School Place Planning Officer

Job Description

Organisation: Leicestershire County Council

Work Location: County Hall, Glenfield, LE3 8RA

Salary: £49,221 to £53,826 (pro rata for part-time) (Pay award pending)

Working Hours: 37 hours per week

Contract Type: Permanent

Closing Date: 28th April 2026

Interview Date(s): TBC

About the Role

We are looking for 2 exceptional individuals to help Leicestershire to deliver our statutory responsibilities in ensuring all children can access a high-quality local school place following the retirement of the current post holder.

Leicestershire is in a period of significant growth with thousands of new homes being built and 33 new schools planned. This is a varied role and the successful candidate will carry out a range of functions relating to school organisation, capital projects and pupil place planning.

As School Place Planning Officer, you will be responsible for an area of the County and work with partners to ensure that the education infrastructure can meet the demand for school places and where additional places are required, those places are delivered in the right place and at the right time.

This role would suit someone looking to develop their career working across the organisation and with external partners at a more strategic level. You will be actively involved in defining the strategic brief for new projects, managing the new school presumption process, engaging with our delivery partners and key stakeholders from inception through to completion to ensure all projects delivered on time and are aligned with the communities they serve.

The successful candidates will work in a small team helping to ensure that there are sufficient high quality school places in Leicestershire by delivering an ambitious Children and Families Capital Programme across all phases of Education. The work is interesting and varied and involves working closely with Schools and Academies.

For information on our approach to the recruitment of ex-offenders, please see our policy statement.

About You

To apply for this post, you must:

• Be qualified to degree level in a related subject, or have demonstrable experience as identified below.
• Experience of successfully planning, managing and delivering projects and/or programmes within timescales, budget and quality and be able to demonstrate experience of relating this to an educational setting, and experience of working in an educational environment.
• Experience of working in an educational environment, experience of supporting the delivery of complex programmes and projects, and experience of school re-organisation programmes.
• Experience of working with housing developers and contractors to develop new schools, experience of leading in dedicated project workstreams, and experience of developing, establishing and maintaining electronic knowledge and information tracking systems.
• Experience of influencing the actions and decisions of others through effective advice and guidance, experience operating systems and procedures for quality assurance, and experience working within multidisciplinary teams in the public sector.
• Knowledge of school organisation legislation and regulations, Section 106 procedures and the factors that determine developer contributions, the academies agenda and choices available to schools, and knowledge of factors influencing the provision of school places, for example demographic planning.
• Knowledge of strategies and available actions to bring about structural change to address school underperformance, an understanding of County Council policies and procedures relative to the above, and knowledge of Quality Assurance and Change Management.

In addition, we also expect you to share our commitment to our values and to delivering accessible and inclusive services which meet the needs of all of our residents. You will be asked to demonstrate your understanding of these commitments as part of the selection process.

Reasonable adjustments will be considered for applicants with a disability. We are a Disability Confident Employer.

Interested in Flexible Working?

We are open to discussions about flexible working, which may include part time working, job sharing, term-time working, flexible start and finish times, and hybrid working, depending on the requirements of the role and the service. If you would like to discuss the possible flexible working options that might be applicable to this role, please contact the person named below.

For more information or an informal discussion, please contact:

Ian Sharpe - Service Manager, School Organisation

Telephone: 0116 305 9836

Email: Ian.Sharpe@leics.gov.uk

How to Apply

At Leicestershire County Council we’re looking for top talent from all walks of life. Whoever you are, wherever you’re from, and whatever your background - we care about what you bring to our organisation, not just what’s on your CV. That’s why we’ve designed a recruitment process that’s fair, accessible, and focused on potential. And with benefits that support people at every age and stage of life, we make sure you can thrive - both personally and professionally.

If you share our passion to make a difference for the people of Leicestershire, we’d love to hear from you. Click the apply button to submit your application, ensuring that you upload a supporting statement that explains how you meet the criteria listed in the ‘About You’ section above. Without this information, we won’t be able to assess your suitability for the role, and your application will be rejected. For tips on how to write your statement, see the How to Apply section on our career site.

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.

If you have any technical issues when trying to apply for this post or you want to request an application pack in an alternative format, please contact our Employee Service Centre by telephoning 0300 3030222 (select option 2) or raising a ticket via our online portal: https://emss.org.uk/support.

By applying for this post, you agree to our Terms and Conditions.

About us

About Leicestershire County Council

At Leicestershire County Council, we're committed to making a real difference in people's lives. Our aim is to work with communities and partners to deliver public services that make Leicestershire the best possible place to live and work for everyone.

Our employees play a key role in supporting this goal and helping us deliver the vital services we provide to the people of Leicestershire. Whether you're starting your career or looking for your next challenge, you'll find a place with us where your ideas are valued, and your work has purpose.

For further information on what it’s like to work for us and the benefits we offer, please refer to the following:

Our Recruitment Process
Our Organisational Values
Our Employee Benefits
Working for Us