Early Years and Childcare Funding Education Entitlement Officer

Fixed Term / Secondment (2 years)

Part Time (14.8 hours per week)

£35,249 to £41,469 per annum FTE

Location: Chelmsford*

Closing Date: 7th May 2026

*This is a hybrid-working role contractually based in Chelmsford. You will work from our Chelmsford office 2-3 days per month, depending on business need. This could be discussed further at interview.

Please note that this role will be offered as a secondment or fixed-term contract for a duration of 2 years, working part-time 0.4 FTE (2 days/14.8 hours per week). The pro rata salary range is £14,099.60 to £16,587.60 per annum.

This role will work as part of the Early Years and Childcare (EYCC) Sufficiency and Sustainability team, contributing to the Essex Early Years Strategy, and linked Best Start in Life Delivery plan, ensuring the EYCC service deliver and embed a culture of continuous improvement.

The role will focus on managing the commissioning, compliance and promotion of ECC’s childcare sufficiency duty requirements in relation to the Funded Early Education Entitlement (FEEE) for children aged 9 months to 4 years, including robust systems to ensure payment processes are in place. In addition, overseeing the management and implementation of the allocation and monitoring of both revenue and capital funding awarded to EYCC childcare providers.

Accountabilities

Responsible for maintaining oversight and management of revenue and capital funding streams being offered to the EYCC sector, ensuring efficient processes are in place to support the financial monitoring/payment systems, tracking and monitoring budgets

Managing the access and delivery of FEEE places for children aged 9 months to 4 years in compliance with the FEEE contract and National SEND Code of Practice; ensuring being able to marry up child headcount and census data to deadlines that facilitates a payment process which supports the financial sustainability of childcare providers.

Providing effective, ongoing communications through different channels to ensure parents and stakeholders are fully informed about the FEEE offer, actively promoting the take up of the FEEE offer to parents especially those on low incomes and in areas of deprivation and managing an escalation and complaints process

Working collaboratively with the Education Information & Business Systems team to ensure using the most cost effective and efficient ways of working which deliver robust headcount and sufficiency data

Responsible for the overview of the Essex FEEE contract and Funding agreements, ensuring these are reviewed and updated to reflect any changes of legislation or ECC policy

Responsible for developing and implementing compliance audits and reviewing outcomes of the reports to ensure agreed actions are implemented.

Work collaboratively with other public sector agencies to monitor and share good practice and ensure utilise to identify potential improvement to monitor and improve processes.

Undertake analysis of statistical data and research to highlight where significant improvements could add value to ECC

Ensure effective ongoing marketing and communications of the FEEE offer, including investigating and responding to complaints and contract compliance issues

Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

Skills, Knowledge and Experience

Educated to A level or equivalent by experience.

Evidence of continuing professional development.

Experience of project management and managing budgets.

A sound understanding of business management, finance and funding processes with the ability to create and implement effective finance and information systems.

Ability to undertake research, develop and implement solutions to issues identified.

Ability to manage workloads and prioritise tasks and activities.

Extensive knowledge of the social and economic factors affecting families with young children and the childcare sector.

Knowledge of IT systems and their application, with experience of working with management information systems.

Experience of providing Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) to parents and offering a range of solutions to meet varying needs.

To read more about us please visit: Education - Working for Essex

Why Essex? Essex County Council has a location to be proud of. Our 1,300 square miles stretch from Constable Country to the Thames Estuary, from the dynamic M11 corridor to the traditional seaside resorts of Clacton and Walton. England’s oldest town, Colchester, and two of its newest – Basildon and Harlow – are right here. Along with the City of Chelmsford, the county town, they form our major population centres. It means real choice and makes Essex the ideal place for your career. Read more about us here.

Essex County Council is proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. We’re committed to interview all disabled applicants who choose to apply under our Job Interview Scheme if they meet the minimum requirements of the job. Please speak to our Recruiters if you require any reasonable adjustments during the process.

We’re also committed to interview all veterans and care leavers, who meet the minimum requirements of the role for which they are applying.

At Essex County Council, we value integrity and ethical behaviour. We kindly ask that you embrace our code of conduct and the Nolan principles, including throughout the recruitment process. Your commitment to these standards helps us maintain a positive and respectful workplace for everyone.

As part of employment with Essex County Council (ECC) should your role require a DBS check you will be required to register with the DBS update service. The DBS update service ensures all registered DBS certificates are kept up to date and allows authorised parties to view the status of your certificate. This is an annual subscription, and you will be responsible for ensuring this is maintained. For further information on the DBS update service please go to https://www.gov.uk/dbs-update-service.

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

If you would like to be kept up to date on other relevant opportunities, blogs, news, events and industry related news at Essex County Council, please join The Essex Talent Community here.

If you have queries on this role or require anything further, please email resourcing.team@essex.gov.uk

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