Welcome to Carmarthenshire ‐ one of the safest, most beautiful, and vibrant counties in Wales. It is a county often described as a microcosm of Wales with a sweeping coastline, historic market towns and post‐industrial regeneration in increasingly vibrant urban towns.
Carmarthenshire remains amongst some of the safest places to live in the country and crime levels are low. Attractions in the County include the Ffos Las racecourse, Blue flag beaches including Wales’s largest stretch of golden sand at Cefn Sidan, numerous golf courses, Parc y Scarlets Stadium, The National Botanical Gardens for Wales, the Millennium Coastal Path and the Tourism Attractor Facility at Pendine Seafront.
We are also very excited to announce the recent opening of the new leisure facility, created in Phase 1 of the ambitious multi-million-pound project, at Canolfan Pentre Awel, which will create jobs and housing as well as world-class medical research and health care facilities.
Over the past two years, significant progress has been made in delivering regeneration projects designed to provide sustainable benefits to the wider community. These projects aim to revitalise and support economic growth within the Town Centre.
Our Health Services have ambitious plans to develop new models of care that will transform our services across both acute and community services. We have more than 9,300 council owned homes and through prudent financial management now have plans to build more homes to meet local and specialist housing need.
Our dedicated Education teams work tirelessly to ensure that every child has access to high-quality, inclusive education and opportunities for growth. In Carmarthenshire, we believe that investing in our young people is an investment in the future of our community, and we are committed to providing them with the resources, support, and guidance they need to thrive.
For the right person, this is a great career opportunity. We are incredibly ambitious for Carmarthenshire, and this is your chance to take on a leadership role that will be vital to seeing good intentions translate into great outcomes.
For a fantastic place to live, work and visit ‐ look no further than Carmarthenshire!
Yours faithfully,
Cllr. Glynog Davies
Cabinet Member for Education
Carmarthenshire is one of the largest authorities in Wales and prides itself on its bold strategic ambitions and vision. As one of the largest employers in the County, maintaining our excellent reputation for delivering first class services to our residents and being the Employer of choice is incredibly important to us.
The world has changed significantly in these last five years, but some things remain unchanged. Carmarthenshire County Council’s greatest strength is still its people. We still work together and look out for each other, becoming stronger and more resilient than ever. We still strive every day to be the Council our communities need and expect. Your job is to help us use these strengths, see the opportunities, and sharpen our focus to ensure our residents can thrive. When we say we want to do more for our residents, we mean it.
Our dedication to educational excellence and children’s well-being underpins everything we do. This role is at the heart of our journey towards excellence, and you'll be building on strong foundations. As the Head of Inclusion Services, reporting direct to the Director of Education & Leisure, you will provide strategic and operational leadership across a diverse portfolio, including Inclusion, Additional Learning Needs, Behaviour Management, Youth Support, Children’s Rights, Poverty & Wellbeing, Educational Psychology, Children Looked After, Safeguarding, Attendance, Family Engagement, and Elective Home Education. This an opportunity to join an incredibly collaborative senior team and be involved in cutting edge thinking across our varied and complex services.
An experienced senior leader, you will drive transformational change, identify opportunities, and work in a solution-focused way. You will be equally at home in strategic problem solving and in ensuring the provision of high-quality, inclusive services that nurture young minds and support families.
Yours faithfully,
Owain Lloyd
Director of Education & Leisure
In terms of location, Carmarthenshire has it all. It is ideally placed along the M4 corridor, providing convenient access to major cities such as Swansea, Cardiff, and Newport, as well as Bristol, Birmingham, and London to the east. Additionally, it is well connected to the west through the Pembrokeshire ports, facilitating travel to Ireland.
We take pride in our extensive coastline, which extends from the Burry Inlet with views of the Gower Peninsula, across miles of golden sands and blue flag beaches, reaching as far as Pendine in the west, renowned for its flat terrain used for speed racing. Additionally, our rolling countryside stretches to our borders with Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion, Powys, Neath Port Talbot, and Swansea, skirting the western edge of the picturesque Brecon Beacons.
As one of the largest local authorities in Wales, we have spearheaded an ambitious programme of investment and development, which has facilitated first-class services for our residents, businesses, and visitors. These initiatives include state-of-the-art sporting stadiums, such as the Parc Y Scarlets Stadium; excellent golf courses; and the National Closed Road Cycling Circuit in Pembrey. Our visitor attractions encompass theatres and leisure complexes, including the National Botanic Garden of Wales, Dylan Thomas Boathouse, Burry Port Marina, Millennium Coastal Park, the Tourism Attractor Facility at Pendine Seafront. Ongoing developments include Canolfan Pentre Awel, which already provides state of the art leisure facilities, will provide world-class medical research and health care delivery, the unique Health and Wellbeing Hwb that will deliver a range of public healthcare, and the Tywi Valley Path, an exciting project providing a 16.7 miles traffic free path through one of the most scenic areas of Wales.
Carmarthenshire is a truly bilingual county, with the second highest number of people able to speak Welsh of all Counties in Wales (around 40 per cent of our 187,900 residents, according to the 2021 Census). The language is an important aspect of our history and culture, and that is why we are firmly committed to helping people live, work and access services in their language of choice, using our Language Skills Strategy to support the delivery of Welsh Language Standards. We offer a range of supportive and flexible options to allow our staff to learn Welsh or improve their existing skills. If required, we will work hard to motivate and inspire you along your Welsh language journey and support you to reach the required language level for this post. You can read more here.
We want you to enjoy working for Carmarthenshire and for it to be a rewarding experience. Our employees are at the very heart of the services we provide to the community and help us achieve our ambitions. We offer a range of benefits and working arrangements to support employees in their working and personal life.
The Council vision is summed up in the following statement:
Developing Carmarthenshire Together: One Council; One Vision; One Voice
Our well-being objectives are focused on: Enabling our children and young people to have the best possible start in life (Start Well); Enabling our residents to live and age well (Live & Age Well), Enabling our communities and environment to be healthy, safe and prosperous (Prosperous Communities), to further modernise and develop as a resilient and efficient Council (Our Council). Read more in the Council’s Corporate Strategy.
Work is currently underway in terms of regenerating the County, which will include the creation of new jobs via six major transformational projects, providing an economy within Carmarthenshire which is at 90% of the UK average GVA level. We are one of four Local Authorities in the £1.3b Swansea Bay City Region, and the City Deal will create 9,000 jobs over a 15-year period with Carmarthenshire seeing huge economic benefits in terms of digital infrastructure, smart manufacturing, energy, and wellbeing. Moreover, our rural communities are also integral to our local growth and exciting new interventions, such as the Ten Towns initiative will revitalise these areas.
Working differently over the past five years has taught us much at Carmarthenshire. By investing in our digital infrastructure and leveraging the talents of our committed workforce, we have proven that we can deliver exceptional public services with agility, including remote working. Our Hybrid Working Guidance embraces this evolution and we welcome applications from individuals who wish to enjoy the unique experiences Carmarthenshire has to offer while working in a flexible, hybrid manner. In this senior role, the successful candidate will need to expertly balance the advantages of hybrid working with the necessity to maintain a strong, visible presence within the workplace. As a key strategic and operational leader, your ability to be present and actively engaged in the daily activities while also effectively managing remote working will be crucial to our collective success.
We have 75 County Councillors representing 51 community wards. The current political administration of the council is made up as follows:
GRŴP PLAID CYMRU / PARTY OF WALES GROUP – 37
GRŴP LLAFUR / LABOUR GROUP – 18
GRŴP ANNIBYNNOL / INDEPENDENT GROUP – 11
ANNIBYNNOL HEB GYSYLLTIAD / INDEPENDENT UNAFFILIATED – 9
Join Carmarthenshire County Council as our Head of Inclusion Services and play a pivotal role in shaping inclusive education and support across the County.
This senior leadership position is responsible for providing vision, strategic direction, and professional advice to ensure the Council’s legal responsibilities are met across a diverse portfolio, including:
- Inclusion and Additional Learning Needs
- Behaviour Management
- Youth Support Services
- Participation & Children’s Rights
- Educational & Child Psychology
- Children Looked After
- School Safeguarding and Attendance
- Elective Home Education
- Leading on Poverty and Wellbeing initiatives
You will lead the integration of Education and Social Services, working collaboratively with internal teams and external partners such as the Health Board and Police, to ensure children’s safety, wellbeing, and development are addressed holistically. The role also involves driving transformational change, service efficiencies, and customer-focused processes.
Key responsibilities include:
- Strategic leadership and operational management of Inclusion Services
- Developing and delivering business plans and improvement strategies
- Leading multi-agency partnerships and promoting best practice
- Managing budgets and ensuring high standards of service delivery
- Supporting the Council’s ambitions for the Welsh language and culture
- Fostering a positive, innovative, and high-performing team culture
We are committed to our core values of teamwork, customer focus, integrity, excellence, responsibility, and listening. We expect all employees to uphold these values and maintain the principles of equality and diversity.
If you are passionate about inclusion, strategic leadership, and making a difference for children and young people, we would love to hear from you.
For an informal discussion about this role, please contact Owain Lloyd, Director of Education & Leisure, at Carmarthenshire County Council on 01267 246522.
Closing Date: 12 January 2026
Shortlisting: 20 January 2026
Assessment Centre: 27 January 2026
Appointments Panel: 3 February 2026
