Senior Commissioning Officer - Surrey County Council : Job Details

This full-time position has a starting salary of £45,680 per annum based on a 36 hour working week.

This is a 12 month fixed-term or secondment opportunity to cover maternity leave, starting in August 2024.

We are excited to be hiring a Senior Early Years Commissioning Officer to join our fantastic Early Years Commissioning team. The team are based in Woking but the role is hybrid offering a mixture of visits to early years providers (focussed on a quadrant of the county) community events, home working and office days at sites across Surrey.

Please note, the contractual location for this role is currently Quadrant Court in Woking, however it is our intention to move within the local area to Victoria Gate in Central Woking later this year.

Rewards and benefits

• 26 days' holiday (prorated for part time staff), rising to 28 days after 2 years' service and 30 days after 5 years' service
• Option to buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave
• An extensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to support health and wellbeing
• Up to 5 days of carer's leave per year
• Paternity, adoption and dependents leave
• A generous local government salary related pension
• Lifestyle discounts including gym, travel, shopping and many more
• 2 paid volunteering days plus 1 team volunteering day per year
• Learning and development hub where you can access a wealth of resources

About the team

It is an exciting time for childcare and early education with the biggest ever expansion of funded childcare starting from April 2024, and with that comes challenges and opportunities. The team works collaboratively with providers, schools, communities and partners to support the sufficiency and sustainability of the early education and childcare sector in Surrey.

The Early Years Commissioning Team provide business advice to our local early years providers to enable them to offer the best quality childcare and education to the County's youngest children, whilst remaining financially sustainable.We also have a focus on market management of the childcare sector in Surrey to secure sufficient, good quality early education and childcare places for families; with a particular focus on children that need extra support, such as those with additional needs, disabilities or those experiencing barriers to learning.

Put simply, our over-arching aim is to improve outcomes for all children and their families.

About the role

A typical day for a Senior Early Years Commissioning Officer might involve co-ordinating support for a new nursery opening in the area, delegating work to Commissioning Officers, and supporting colleagues within the team with information and guidance on business planning and financial forecasting. This might also include leading on statutory processes with schools wishing to open a nursery class.

You may also spend time analysing data to understand where additional early years provision is needed, leading on devising strategies to tackle this and prioritising our most vulnerable children.

In-between visits and conversations you might be involved in multi-agency working with partners and stakeholder, looking at the impact of new housing development on early years places, reviewing the delivery of the funded entitlements to ensure this is compliant with statutory guidance and local authority strategies, or creating and delivering packages of training to the early years sector.

Shortlisting criteria

To be considered for shortlisting for this position, your CV and personal statement will clearly evidence the following:

• Level 6 Qualification in Early Years or a similar related field, or significant experience in a related field
• The ability to lead on projects that have met outcomes within a set timescale
• A good knowledge and understanding of Early Years Funded Early Education Entitlements and Statutory Guidance, including Safeguarding responsibilities
• The willingness and ability to travel around the county

The job advert closes at 23:59 on 30/05/2024 with interviews planned for week of 03/06/2024.

An enhanced DBS 'Disclosure and Barring Service' check for regulated activity (formerly known as CRB) and the Children's and Adults' Barred List checks will be required for this role.

Our commitment

Surrey County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. A guaranteed interview will be offered to all disabled applications where:

• The candidate has evidenced the minimum criteria for the role through their application
• The candidate has chosen to share that they have a disability on the application form

Our application form and onboarding process will provide an opportunity to request any reasonable adjustments for the interview and/or the role.

We want to be an inclusive and diverse employer reflecting the community we serve and particularly welcome applications from all underrepresented groups.