Access to Education Manager

Royal-Borough-of-Kensington-and-Chelsea; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is seeking an Access to Education Manager to lead statutory education services across two London boroughs. You’ll oversee In-Year Admissions, EHE and CME, line-manage five officers, and build strong cross-agency relationships to ensure vulnerable children receive suitable education and protection.

The role requires senior experience in Children’s Services, sound legal knowledge, and the ability to drive improvements while working in a collaborative,

Qualifications

• Senior-level experience in school admissions, access to education, inclusion or related Children’s Services.
• Knowledge of Education Act 1996 and School Admissions Code.

Responsibilities

• Lead Access to Education Service across two London boroughs.
• Oversee In-Year Admissions, Elective Home Education (EHE) and Children Missing Education (CME).
• Line-manage a team of five officers and foster high performance.
• Build cross-agency relationships and respond to Home Office refugee/asylum-seeker arrivals.

Skills

Senior-level experience

Budget management

Report writing

Stakeholder engagement

Legal and regulatory knowledge

Job description

Ensure vulnerable children receive the education they deserve and lead vital statutory services with real purpose.

As an Access to Education Manager, you’ll lead our services across two London boroughs, making sure vulnerable children receive a suitable education, support and protection. It’s a chance to guide a dedicated team, navigate complex casework and ensure no young person falls through the gaps in our education system.

Working Style

This is a hybrid role playing a key character in serving the local community. Whether working on the frontline or behind the scenes, you’ll be part of a dedicated team making a real difference to children’s and families' lives.

What you’ll be doing

Your focus will be providing operational leadership and management for our Access to Education Service across two London boroughs, overseeing In-Year Admissions, Elective Home Education (EHE) and Children Missing Education (CME). You’ll line-manage a dedicated team of five officers, fostering a collaborative, positive culture where professional development, high performance and supportive teamwork are at the heart of complex casework.

A major part of your role involves building strong working relationships across agencies and leading critical responses. You’ll manage responses to Home Office emergency requests for refugee and asylum-seeker arrivals, overseeing allocated government funding effectively while representing the service in high-level multi-agency settings. You’ll also represent community schools at independent admission appeal hearings, draft comprehensive formal statements and coordinate both primary and secondary Fair Access processes to secure suitable places for hard-to-place young people.

When parents or carers prevent a child from receiving a suitable education, you’ll step in with legal backing, drafting Council witness statements and representing the authority during School Attendance Order court proceedings. Alongside this frontline leadership, you’ll analyse operational data to spot emerging trends, complete statutory Department for Education returns and drive continuous digital process improvements across both authorities.

What you’ll bring

You’ll bring substantial senior-level experience in school admissions, access to education, inclusion or related Children’s Services, alongside a high standard of education. You have a comprehensive working knowledge of relevant legislation and statutory guidance, including the Education Act 1996 and the School Admissions Code, together with proven experience managing budgets and writing clear, formal reports.

You’re an analytical thinker with sound judgement and practical resilience, comfortable making complex case decisions in formal, high-pressure settings under tight statutory deadlines. Your interpersonal, negotiation and communication skills are outstanding, enabling you to build trust and work collaboratively with headteachers, elected members, partner agencies and families.

Most importantly, you’re someone who balances genuine empathy with the professional composure needed to uphold statutory duties, bringing a deep commitment to equal opportunities, inclusion and Council values.

For further details, please review the Job Description and Person Specification.

Why join us

At RBKC, we’re all in – investing in our people, our communities and our future.

This position offers a rare opportunity to lead statutory educational services across two London boroughs, providing a depth of exposure, influence and variety that is hard to find in a single role. You’ll join a highly collaborative and supportive Bi-Borough team that values collective input, fresh ideas and professional growth.

We offer ongoing professional development, leadership training, competitive benefits and a workplace culture that supports your wellbeing while enabling you to lead high-profile service improvements.

About us

Kensington and Chelsea is home to diverse communities, thriving businesses and unique local places. Everything we do is focused on supporting our residents, strengthening our approach and creating a fairer borough.

As a competent and caring Council, we take pride in our work every day, ensuring our services are delivered with care and competence. We listen to our residents, act with integrity and work together to build a borough that is greener, safer and fairer for all.

In this role, ‘we’re all in’ means bringing energy, empathy and determination to ensure no vulnerable child falls through the gaps. Managing access to education across two boroughs brings fast-paced challenges and high scrutiny, but your leadership will deliver direct, lasting outcomes for local families every day.

Interview Details

Interviews will be conducted in person on 13/10/2026.

A pre completed presentation and assessment with a formal interview.

Standard DBS is required for this role.

We reserve the right to extend or close this vacancy early without warning subject to the volume of suitable applicants.

We are committed to promoting equality and respecting diversity and welcome applications from all sections of the community.

We are a Disability Confident Employer – committed to ensuring that our recruitment and selection process is inclusive and accessible.

We are committed to fair, transparent, and consistent pay practices. New hires will start at the minimum of the advertised salary range.

Employees receive annual salary increases until they reach the top of the pay scale. In addition, employees will receive any agreed cost of living pay rises.