Interim Education Data Analyst (Local SEND Reform)

Job Description: Interim Education Data Analyst (Local SEND Reform)

Job title: Interim Education Data Analyst (SEND Reform)

Directorate / Service: Children and Education Services (SEND Reform Programme)

Location / Working pattern: Nottingham City (hybrid working, 2-3 days at Loxley House)

Job purpose

To provide dedicated analytical capacity to support effective implementation, monitoring, evaluation and assurance of the Local SEND Reform Programme, including the Experts at Hand (EAH) offer and associated national/statutory reform requirements. The postholder will develop and maintain a trusted evidence base, performance dashboards, and repeatable reporting processes to support decision-making, accountability, DfE returns and inspection readiness.

Key responsibilities

1) SEND Reform performance reporting and dashboards

• Improve consistency and reliability of SEND data across the partnership, including refreshing the “Vital Signs” dashboard and addressing data quality risks for assurance and inspection.

2) Single evidence base across education, health and local authority datasets

• Integrate education, health and local authority datasets to create a single, trusted evidence base, reducing fragmentation and manual reconciliation.
• Establish clear data definitions, validation rules and quality controls to ensure metrics are consistent, comparable over time and defensible in external review.

3) DfE returns and repeatable quarterly/annual submissions

• Support completion of the SEND Reform Plan data requirements and implement efficient, repeatable processes for quarterly and annual submissions, including automation where possible.
• Provide analytical support for DfE engagement, statutory returns and performance collections, ensuring outputs are timely, accurate and internally coherent.

4) Data management, information governance and continuous improvement

• Ensure compliance with information governance requirements, including data protection, secure handling and appropriate audit trails for key metrics.

Person Specification

Essential criteria

• Demonstrable experience analysing complex datasets and producing decision-grade insight for senior stakeholders.
• Strong skills in data visualisation and reporting (e.g., Power BI or equivalent), turning complex information into clear dashboards and narratives.
• Coding skills, specifically T-SQL or similar to interrogate internal systems and datasets.
• Experience developing and applying data quality standards, definitions, and QA processes across multiple sources.
• Ability to work across multi-agency environments and translate between technical and non-technical audiences.
• Understanding of data ethics, privacy, and secure data handling.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver at pace in a high-scrutiny environment (programme, inspection readiness, DfE reporting).

Desirable criteria

• Knowledge of SEND / education system measures (e.g., inclusion indicators, EHCP flow, attendance/exclusions, sufficiency/provision indicators) and/or local authority performance contexts.
• Experience supporting programme monitoring & evaluation, including logic models, success measures and impact tracking.
• Familiarity with national data analyst role expectations (government data profession frameworks).

Qualifications (suggested wording)

• Degree (or equivalent professional experience) in a numerate/analytical discipline (e.g., data science, statistics, economics, social research, maths, or similar).

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