Role: Play Worker Salary: Grade D (17-19) £26,403 to £27, 254 (pro rata) Location: Working flexibly across the Derby City Family Hubs, Children's Centres and with external providers Hours: 30 hours - Monday - Thursday 9:00 - 17:00 Closing Date: 05/06/2026 Contract Type: Permanent Are you an enthusiastic and skilled Play Worker who would like to join our Best Start Family Hubs team? Within the role as a play worker, you will be responsible for: • Setting up a safe, warm, caring and stimulating environment for all children. • Supporting the development and delivery of play activities for all children as appropriate to their age and stage of development, ability and cultural background. • Observing, assessing and reviewing individual developmental milestones: planning next steps and/or signposting accordingly. Ensuring records of these are kept up to date and are shared with families. Who We Are Here at Derby City Council, we're dedicated to delivering nearly 250 first-class services to citizens and businesses in the heart of the Midlands. People are at the centre of all that we do, and we have an outstanding track record of recruiting and developing talented individuals by providing them with varied and fulfilling career opportunities. Find out more about what it's like to work for us. What We Offer You too could be part of something brilliant by becoming a colleague at Derby City Council; in addition to making a difference to the lives of people across the city, you'll also receive: • Continued professional development opportunities & career conversations • 27 days annual leave (rising to 32 days after 5 years' service), plus bank holidays • Local Government Pension Scheme • Team Derby Rewards - retail and leisure discounts • Tusker Car Benefit Scheme • Cycle2Work Scheme & free cycle training • Employee Assistance Programme, Wellbeing Calendar and Support • Access to our Equality Employee Networks - LGBTQ, Disabled Employee Network & Carers and our Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic Employee Support Network and Neurodiversity Network • Support for colleagues who are carers The Opportunity In the role of Play Worker, here's an example of what you'll be doing to make an impact: Working with parents and children together to give them the best start in life, with a focus on: Parenting support Learning and development (home learning environment) Health and wellbeing Speech and language About You To be successful in this role, you'll ideally have • An NVQ Level 3 in Childcare or equivalent • Experience of working with children 0 to 8 years in a relevant environment/similar setting. • Knowledge of child protection and safeguarding procedures • Knowledge of the Early Years Foundation Stage • Experience of record keeping Next Steps For an informal discussion about the post please call Claire Bernardini (Senior Play Worker) Monday - Thursday on 07812 301642 If you would like to apply for this vacancy via an application form, please submit an application via the Derby City Council website. The closing date for this vacancy is at midnight on 5 June 2026. Any applications received after the closing date will not be accepted. If you would prefer to apply for this job using your CV, then please download the attached Declaration Form and send it to Lisa.Sandercock@derby.gov.uk. Without a completed declaration form, your application will not be accepted. We also encourage you to download the Equalities Form and return this to recruitment.team@derby.gov.uk, however this is optional and will not affect your application. Important Information Links to the full Job Description and Person Specification are below. As part of our safer recruitment checks the successful candidate will be subject to an enhanced DBS check. All employees will normally be appointed to the minimum of the grade for the job. Before you complete your application, please read our guidance on filling in your application form. Remember to align your personal statement to the essential criteria in the Person Specification. Please be aware that where there are colleagues within the organisation who are 'at risk' of redundancy, requirements to redeploy to another suitable role will apply and take priority. Equality, Diversity & Inclusion We are a fair and inclusive employer and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds. We recruit for diversity and value difference. As many of our roles can now be home-based, we are able to offer more opportunities for people who need this facility. We are proud to be a Disability Confident Leader. If you are a disabled person, you have the choice to apply under our Guaranteed Interview Scheme so long as you demonstrate that you meet the essential requirements for the job. We feel it is essential that we recruit a talented workforce that is as diverse as the community we work for. Please let us know of any individual requirements or reasonable adjustments you may have during the application, interview, or onboarding process and we'll do all we can to help. We strongly believe in social understanding of disability and for us it's all about removing barriers to equality. If you have any questions regarding this vacancy or are having difficulty applying, please contact our Recruitment Team on 01332 640844 (Relay UK - 18001 01332 640 844) or at recruitmentteam@derby.gov.uk. https://www.derby.gov.uk/signing-service/ Please see here for Job Description Please see here for Person Specification Please see Declaration Form for CV Applications here Please see Equalities Form for CV Applications here Please see here for DBS Code of Conduct