Early Years and Childcare Performance Partner

Job Introduction

Contract Type: Permanent

Working Pattern: Full Time

Advert Start Date: 01.09.2026

Advert End Date: Closed for applications on 18.09.2026

Salary: Band 6

Hours per week: 37 hours per week

Job Category: Education

Vacancy ID:

Employment Location: County Hall

Number of posts: 1

Northumberland Early Years & Childcare Team have responsibility for ensuring that high-quality early years and childcare provision is available and accessible to all families with young children. This includes children accessing early years funded entitlements as well as childcare for school aged children through breakfast club, wraparound and holiday provision. This is an exciting time for Northumberland Early Years as we deliver on the Government’s Best Start in Life Strategy with an aspiration that every child in Northumberland is able to access the opportunities and experiences needed to be school ready.

An exciting opportunity has become available to join the Early Years Team, as we are seeking to appoint an Early Years & Childcare Performance Partner. This role is varied and to compliment the staff we already have, the prominent areas of focus for the successful candidate would be:

• Monitor and support compliance with Early Years funding regulations, statutory guidance, and local authority requirements to ensure funded providers meet all eligibility and operational standards.
• Undertake funding compliance audits, reviews, and investigations, analysing documentation and provider records to identify risks, discrepancies, and areas for improvement.
• Provide advice and guidance to early years providers on funded childcare entitlements, funding claims, attendance requirements, and associated compliance responsibilities.
• Support providers to understand and implement Early Years funding policies and procedures, promoting consistent and accurate administration of funded places.

• Work collaboratively with providers to address compliance issues, develop action plans, and improve practice where funding irregularities are identified.
• Interpret and communicate complex funding regulations and policy updates to providers, colleagues, and stakeholders.
• To support the roll out of the breakfast club programme in schools and sufficiency of school aged childcare, including holiday provision.
• To support childcare providers with Ofsted registrations.
• To provide a pivotal role around safeguarding children in the early years and childcare, including delivering safeguarding training.
• To take responsibility for developing and leading training sessions for childcare providers, coaching and mentoring, facilitating meetings on a variety of subjects.

The successful candidate will be welcomed into a friendly, supportive team with regular 1 to 1’s, appraisals and team meetings. They will be required to travel around the county, attend meetings at our central base, as well as attend events outside normal office hours. The contractual work base will be County Hall, Morpeth, with flexible working arrangements following Northumberland’s WorkSmart policy.

Interview Date: Wednesday 30th September 2026
To find out more about this role or to arrange a discussion, please email rosy.dickinson@northumberland.gov.uk

Why choose us?
Northumberland County Council’s (NCC) vision is ‘Land of Great Opportunities’, for current and future generations. We believe there is no better place to live and work.

This is a unique opportunity to lead Northumberland's vision for inclusion, supporting schools and settings to develop innovative approaches that enable more children and young people with SEND to thrive in their local communities.

We have some outstanding benefits and perks to offer you, including:

• 26 days annual leave plus public/bank holidays, rising to 31 days after 5 years of service (pro rata for part-time employees)
• Automatic enrolment into the Local Government Pension Scheme

To see all our excellent benefits and perks, please click here.

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Additional Information
For guidance on completing your application and for information about our Equality and Diversity principles, please see the attached guidance notes here.

We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer. We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria. If you have a disability and would prefer to apply in a different format, please see the alternative methods below. This information will be treated as confidential and will only be used to check that you meet the essential requirements of the post.

Alternative application format:
British Sign Language: northumberlandcc-cs.signvideo.net
For those with speech difficulties or hearing loss: Text relay service dial 018001 01670 623930