Job Description

Job Category: Non-Teaching
:
PLEASE NOTE THIS POST IS ONLY OPEN TO INTERNAL APPLICANTS
Children & Families
Organisation: Leicestershire County Council
Work Location: County Hall, Glenfield Leicester LE3 8RA
Worker Category: Hybrid Worker
Salary: 38,700 - 41,373 per annum (pro rata for part-time)
Working Hours: 37 hours per week
Contract Type: Permanent
Closing Date: 29th June 2025
Interview Date(s): 8th July 2025
An opportunity has arisen for a well-organised, motivated and enthusiastic individual to join the Early Years Inclusion and Childcare Service as a Childcare Improvement Sufficiency Officer
The post of Childcare Improvement Sufficiency Officer will allow you the opportunity to join a highly skilled, enthusiastic team. We work with those wishing to join the Early Years sector and wrap-around provision to ensure they offer high-quality provision.
About the Role
Support and inform the service to ensure there are sufficient childcare places to meet the needs and families in Leicestershire (including those who have additional needs) to meet the Local Authorities statutory duty.
Coordinate and implement a package of advice, support, and guidance to ensure that those entering the childcare market offer high-quality provision.
Disseminate key safeguarding messages and information to providers, and other stakeholders
Develop high-quality out-of-school provision, including those judged less than good by Ofsted, by securing information, advice, and training as set out in the local authority's statutory duty.
Ensure high-quality, inclusive out-of-school provision is commissioned through the Service grant.
Willingness to travel to various locations to support providers across the county
For information on our approach to the recruitment of ex-offenders, please see our .
About You
Please refer to these 7 points when making your application, giving examples as evidence of how you meet them
To apply for this post, you must have:

• A relevant level 6 qualification i.e. qualified teacher, Early Years Professional, or equivalent experience and ability
• Outstanding early years practice in the early years sector or an out of school with experience of observing and evaluating the quality learning and providing feedback to staff
• Excellent understanding of: learning relating to the Early Years Foundation Stage phase with a working knowledge of the EYFS and its key principles and objectives; the skills, knowledge and experience required to support out of school settings
• To have good knowledge of the early years SEND code of practice and have extensive knowledge of the legal requirements of the EYFS and other legislation that is required for providers to become registered
• Good interpersonal skills with the ability to enthuse and motivate others develop and maintain good working relationships and professional partnerships with people from all backgrounds
• To be an active listener to gain trust and respect from those you work with and have excellent problem-solving skills, working within a team
• An understanding of, and commitment to, Equality and Diversity and the ability to apply this to strategic work and day-to-day situations

You must also have an understanding of, and commitment to, equality, diversity and inclusion.
In addition, we also expect you to share and will ask you to evidence when you have demonstrated them as part of the selection process.
Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability.
Our main aim is to improve outcomes for children of Leicestershire. If you are successful, you will be supported by Managers to be creative and solution focused as well as having access to a variety of professional development opportunities. People who work in our service say that we are a caring, approachable, friendly service who work well together and with other professionals. Staff are made to feel valued and that they are making a difference.
As Children and Family department we are committed to our vision of becoming a trauma informed responsive department. We will strive to create a safe, compassionate environment demonstrated through relationships based on trust, respect, hope and empathy. We will achieve this through a spirit of curiosity, by nurturing connections through relationships, making a deliberate effort to know and understand people.
We have an Inclusion and Diversity working party that meets regularly and the local authority has other supportive groups where you will have the opportunity to learn and connect with others.
We operate on a fully inclusive employment policy and therefore welcome without exceptions candidates who have protected characteristics. Our one prerequisite is that you are the best at what you do.
Interested in Flexible Working?
We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore, wherever possible, we will consider working arrangements that suit an individual's personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below. This may include requests for term-time working, part-time hours, compressed hours, flexible start and finish times, home/remote working, etc.
Every role within the Council has a defined working style which determines where they can work. The worker category applicable to this post is detailed in the above advert. You can find out more about our worker categories in the page on our career site.
For more information or an informal discussion, please contact:
Jo Fisher, Childcare Sufficiency and Organisational Development Team Manager
Telephone: 0116 305 6566
Email:
How to Apply
Leicestershire County Council is an inclusive organisation which is on a journey to embed and celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion at every level. We warmly welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds, as having a diverse workforce with different perspectives and ideas is fundamental to our values and enriches the services we offer our communities. We particularly welcome applicants from Ethnically Diverse and LGBTQ+ communities and people with disabilities to create a balanced workforce and one that reflects the communities we serve. Applicants with a disability who meet the criteria listed in the 'About You' section above will be offered an interview under the Disability Confident Employer Scheme.
To apply for this job, please click on the apply button. You will need to upload a supporting statement explaining how you meet the criteria listed in the 'About You' section above. For more information, see the section on our career site.
We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.
If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post or you want to request an application pack in an alternative format, please contact our Employee Service Centre by telephoning 0300 3030222 (select option 2) or raising a ticket via our online portal: .
By applying for this post, you agree to our .
About Us:
About Leicestershire County Council
Leicestershire County Council is a and organisation. In August 2021, we also signed up to the . We are strongly committed to promoting equality and opportunity, championing employee wellbeing and investing in staff training and development.
Our aim is to work with communities and partners to deliver public services that make Leicestershire the best possible place to live and work for everyone. Our employees play a key role in supporting this goal and helping us deliver the vital services we provide to the people of Leicestershire.
For further information on what it's like to work for us and the benefits we offer, please refer to the following:

Nottingham City Council