Appeals and Data Officer
Team: School Admissions Team
Job Family: Providing - CGB9
Salary: £33,731 - £36,397 per annum pro rata
Hours: 37 hours per week
Location: Working from home and any CBC offices as required. You will be expected to attend a CBC office location as needed to carry out your role, which will be no less than once per month.
Contract Type: Hybrid - Fixed term/ Secondment until 31st March 2026
Closing Date: 11th May 2025
Interview Date: 3rd June 2025
About the role:
We are seeking to recruit an Appeals and Data Officer to join the School Admissions Team which sits within the Children and Families Service of Central Bedfordshire Council. You will be a part of a supportive, friendly and very busy team which is responsible for the allocation of school places across Central Bedfordshire.
This is a new post, which will be on a fixed term contract to 31st March 2026, with the possibility of an extension.
The team processes over 13,000 applications each year for children moving into the area as well as those starting school for the first time or transferring to their next phase of education. This is carried out following the legislation which underpins the school admissions process and supports the Council in its statutory duties for its residents and the academies and schools within the area.
Where a child cannot be a placed at one or more of their preferred schools, the parent is given the right of appeal. The Appeals and Data Officer would be responsible for writing an appeal case and presenting this at an independent appeal hearing. This involves gathering information about the school to provide a robust case to demonstrate prejudice against the admission of further children.
The position also involves interrogating data held in respect of the school admissions process including school catchments and associated GIS data.
Full training and guidance will be provided.
Our ideal candidate will be a confident public speaker who is able to prepare and present cases at independent appeal hearings. The ability to work and think under pressure is essential. You will be required to work within legislative parameters, adhering to the School Admissions Code and School Admissions Appeal Code. Good IT skills and a willingness to learn new software applications is also needed along with a pro-active attitude and an eye for detail.
The team deals with a variety of customers, some of which can become very emotive when they cannot gain a place at an academy/school they would like for their child. Excellent communication skills and empathy are therefore essential as well as being able to articulate the admissions process which can be quite complex.
This new role is exciting and challenging, and you’ll be joining a friendly team which will support and guide you as you learn the role and deliver a key part of our team’s work.
Training will consist of a mixture of on-the-job training and guidance including reading and assimilating the necessary codes of practice (School Admissions Code and the School Admissions Appeals Code) to underpin knowledge of the legislation and statutory requirements of the school admissions and appeals process.
Join us, and take advantage of our rewards package, agile working and the chance to learn and progress. Find your greatness by helping us to deliver better services to the local community of academies, schools and parents and carers across Central Bedfordshire.
Central Bedfordshire Council has its own vision and values that are integral to everything we do. Our area vision is to make Central Bedfordshire 'A great place to live and work’.
Our Offer
We have a number of rewards and benefits available to our staff, to view these please visit our Rewards and Benefits page
Our aspiration is to be a truly flexible employer. We welcome discussion on location, hours and working pattern as part of the application process.
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You will be expected to demonstrate how you meet the key accountabilities and competencies in this Recruitment Pack.
Our Competency Framework and Qualification Guidance are to be read in conjunction with our Recruitment Pack.
For an informal discussion about this position, please contact: Lydia Braisher at Lydia.Braisher2@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk or call 0300 300 5254.
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To maintain a fair and consistent approach for applicants, it is Central Bedfordshire Council's policy to only consider applications made via our online application system and we therefore thank you for not submitting your application offline.
Our National Careers Service team offer a free weekly workshop covering CV writing and how to complete the statement sections of the Central Bedfordshire Council online application form. This MS Teams workshop is open to anyone from the UK and lasts around 1.5 hours. Please book your place here.
More information about this service can be found here: Support getting into work or learning | Central Bedfordshire Council