Grants Officer

We put people before profit: work for a family of nurseries with heart.

We’re the London Early Years Foundation, also known as LEYF; a family of 40 nurseries in London. With our charitable social enterprise model, we’re leading change in Early Years, ensuring equal education and care for all children to give them the best start in life. 27% of our children are on funded-only places, with 75% of our nurseries in some of the most deprived areas of London, meaning you have the chance to make the biggest impact by working with us.

What’s in it for you?

We impact thousands of children’s access to quality education across London and hope to be able to reach many more in the next few years. Chloe Johnston – Financial Controller, “We’re a friendly fast paced team, it’s not all about crunching numbers, there’s lots of opportunity to learn and develop – all for a brilliant purpose”.

Intellectual stimulation helping navigate this complex funding changing landscape
A rewarding role as you know your work matters for families
Hybrid working – mostly from home and 1-4 times a month from our Pimlico office
Generous pension for our sector at 7% from us (1% from you)
70% discount on childcare fees for your children or grandchildren
Up to 35 days off a year, including 8 bank holidays, 3 days off between Christmas and New Year, and your birthday
Sector-leading parental leave and many other benefits that take care of you (e.g. Wellbeing app, shopping discounts, annual conference, and budget for team celebrations).
A bit about the role

We are in search of a Grants Officer who will join our close-knit finance team of 15 in an organisation of over 850 people. In 2023, LEYF turned over an exceptional 29 million which was reinvested into our children so they get a great start in life.

The scale and pace of change in Government funding for Early Years settings has never been more vast. For the right person, this is an exciting time to join as we navigate the complexity and help our families get the funding they are entitled to. Working across 12 local authorities with different rules, processes and strict deadlines there is no handbook we follow. We are looking for someone who is intellectually curious but not theoretical, who can take complex scenarios and solve problems pragmatically for our families, nurseries and finance team.

You may come from a background in grants, finance, legal or local authority funding. Your attention to detail and organisation skills needs to be second to none as you will be responsible for collating and ensuring accurate data and records are kept. Daily, you’ll work closely with our knowledgeable Grants Manager but also need a strong sense of personal drive ensuring you never miss a deadline.

“This role matters. It is rewarding as despite the complexity, we know we are helping families and navigating our funding for LEYF” Julie Bradshaw, Grants Manager.

Key responsibilities

Support all aspects of the grant funding process at LEYF
Ensure our current and new families are fully enabled to get their nursery funding in place
Work closely with 12+ local authorities ensuring you hit deadlines & adhere to claim criteria
Evaluate funding codes and applications for eligibility and validity
Support the Local Authorities’ headcount and adjustments claims processes to ensure that income is recovered for each funded child
Manually calculate complex funding scenarios
Collate data to support the recovery of the Early Years Pupil Premium, SEND and disability funding.
Advise parents, nursery managers and central office teams and ensure every enquiry received in the Funding mailbox is managed
Support the collation of statutory monitoring and census reporting
Ensure our data and records are maintained to support timely submission of funding claims
Deputise for the Grants Manager on occasion, with support from the Financial Controller.
You’ll need

Ideally be degree level educated or other evidence you thrive in solving complex problems
To enjoy working closely with one other person daily (highly collaborative online)
Experience in this space = possibly with government funding, finance, legal or grants
A passion to work in an organisation with a social purpose
To be highly organised and someone who never misses strict deadlines or rules
Excellent attention to detail
To be numerate and a whizz at calculations
Strong analytical problem-solving skills
To adapt and stay calm under pressure in this changing landscape
Ownership/strong sense of self motivation
To be a friendly team player who is sympathetic to families’ circumstances
The permanent right to work in the UK.
Interested? Please apply

If you have the relevant experience and have some of the above and a lot of ability to learn quickly, we would also like to hear from you.

To be considered for the role, please apply here now with your CV and include a covering statement of motivation for the role & LEYF.

Please note, we will run interviews on a rolling basis as and when applications come in. So don’t delay, apply now!

The Company has experienced unprecedented growth over the past few years. We have a vast number of employees, and provide support to clients from all over the country.