Wraparound Childcare Officer

Wraparound childcare is childcare that is provided around the conventional school day. It can also refer to provision in the school holidays. Many parents rely on the invaluable support from wraparound childcare to enable them to work, and so it should be regular and dependable.

The government’s childcare reforms require local authorities to ensure there are sufficient wraparound childcare places in their area. This post will work with schools, trusts, nd PVI providers (including childminders and early years providers) to ensure that government funding is used to set up new and expand existing provision, where needed, ensuring that it is high quality, and it meets parents’ needs.

This is a time limited grant funded post which requires the successful candidate to hit the ground running. This temporary position can be a secondment opportunity for those working in the council or a temporary contract for external applicants, both of which conclude in September 2025.

The post sits within Children’s Services, Education, Participation and Skills, Education Improvement Team, reporting to the Early Years Improvement Partner.

The successful candidate will be required to work:

-  in a collaborative manner with teams across the local authority, schools, families and childcare providers (including private, voluntary and independent providers (PVI) and childminders,) to assess and monitor the supply and demand for childcare places.

-  with childcare organisations to retain and expand the number of childcare places across the city. This includes offering/sourcing practical business support to new, established and closing organisations, ensuring that childcare is accessible to all children (0-14 years old) and families, including those who are vulnerable and with SEND, and supporting businesses to remove the barriers associated with expansion.

We are seeking a new postholder who has a full and grounded understanding of the childcare market, its challenges and ways to improve business models and children’s access to childcare. They will need experience of collecting, collating, analysing data and producing/presenting data reports in a timely way. They will also need demonstratable knowledge, experience and skills of providing business support to childcare businesses, which includes having a working knowledge of legal structures and how to support businesses to change. The postholder needs to be a good communicator and someone who can communicate with a large range of stakeholders using a variety of means. This person also needs be able to work under pressure, the confidence to work independently, use their own initiative as well as to work collaboratively within a team. 

Plymouth City Council is an equal opportunities employer. All applicants will be considered for employment regardless of age, care experience, disability, gender reassignment, marriage/civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity, race, religion/belief, sex or sexual orientation.    

For more information or an informal discussion, please contact Sue Smith, Early Years Improvement Partner, sue.smith@plymouth.gov.uk