This is an exciting opportunity to shape the future of school age childcare across Bedford Borough, helping to improve access to high quality provision for children and families through the delivery of the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme and the development of wider school age childcare provision.

Are you passionate about improving outcomes for children and families? Do you enjoy building partnerships, using data to drive improvement and delivering high quality projects? Working closely with schools, childcare providers, partners and internal teams, you will lead provider engagement, undertake quality assurance visits and use data to identify gaps, support childcare sufficiency and drive service improvement. You will also play a key role in the delivery, monitoring and evaluation of government funded programmes, ensuring high quality provision and positive outcomes for children and families. We are looking for someone with experience of working within or alongside the childcare, education or family support sector, who understands the opportunities and challenges of delivering high quality school age childcare.

You will be confident in building relationships, using data to inform decision making, and supporting providers to develop high quality, sustainable services. If you are proactive, organised and passionate about improving opportunities for children and families, we would love to hear from you.

This post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. If your application is successful you will be required to declare any spent and unspent convictions, adult cautions (simple or conditional) that are not "protected" as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2013 and 2020).

Closing Date: 25/09/2026

Interview Date: 08/10/2026

How to apply
When you are ready to apply, click on ‘Apply for Vacancy’; you will be asked to upload a CV and answer some application questions.  The application questions require a yes/no response.  Please make sure your CV shows how you meet the requirements for the role you are applying for, the job profile below will show the essential selection criteria.  An optional CV template is provided below.

  

Please note:
The Council will not normally re-employ ex-employees in receipt of:
· a severance payment (within 12 months of leaving)
· a local government pension (applies to Senior Officers only)
unless the appointment is business critical

For further information, please email recruitment.team@bedford.gov.uk

Bedford Borough Council is proud to be a member of the Armed Forces Covenant and the Care Leavers Covenant, we pledge to interview any eligible job applicant who meets the minimum criteria for the job they are applying for.  Bedford Borough Council is also a Level 2 Disability Confident employer and guarantees to interview anyone with a disability whose application meets the minimum criteria for the role.