Head of Education Operations & Payments

Job Description

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Salary: PO11 £73,602 - £77,550

Contract Type: Full Time/Permanent

Working hours per week: 36 hours

Application Deadline: 06/04/2026

Proposed Interview Date(s): Tuesday 21st – Thursday 23rd April 2026

Reference: 2055

About Us:

Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work.

We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents.

London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment.

The Council’s preference is for online application. However, if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application, please email recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk so we can arrange an alternative application method.

About the role:

Lead, plan, develop and deliver an expert professional business operations, payments and performance service within the Education Service area. Support the development, management and delivery of Council services. Manage staff responsible for service delivery / support within the service area. Ensure the Council maximises service outcomes in relation to cost.

Deliver the above requirements in relation to:

• Meeting the Council’s statutory duty to secure free early education and childcare places to children under 5 who are eligible for a place, as well as childcare for children aged 0 to 14 or up to 18 for disabled children, by:

  1. creating and retaining high quality places by working with potential providers and existing providers

  2. commissioning high quality providers

  3. delivering information advice and training which empowers providers to remain financially sustainable and provide quality places that comply with business related statutory requirements.

• Delivering grant funded programmes related to early education and childcare and out of school/enrichment activities for school age children.
• Meeting the Council’s statutory duties in relation to encouraging, monitoring and reporting on participation in early learning and childcare and post 16 education services by children and young people.
• Providing a range of information advice and training to Early Years, Childcare providers and Schools regarding running sustainable businesses which comply with statutory requirements.
• Complying with the Council’s statutory duty to develop and implement a transparent formula to fund and make payments to all providers who deliver the Governments free early education and childcare scheme in line with the DfE’s and Education and Skills Funding Agencies Early Years requirements.
• Complying with the Council’s statutory duty to develop and implement financial procedures in order to make payments to Ofsted/DfE registered settings, commissioned providers and individuals from the High Needs Block (HNB) of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) in line with the DfE’s and Education and Skills Funding Agencies requirements.
• Developing and delivering arrangements for the delivery of financial trading services delivered by the education service.
• Providing a range of business operations/support services across the education service.

>> Click here to download the Role Profile <<

Key Responsibilities:

• Secure and commission free high quality and financially sustainable early education and childcare places to children under 5 who are eligible for a place, as well as childcare for children aged 0 to 14 or up to 18 for disabled children.
• Deliver grant funded programmes related to early education and childcare and out of school/enrichment activities for school age children.
• Encourage, monitor and report on participation in early learning and childcare and post 16 education services by children and young people.
• Meet the Council’s statutory and non-statutory requirements with regards to communication with internal and external stakeholders.
• Provide a range of business operations/support services across the education service.
• Develop and implement a transparent formula and make payments in relation to the Early Years and High Needs Block of the DSG.
• Develop and deliver arrangements for the delivery of financial trading services delivered by the education service.
• Provide support and oversight to the schools HR function.

Qualifications and Requirements:

To be considered for this position, you should meet the following requirements:

Indicative Qualifications

• Educated to degree standard or equivalent
• Relevant professional qualification

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• Experience of successfully undertaking a strategic leadership/management role which lead on delivering a Council’s statutory requirements relating to securing free early education and childcare places.
• Experience of successfully undertaking a strategic leadership/management role which lead on delivering a Council’s statutory requirements relating to encouraging, monitoring and reporting on participation in early learning and childcare and post 16 education services.
• Experience of successfully undertaking a strategic leadership/management role which lead on delivering a Council’s statutory requirements relating to developing and implementing a transparent formula to fund and make payments to all providers who deliver the Governments free early education and childcare scheme.
• Experience of successfully undertaking a strategic leadership/management role which lead on delivering a Council’s statutory requirements relating to develop and implement financial procedures in order to make payments to Ofsted/DfE registered settings, commissioned providers and individuals from the High Needs Block (HNB) of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG).

Terms and conditions:

The below terms and conditions apply to this role:

Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks;

Satisfactory declaration of interest;

This role is subject to safer recruitment practices as it involves work with children and/ or vulnerable adults;

Satisfactory DBS check;

As a public authority, we must ensure that members of staff in public-facing roles are able to speak fluent English. This means that they must have a command of spoken English, with confidence and accuracy, sufficient for the effective performance of their role. This requirement does not refer to any particular English language qualifications, regional or international accents, dialects, speech impediments or the tone of conversations. It does not require staff to speak only in English.

How to Apply:

Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications online by pressing the ‘Apply’ button below. This includes a supporting statement that outlines to us how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy.

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.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both, service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area, it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race, gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age, faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination, intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair, appropriate, accessible and excellent Services to all. Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.

To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities, the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process, which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby, for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2, internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information, please refer to our recruitment and selection policy.

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 or feel free to discuss this during your interview.

For more information on the benefits of working for the Council, please visit https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/jobs-and-training/find-jobs-and-other-opportunities/working-us.

Contact Information:

If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process, please contact Mary Jarrett mary.jarrett@walthamforest.gov.uk

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post, please contact our Recruitment Team via email at recruitment@walthamforest.gov.uk.

Click here for further information on the Human Resources recruitment privacy notice