Early Years Sufficiency and Market Development Consultant

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Early Years Team for a 12 month period to support the expansion of funded childcare and Wraparound Childcare Programme. Following a recent restructure,  we now have greater capacity to be more resilient, connected and able to achieve our ambition to provide a high-quality service which responds to the unique needs of early years children and their families, ensuring the best start in life for all.

We are a highly experienced and committed team who constantly strive to improve outcomes for children, working with our partners to ensure that all children in Staffordshire can access their funded entitlements in high quality, inclusive settings.

The role is a fixed term role for 12 months to build capacity to support childcare providers at an important time during the rollout of the expansion of funded childcare eligibility for working parents.

You will:

• Work within a small, motivated team, ensuring there is effective analysis, planning and development activity to support the local authority to meet its statutory duty regarding sufficiency of childcare places.
• Work directly with new and existing childcare providers to develop business plans and strategies for expansion and sustainability.
• Collect and analyse data to provide timely sufficiency analysis for a range of childcare provision.
• Support the Wraparound Childcare Programme through by working with schools and providers to develop new before and after school childcare.

You'll also be focussed on improving outcomes for children through:

• Developing, supporting and implementing action plans and strategies to ensure that the local authority meets statutory duties in relation to childcare. 
• Establishing and maintaining strong partnerships with key stakeholders to ensure there are sufficient high-quality childcare places available.
• Acting as a point of contact for childcare providers, partners and stakeholders in relation to childcare sufficiency and market development

You will have:

• Knowledge of relevant national agendas, legislation and statutory requirements affecting early years provision and wraparound childcare.
• Experience in sufficiency analysis and market development, including a track record of providing advice and guidance to providers.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, capable of working with a range of stakeholders.
• Strong analytical skills and problem-solving skills to create innovative solutions.
• A commitment to Inclusion and improving outcomes for children and young people.

If you would like an informal discussion regarding this post please contact Kev Taylor by emailing kevin.taylor@staffordshire.gov.uk 

Interviews will be held on 11th and 12th June 2025.

Our Recruitment Process: We anonymise applications during shortlisting to ensure only relevant information is considered. Please complete your application fully, especially the supporting statement, to highlight what you’ll bring to the role.

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too. 

Our benefits:

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance. 

In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to Our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire

Our recruitment process:

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post. 

As you’ll know safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people/vulnerable adults is important to us and that’s why this position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application form.