Head of Place Planning and Admissions

Job Description

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Salary: PO11 £73,602 - £77,550
Contract Type: Full-time/Fixed Term (12 months)

Working hours per week: 36

Application Deadline: 21/05/2026

Proposed Interview Date(s): TBC
Reference: 2128

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.

About the role:

This is an exciting opportunity to lead improvement and innovation across SEND education in Waltham Forest, ensuring that children and young people with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) achieve positive outcomes and access the right education at the right time. As Head of Service you will provide strategic and operational leadership across a complex and high-profile portfolio—shaping borough-wide SEND strategy, driving inclusive practice, and strengthening quality assurance across specialist, independent and post-16 provision.

You will lead the development and delivery of the SEND Sufficiency Plan, commission and monitor high-quality placements (including Section 19/EOTAS), and work closely with schools, providers, health and social care partners, and families. Co-production is central to this role—bringing parent/carer and young people’s voices into how we design and improve services. You will also support the Assistant Director SEND and deputise as required, contributing to senior-level decision-making and system leadership.

>> Click here to download the Role Profile <<

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead meaningful change: shape strategy and deliver practical improvements for children and families.
• System leadership: influence partners across education, health and care and work with senior leaders and elected members.
• Commissioning and sufficiency: develop the local specialist estate and secure high-quality, value-for-money provision.
• Quality and impact: strengthen assurance, safeguarding and outcomes-focused monitoring across placements.

Qualifications and Requirements:

We’re looking for a senior SEND leader educated to degree level (or equivalent), with a relevant professional qualification (SEND/education/commissioning or similar). You will bring significant experience of strategic commissioning and service transformation, strong partnership working across education, health and care, and confident leadership of quality assurance and safeguarding. You’ll need a strong working knowledge of SEND legislation and statutory duties, excellent communication skills (including with senior leaders and elected members), and a clear commitment to inclusive education and equity. (Desirable: NPQ or SEND-specific leadership training.)

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 Clare Potter at Clare.Potter@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.

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.

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

Fraud Awareness Notice
The London Borough of Waltham Forest only advertises vacancies via our official website and approved recruitment platforms (e.g. Jobsgopublic).

We will never ask for payment or request sensitive personal or financial information as part of our recruitment process.

If you are contacted by a third party claiming to represent the Council, please verify the vacancy via our official careers website before sharing any information.

If you have concerns about a job advert or communication, please report it to:
fraud@walthamforest.gov.uk