About the role
The biggest change in funded childcare for over a decade is now under way. In Cambridgeshire, we are seeking a new person to manage our highly experienced Early Years Funding team.
The team is an integral part of the Early Years, Childcare and School Readiness Service, working with other Education colleagues to support a wide range of providers. With over 300 nurseries, schools and pre-schools, as well as 450 childminders, delivering care to thousands of families across the county, the team is critical to ensuring parents children access their funded places.
The massive expansion to offer places to younger children in working families started in April 2024, and grows over the next two years.
What will you be doing?
Day to day, you'll become the expert on Cambridgeshire's funding policy and processes. You'll be leading the team and guiding colleagues, ensuring our providers get paid the right amount for the right children at the right time. You'll be in charge of regular multi-million-pound payments and the critical annual census which generates the funding we pay out.
You'll be involved in conversations to support our passionate providers and to challenge those who fail to follow our guidance, including decisions over whether the council should withdraw funding. You will work with our reference group over funding decisions and how our local formula should work.
You will help the council to maintain financial discipline by reporting on spending, and developing accurate forecasts as the new funding entitlements roll out. Your grasp of IT and systems will help you to manage changes in technology and train and support others to do so.
About you
You will be managing funding in early years or a similar sector, and be comfortable with spreadsheets, financial reports and online funding claim systems. You'll be qualified to at least level 4, ideally in finance, and be confident in meeting deadlines in a busy administrative environment. You will be able to lead and motivate others, and communicate effectively with a range of specialist teams as well as early years providers.
You'll be able to handle large volumes of data and big numbers, as well as honing in on the details where necessary. You won't be fazed by testing new systems and software upgrades, and you will be flexible and adaptable to fresh approaches and new technology.
You will inspire trust to a high level, matching the responsibility of the role, and you will be able to present information and guidance in a clear and succinct way, on paper or in speaking to others.
If this sounds like you, please apply with your CV and supporting statement. Applications close on Friday 19th April 2024. Interviews will take place on Monday 29th April 2024 (provisional date). For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Graham Arnold on 01223 699774 (office hours).
This is a re-advertisement. Previous applicants need not re-apply.
Our benefits
We value our colleagues in Cambridgeshire County Council and have developed a number of benefits:
- Flexible working
- Flexible Bank Holidays
- A comprehensive wellbeing package
- Our Cambs Rewards employee discounts
- A comprehensive pension scheme
- IDEAL staff equality, diversity and inclusion network.
- Camweb our staff intranet helping to keep you informed
- An employee recognition scheme
About us
Cambridgeshire is a great place to work and live with a diverse population, an urban centre in Cambridge, historic Isle of Ely, Huntingdon and St Ives as well as more rural landscapes.
Our four values are central to our culture, driving everything we do.
We are proud to serve the diverse communities of Cambridgeshire and want our workforce to be reflective of this diversity, which we firmly believe benefits our colleagues, the organisation and our communities. If you don’t meet every single requirement in the job role but think this could be you, please don’t be put off. We are committed to building a workplace that is compassionate and inclusive as well as diverse, so if you think you could be a good candidate for this role please consider applying and speak to the recruiting manager if you have any questions.
Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, along with our employee network 'IDEAL' and self-organised peer support groups help us to foster an inclusive, supportive and safe working environment where people feel valued, respected, and empowered. We collect relevant diversity data for monitoring as part of the recruitment process to understand the diversity of our applicants and monitor any trends throughout the recruitment processes so that we can take meaningful action.
We are proud to be a Disability Confident Employer. We fully support providing reasonable adjustments throughout our recruitment process, as well as when you join us, and we encourage candidates to contact the Hiring Manager, whose details can be found in the advert, to discuss any adjustment needs. Some examples of adjustments could include additional time to complete an assessment or printing a document on pastel coloured paper with larger font size and line spacing. We would value talking about what might be possible to enable you to join us and thrive, so if there is something that would help you to do your best during your journey with us, please get in touch.
Visit our jobs and careers section to find out more about our wide range of learning and development opportunities; apprenticeships; our wellbeing package; staff benefits; our commitment to equality, diversity and Inclusion.
Attached documents
