Executive Director of Education and Children’s Services

Thank you for your interest in Lancashire and this key role in our leadership team, offering you the chance to work for one of the biggest and most ambitious authorities in the North, covering almost 3,000 square kilometres and serving a population of 1.3 million people, including around 293,000 children and young people aged 0–19.

Lancashire is a large and complex area, offering the potential for the postholder to make a huge difference to the lives of many children from very different backgrounds.

The council’s children’s services have been on a significant journey over the last few years, with investment and improvements in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services and a recent, very positive Ofsted inspection.

Ofsted rated:

• The impact of leaders on social work practice: Outstanding

• The experiences and progress of care leavers: Outstanding

• The experiences and progress of children who need help and protection: Good

• The experiences and progress of children in care: Good

You will be joining a forward-thinking and collaborative management team who work as ‘one council’. You will be arriving at a time of opportunity, with the ability to shape the council’s response to devolution and local government reorganisation, alongside the numerous changes within children’s services itself.

This is a career-defining time to join a fantastic organisation.

Finally, in terms of location, Lancashire is a great place to work and live. We have a large and diverse population, a great mixture of historic towns and pretty villages, beautiful countryside and dramatic coastlines. We have it all. And, of course, we are within easy reach of Liverpool, Manchester and the Lake District.

I hope you apply for the role. Do contact our advising consultants, Penna, for a more detailed conversation. I look forward to meeting you later in the process.

Good luck with your application.

This is a major leadership role in one of England’s largest county councils. You will provide strategic leadership for education and children’s services.

As a member of our Executive Leadership Team, you will also help shape the council’s wider direction, taking shared responsibility for priorities and change beyond your own directorate. You will lead services through significant change, including improvement in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), stronger partnerships with schools and the Families First reforms.

Your influence will extend beyond Lancashire. Working with other children’s services leaders and partners across the North West, you will contribute to shared improvement priorities, exchange learning and represent Lancashire’s experience and ambitions in regional discussions. This is an opportunity both to contribute to wider improvement and to bring learning back into services for Lancashire’s children and families.

• Directorate: Education and Children's Services

• Location: County Hall, Preston, with regular travel to other Lancashire County Council locations.

• Salary range: Up to £180,000

• Grade: Executive Director

• Reports to: Chief Executive

• Staff responsible for: The Education and Children's Services Directorate Leadership Team

• Working arrangements: This role is available on a full-time basis

Job description

• Job description and person specification (PDF 440KB)

• Annual leave: A minimum of 26 days annual leave, increasing to 32 days after 5 years' continuous local government service, plus 8 public holidays and 2 extra days leave at Christmas.

• Additional annual leave purchase scheme: The ability to purchase up to an additional 20 days leave a year.

• Pension: Membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme. We also offer shared cost AVCs, these differ from normal AVCs that other organisations can offer as we also contribute to your AVC when you do.

• Relocation package: Up to a maximum of £10,563 (net of VAT) with a further £2,000 available in certain circumstances.

• Car lease: You will be eligible to take part in the council’s car lease scheme for senior officers or if you choose not to, we will provide you with an annual cash amount of £5,300 as an alternative.

• Flexible working: We offer flexible working arrangements, including hybrid working, with an expectation that you will attend the office at least three days per week.

• Leadership development: We invest in leadership development and professional learning through our Leading Lancashire framework.

• Vivup staff benefits: Enjoy lifestyle discounts and spread the cost of home and electronics purchases through salary sacrifice. Scheme terms, tax and pension implications apply.

Education and Children’s Services at a glance

Lancashire’s Education and Children’s Services directorate supports children, young people and families across a large and varied county, from early childhood through education and into adult life.

These figures give a sense of the scale of the communities we serve and the services you will lead:

• 293,436 children and young people aged 0–19, representing around 22% of Lancashire’s population.

• 627 schools across the county.

• 1,783 children in our care.

• 1,599 care leavers receiving services.

The directorate brings together education, children’s social care, early help, SEND and inclusion, alongside wider partnership services. We work with schools, colleges, health services and other partners to help children stay safe, access support and develop the skills they need for the future.

Strong partnerships with schools and settings are central to this work, with the Lancashire Education Board and SEND Partnership Board providing forums for shared priorities, collaboration and improvement.

Our regional contribution includes involvement in the Regional Improvement Plan Pilot (RIPP), where Lancashire leads the Social Work Models workstream. Through regional events and our North West Social Work Conversations podcast, we share practice and learning with other councils. The next Executive Director will build on these relationships, supporting collaboration that benefits Lancashire and the wider region.

Our ambition for children and young people

Our ambition is for every child and young person in Lancashire to be safe, healthy, happy and able to achieve their potential. We want children and families to be listened to, receive support at the right time and help shape the services and decisions that affect them.

The next Executive Director will turn this ambition into sustained improvement, bringing services and partners together around the needs of children and families.

This work contributes directly to the council’s wider ambitions for better lives, stronger communities and a growing economy.

What we are proud of

We’re proud of the progress we are making for Lancashire’s children, young people and families, recognised through recent inspections, national awards and our contribution to regional improvement.

• Strong Ofsted outcomes: Our 2026 inspection recognised Outstanding leadership and experiences and progress for care leavers, alongside Good judgements for children needing help and protection and children in care.

• Good youth justice services: Our Child and Youth Justice Service was rated Good overall in October 2026, with Outstanding ratings for staffing and planning.

• National award wins: In 2025, our Virtual School’s Employment Support Team won three Children & Young People Now Awards, Pause and Reflect won the LGC Innovation Award, and Lancashire Music Service won Music Mark’s Digital Project of the Year. Our Early Years Quality Improvement Team is also shortlisted in two categories at the 2026 Children & Young People Now Awards.

• Children’s voices shaping services: Our LINX Children in Care Council and Care Leavers Forum won the 2025 A National Voice Participation Award.

Our priorities, opportunities and challenges

The Executive Director will lead significant reform while maintaining high-quality services and ensuring they remain financially sustainable. Working with children, families, schools and partners, you will focus on:

• Sustaining strong children’s social care practice: Building on our inspection outcomes, maintaining effective help and protection, and improving experiences and outcomes for children in care and care leavers.

• Improving SEND services: Delivering our SEND Reform Plan, strengthening local support and rebuilding families’ confidence. Significant improvement remains necessary, requiring clear leadership and shared accountability across the partnership.

• Strengthening education and school partnerships: Delivering The Lancashire Way Education Strategy 2026–2028 with schools and partners to improve attendance and achievement, strengthen inclusion and reduce exclusions. This includes supporting key transitions and improving pathways into further education, training and employment.

• Leading Families First and earlier support: Bringing services and partners together to deliver the Families First reforms, supporting the workforce through changes to practice and ways of working while maintaining effective safeguarding. Alongside Best Start in Life, this will help families receive coordinated support earlier.

• Providing the right homes and support: Expanding local residential provision through Where Our Children Live and improving support for children with disabilities and their families.

• Strengthening safeguarding: Responding to learning from the Southport Public Inquiry and developing our Harm to Others programme with partners to improve early identification and coordinated responses to risk.

• Leading through local government reorganisation: Helping shape the council’s response to local government reorganisation, working across organisational boundaries to prepare for future arrangements while maintaining safe, effective services. This will require clear leadership through uncertainty, supporting staff and partners and keeping children and families at the heart of decisions.

• Managing budgets and securing sustainable services: Taking responsibility for the directorate’s budget, managing demand and costs, and delivering agreed savings while protecting statutory responsibilities and service quality. Strengthening commissioning, workforce planning and digital systems will be central to making the best use of resources and improving outcomes.

Success will depend on connecting these priorities and working with children, families and partners to deliver lasting improvement.

Our leadership structures

• Our leadership team and structure