Sufficiency Officer

Job Description

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Salary: PO1 £41,133 - £43,680

Contract Type: Full-time/ Permanent

Working hours per week: 36

Application Deadline: 1/09/2026

Proposed Interview Date(s): TBC

Reference: 2176

About Us: 

Bursting with culture, energy, and opportunity, the London Borough of Waltham Forest is a fantastic and exciting place to work. 

We are a highly ambitious borough. Driven by culture and the innate creativity of our residents, we have developed new and innovative ways to build our communities. Our Council is relentlessly resident-focused, insight-led, digitally driven and commercially minded; a Council focused on meeting the needs of our existing and future residents. 

London Borough of Waltham Forest is one of the Mayor of London’s Good Work Standard employers. This accreditation is a proof of our commitment to creating a healthy, fair and inclusive workplace. This includes fair pay and conditions, workplace well-being, skills and progression and diversity and recruitment. 

About the role: 

We are currently seeking to appoint a Sufficiency Officer to develop and deliver specialist support/advice and also to ensure relevant legislation, regulation and policies are complied with in relation to:

• Contributing to meeting the Councils statutory duty to secure free early education and childcare places to children under 5 who are eligible for a place by undertaking regular supply and demand analysis and completing an annual childcare sufficiency assessment.
• Contributing to meeting the Councils statutory duty to secure sufficient childcare, so far as is reasonably practicable, for working parents, or parents who are studying or training for employment, for children aged 0 to 14 or up to 18 for disabled children by undertaking regular supply and demand analysis and completing an annual childcare sufficiency assessment.
• Contributing to meeting the Councils statutory duty to provide primary, secondary and further education which meets the population of their area (including provision for children with SEND, Alternative Provision and Pupil Referral Units)
• Developing and arranging the delivery of a range of support, advice and training to Ofsted/DfE registered settings, commissioned providers and individuals in order for them to understand and comply with procedures in relation to childcare sufficiency and schools place planning.
   

>> Click here to download the Role Profile << 

Key Responsibilities: 

• Work in partnership with the Sufficiency Manager to contribute to the development of strategic plans, policies and procedures in relation to place sufficiency.
• Provide advice and make recommendations based on up to date knowledge and analysis / evaluation of information.
• Contribute to the development of service plans to meet strategic business goals.
• Research developments in relevant area. Collate process and analyse information / data. Translate outputs into advisory reports / documents / actions as appropriate.
• Work closely with others to support the development and delivery of improvements in processes and procedures.
• Prepare and present a full range of reports covering area of responsibility.
• Undertaking regular supply versus demand analysis and complete an annual childcare sufficiency assessments in relation to early education and childcare places for children under 5 who are eligible for a place in line with Government and council policies and procedures.
• Undertaking regular supply versus demand analysis sufficiency assessments in relation to Meeting the Councils statutory duty to provide primary, secondary and further education which meets the population of their area (including provision for children with SEND, Alternative Provision and Pupil Referral Units) in line with Government and council policies and procedures.
• Contribute to the development of the Council’s Place Planning Strategies to secure sufficient early years, childcare, mainstream school, and specialist school places.

Qualifications and Requirements: 

• Experience of successfully undertaking a role which supported the delivery of a Council’s statutory requirements relating to delivery of a council’s statutory duty to secure free early education and childcare places to children under 5 who are eligible for a place by undertaking regular supply and demand analysis and completing an annual childcare sufficiency assessment.
• Experience of successfully undertaking a role which supported the delivery of a Council’s statutory requirements relating to providing primary, secondary and further education which meets the population of their area (including provision for children with SEND, Alternative Provision and Pupil Referral Units).
• Good knowledge and understanding of childcare sufficiency and school place planning requirements, systems, policy, practices, procedures, and legislation.
• Experience of producing and presenting high level analytical and performance information with proven ability to explain technical / specialist information in a way which a non-specialist can understand.
• Experience of interpreting and analysing a range of data.
• Experience of effectively managing high volume/complex data.
• Experience of using initiative, knowledge and expertise which result in service improvements.
• Excellent customer service skills, with experience of resolving escalated / complex customer queries.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication and presentation skills, with proven ability to communicate effectively and persuasively to a wide range of audiences.
• Significant experience of working with and forming positive, trusting relationships with Ofsted/DfE registered settings, commissioned providers and individuals.
• Self-motivated, and able to demonstrate initiative and commitment.
• IT skills, including Microsoft Office suite, and skilled in the use of a computerised general ledger system, including experience of developing systems to achieve desired business outcomes.
• Experience use of large complex management and client information systems and particularly Capita.

Terms and conditions: 

• Satisfactory employment references and CIFAS identity checks; 
• Satisfactory declaration of interest; 
• Satisfactory DBS check; 
• As a public authority, we must ensure that members of staff in public-facing roles are able to speak fluent English. This means that they must have a command of spoken English, with confidence and accuracy, sufficient for the effective performance of their role. This requirement does not refer to any particular English language qualifications, regional or international accents, dialects, speech impediments or the tone of conversations. It does not require staff to speak only in English. 

How to Apply: 

Interested candidates are invited to submit their applications online by pressing the ‘Apply’ button below. This includes a supporting statement that outlines to us how your skills and experience make you a good candidate for this vacancy. 

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.