group
• ongoing support, and the opportunity to develop and progress in your career with us
• opportunities to take part in fun activities such as fundraising and social events

At Buckinghamshire Council, we know that our biggest strength comes from the people that work for us, and that’s why we’re working hard to ensure we continue to be an accessible and inclusive organisation.

From dedicated staff networks overseen by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group, to proudly standing as a Disability Confident employer, it’s important to us that all our colleagues feel engaged, listened to, and valued. Our offer of flexible working empowers a productive and happy workforce and allows employees to combine work with other responsibilities and commitments.

We believe our workforce should reflect the diverse communities we service in Buckinghamshire, and are looking for like-minded individuals to join us in promoting equality, fairness, and inclusion for everyone.

About the Business Unit

Our Communities directorate works across the county to deliver a number of the key customer-facing services that our residents, businesses and visitors rely on every day. 

This directorate includes a wide range of services, including:

• collecting and disposing of waste and recycling
• maintaining our roads and Rights of Way network and parking
• ensuring the delivery of school transport, and supporting sustainable travel including public bus services and School Crossing Patrollers
• managing Country Parks
• leisure facilities, museums, theatres and libraries, as well as developing our Cultural Strategy
• licensing, cemeteries and crematoria

The customer is central to how we develop and deliver all of these services, which help promote our rich and vibrant culture and special environment. 

We are looking for enthusiastic, ambitious and committed individuals to join our team and help us to continue to make Buckinghamshire a great place to live, work and visit. This is an exciting time for us as we bring together the services previously run by five separate councils before Buckinghamshire Council was created. Whilst making major changes to contracts affecting residents across Bucks, we continue to focus on delivering great customer service. You will join us on our journey of continuous improvement - whether that’s through developing strategies and ways of working or delivering services on the ground, every person in Communities is a valued member of the team.

We recognise and reward you

Hard work and success deserves recognition. That’s why we pride ourselves on the benefits we give our people. We actively encourage a good work-life balance and promote flexible and agile working arrangements. We provide discounts on various Cafés, restaurants, shops and auto enrolment onto our generous Pension Scheme. In addition to the opportunity to gain membership to Costco, we have discounted gym memberships, travel discounts with Arriva and much more.

https://jobs.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/working-buckinghamshire-council/