Head of Place Planning and Admissions

Organisation: London Borough of Waltham Forest

Salary: PO- 77550
Contract Type: Full-time/Fixed Term (12 months)

Working hours per week: 36

Application Deadline: 21/05/2026

Proposed Interview Date(s): TBC
Reference:2128

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 Londons Good Work Standardemployers. 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:

This is an exciting opportunity to lead improvement and innovation across SEND education in Waltham Forest ensuring that children and young people with Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) achieve positive outcomes and access the right education at the right time. As Head of Service you will provide strategic and operational leadership across a complex and high-profile portfolioshaping borough-wide SEND strategy driving inclusive practice and strengthening quality assurance across specialist independent and post-16 provision.

You will lead the development and delivery of the SEND Sufficiency Plan commission and monitor high-quality placements (including Section 19/EOTAS) and work closely with schools providers health and social care partners and -production is central to this rolebringing parent/carer and young peoples voices into how we design and improve services. You will also support the Assistant Director SEND and deputise as required contributing to senior-level decision-making and system leadership.

>> Click here to download the Role Profile <<

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead meaningful change: shape strategy and deliver practical improvements for children and families.
• System leadership: influence partners across education health and care and work with senior leaders and elected members.
• Commissioning and sufficiency: develop the local specialist estate and secure high-quality value-for-money provision.
• Quality and impact: strengthen assurance safeguarding and outcomes-focused monitoring across placements.

Qualifications and Requirements:

Were looking for a senior SEND leader educated to degree level (or equivalent) with a relevant professional qualification (SEND/education/commissioning or similar). You will bring significant experience of strategic commissioning and service transformation strong partnership working across education health and care and confident leadership of quality assurance and safeguarding. Youll need a strong working knowledge of SEND legislation and statutory duties excellent communication skills (including with senior leaders and elected members) and a clear commitment to inclusive education and equity. (Desirable: NPQ or SEND-specific leadership training.)

Terms and conditions:

The below terms and conditions apply to this role:

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.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Waltham Forest is a diverse borough where diversity is valued and is integral to both service delivery and employment of its staff. The Council is proud of its rich mix of communities and as the largest employer in the area it works hard to respond to the changing needs of its population. We use our statutory duties on race gender and disability equality and best practice in respect of age faith and sexual orientation to ensure equality of opportunity in the workplace. The Council is committed to meeting its 4 equality objectives: - Promoting equality of opportunity - Opposing all forms of discrimination intolerance and disadvantage - Ensuring our workforce reflects the diverse communities of Waltham Forest at all levels. - Providing fair appropriate accessible and excellent Services to all. Respecting Diversity is a core Council value.

To support the above and reduce the risk of bias in its recruitment activities the council is operating an anonymous shortlisting process which hides personal information that can identify individuals until their application has been considered for shortlisting. The council also operates a scheme whereby for jobs graded up to and including scale SO2 internal candidates are considered first. This includes those candidates who self-identify as having a disability for the purposes of the Disability Confident scheme. For more information please refer to our recruitment and selection policy.

We are keen to support employees to balance their working life with other commitments. Therefore wherever possible we will consider working arrangements that suit an individuals personal circumstances whilst still meeting the needs of the Council. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role please contact the person named below or feel free to discuss this during your interview.

For more information on the benefits of working for the Council please visit Information:

If you have any questions about this vacancy or the application process please contact Clare Potter at

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post please contact our Recruitment Team via email at .

The Councils preference is for online application. However if you have a disability and are unable to complete an online application please email so we can arrange an alternative application method.

Click here for further information on the Human Resources recruitment privacy notice.

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