Career opportunities Sufficiency Officer

Team: School Readiness and Childcare Team

Job Family: Enabling - CBG9

Salary: £34,811 - £37,562 per annum, pro rata

Hours: 37 hours per week

Location: You will be expected to attend a CBC office location as often as needed to carry out your role, which will be no less than once per month.

Contract Type: Hybrid – Secondment until 31st March 2027

Closing Date: 16th August 2026

Interview Date: w/c 24th August 2026

About the role

Come and join us on our journey to expand Early Years and Wraparound provision, to enable all children to access high quality childcare and early education provision close to home. Become part of our 0-12’s Family Service working alongside our Children’s Centres and Early Years SEND Team as well as a whole range of partners to ensure all children have the best start in life and make progress in early education.

We are seeking a Childcare Sufficiency Officer to support us in achieving accessible childcare, early education and wraparound places for all children, including those with SEND, in our area.

You will be a confident communicator and have experience of gathering and collating information. Day to day you will be responsible for monitoring of available places and working with the wider team to create places in areas where there is demand. As part of your role you will lead on our annual Childcare Sufficiency Assessment, collecting data from early years/wraparound providers and parents/carers and working with the wider team to support us in planning for the future.

You will need strong self-organisation skills and be able to think creatively in relation to problem solving around supply and demand of childcare and early education places. You will be joining an established and stable team of childcare development officers and early years professionals and will have the opportunity to develop and lead on areas of interest relating to the role.

Join us, and you'll enjoy attractive benefits plus excellent in-house training. This includes specialist courses covering specific areas of interest. Even better, you'll find your greatness by ensuring that every child is happy, safe and well.

At Central Bedfordshire we're passionate about having a workforce that reflects our community. It's why we're committed to creating equal opportunities, so that we always embrace diversity.

Our Offer

We have a number of rewards and benefits available to our staff, to view these please visit our Rewards and Benefits page.

Our aspiration is to be a truly flexible employer. We welcome discussion on location, hours and working pattern as part of the application process.

Safeguarding: Central Bedfordshire Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees, volunteers and contractors to share this commitment. This post is subject to the disclosure of criminal records.

To maintain a fair and consistent approach for applicants, it is Central Bedfordshire Council's policy to only consider applications made via our online application system.

All new starters will join us on a four‑month probationary period. During this time, if you are offered a Hybrid role you will be required to attend a Central Bedfordshire Council office location more frequently to support thorough and well‑supported onboarding into your role.