Best Start in Life HLE Practitioner

Job Description

Organisation: Leicestershire County Council

Work Location: County hall Glenfield LE3 8RA

Salary: £28,605 - £31,029 per annum (pro rata for part time)

Working Hours: 37 hours per week

Contract Type: Fixed term or Secondment (until 31st March 2027)

Closing Date: 12th April 2026

Interview Date(s): In person on 24th April 2026

We are looking for a full time Best Start in Life Practitioners to join our new team.

About the Role

You will need to be a qualified and experienced early years worker with an understanding of supporting young children with SEND needs.

This team will be working with early years children and their families to help them achieve a ‘good level of development’ by delivering interventions either in their home, in Family Hubs or other community venues across the county.

You will do this by using evidenced based interventions such as PEEP, Making it Real and our Fabulous Two’s programme. All training will be provided.

You will also deliver or support various one-off sessions around the county for children and their families and support our 0 to 5 Family Support Workers to deliver sessions from Family Hubs.

An enhanced with barred list DBS check is required for this post.

For information on our approach to the recruitment of ex-offenders, please see our policy statement.

About You

To apply for this post, you must:

• NVQ 3 in appropriate early years or child care subject or NNEB / BTEC (Nursery Nursing), health, social care, or equivalent.
• Experience of working with parents and/or children of pre or school age in supporting parents’ understanding of their child’s early learning needs.
• Experience in working with families in which very young children are experiencing difficulties in their speech, language and communication development or in other key development areas.
• Knowledge and understanding of the principles and practice of the Early Years Foundation Stage, child development (0-5), with a particular understanding of language development.
• Knowledge of basic techniques which can be utilised to stimulate speech and language development. And an understanding of issues that may affect parenting, family development and community inclusion.
• Ability to communicate clearly with children, parents and other professionals. Ability to work with a range of professionals and engage in multi-disciplinary work.
• Good delivery skills and able to communicate effectively, both written and orally, including the ability to keep professional records.

Access to own car and full current UK driving licence.

In addition, we also expect you to share our commitment to our values and to delivering accessible and inclusive services which meet the needs of all of our residents. You will be asked to demonstrate your understanding of these commitments as part of the selection process.

Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability. We are a Disability Confident Employer.

Interested in Flexible Working?

We are open to discussions about flexible working, which may include part time working, job sharing, term-time working, flexible start and finish times, and hybrid working, depending on the requirements of the role and the service. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below.

For more information or an informal discussion, please contact:

To attend an information session regarding this role please dial in to this link:

https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/36481382717977?p=jmZ7KkfmD4IZ76DedY

or Contact

Louise Pettitt - Team and Partnership Manager (Localities)

Telephone: 01163057879

Email: louise.pettitt@leics.gov.uk

How to Apply

At Leicestershire County Council we’re looking for top talent from all walks of life. Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, and whatever your background - we care about what you bring to our organisation, not just what’s on your CV. That’s why we’ve designed a recruitment process that’s fair, accessible, and focused on potential. And with benefits that support people at every age and stage of life, we make sure you can thrive - both personally and professionally.

If you share our passion to make a difference for the people of Leicestershire, we’d love to hear from you. Click the apply button to submit your application, ensuring that you upload a supporting statement that explains how you meet the criteria listed in the ‘About You’ section above. Without this information, we won’t be able to assess your suitability for the role, and your application will be rejected. For tips on how to write your statement, see the How to Apply 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.

About us

About Leicestershire County Council

At Leicestershire County Council, we're committed to making a real difference in people's lives. 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. Whether you're starting your career or looking for your next challenge, you'll find a place with us where your ideas are valued, and your work has purpose.

For further information on what it’s like to work for us and the benefits we offer, please refer to the following:

Our Recruitment Process
Our Organisational Values
Our Employee Benefits
Working for Us