Apprenticeships and work experience

Work experience at Horsham District Council

Thank you for your interest in a work experience placement at Horsham District Council. Applications for 2026 placements will be open in early 2026.

Horsham District Council welcomes applications for work experience from 16 - 18 year old students living or studying in the Horsham District.

What happens after you apply

Following your application, your form will be reviewed. After applications close,  member of the HR team will be in touch to confirm if your request can be supported by the Council.

Departments

Watch our short video to see the departments we cover and find out more about each one below.

Human Resources and Organisational Development

Human Resources provides advice and support to employees and managers on employee relations, employment policy and employment law, workforce planning, recruitment, personnel administration, workforce monitoring and supply of management information. Organisational Development provides leadership and management development, learning and development, organisational development initiatives, organisational design and employee engagement. Health and Safety provides framework for staff health and safety, wellbeing initiatives, corporate health and safety consultancy. Equalities provides advice on staff equalities, statutory responsibilities and corporate equalities consultancy.

Digital (Communications)

The communications team delivers clear, consistent, and co-ordinated communications to both internal and external customers in order to help deliver the Council’s vision and corporate plan priorities. The service provides best counsel regarding PR protocol, brand and reputation protection, runs a media office, and develops and implements corporate and service-led marketing and communication campaigns. The service delivers a proactive digital communications strategy (including using social media) to develop resident satisfaction and engagement and ensure residents feeling informed about the services and benefits that the Council provides. The communications team supports organisational development, manages internal communications and runs an efficient design and print service. They work closely with departments to aid the efficient and effective operation of council services and deliver clear and consistent messages and communication and marketing plans across multiple channels in order to build and protect the Council’s brand and reputation around the Corporate Plan Priorities. They aim to improve understanding of the Council and its services amongst local residents, staff and other stakeholders and we keep residents informed and involved regularly and efficiently and continue to improve the way people interact with HDC.

IT

The IT team ensure that the organisation’s technology needs are being met, and deliver new and emerging technologies in a controlled manner. They investigate and resolve hardware and software issues, assist with hardware and software installation and maintenance. The team also work to maintain the organisation’s network infrastructure and ensure that it is secure.

Customer Services

The customer services team is at the centre of Horsham District Council’s customer focused culture, providing the professional, helpful and personable first point of contact for internal and external customers. The team solves problems using information, technology and judgement to resolve customer enquiries and identify opportunities for customer focused business improvement.

Legal and Democratic Services

The Legal department is responsible for providing advice and support to the Council in a number of key areas. The service is led by the Head of Legal Services, who also acts as the Council’s Monitoring Officer. The Monitoring Officer is responsible for ensuring the Council’s constitution is fit for purpose, retaining a register of members’ interests, ensuring the legality of the Council’s operations and promoting and maintaining high standards of conducted among elected members. The Legal team provides advice and representation to the Council in all the main areas of local government law including planning, property, contracts, litigation and corporate governance. The service is also responsible for dealing with Freedom of Information and Data Protection requests. The Democratic Services and Elections team supports the formal decision-making of the Council. This includes administering committee meetings, preparing agendas and minutes, and ensuring procedures are followed correctly, as set out in legislation and our constitution. The team provides advice and support to Councillors on governance, constitutional, and procedural matters. The team also ensures transparency and public access to decisions, which is crucial for accountability and trust in the democratic processes at the Council. It also includes the Electoral Services section, which maintains the electoral roll and undertakes all arrangements for the efficient running of all local and national elections, which involves the recruitment of over 500 temporary staff. The team’s role is to ensure elections are conducted accurately, impartially, and with public confidence in the integrity of the process.

Environmental Health and Licensing

The Environmental Health and Licensing department makes a fundamental contribution to the maintenance and improvement of public health, quality of life and wellbeing. This is achieved by correcting and preventing those factors in the environment that can potentially adversely affect the health of the population. They do this thorough the work of their teams covering food safety, environmental pollution, housing, licensing and community link. The teams carry out food inspections, air quality and water monitoring/sampling, installation of alarms for the vulnerable, private sector housing inspections, animal, taxi, alcohol, scrap metal and gaming licensing.

Finance and Performance

The Finance and Performance department provides financial advice to the Council and to all the other departments. It is responsible for the preparation of robust budgets and the Medium Term Financial Plan, calculating and setting Council Tax, the delivery of timely and accurate financial monitoring information, statutory financial accounts, income, payments, cash and banking, treasury management and payroll. The Performance team covers the following service areas, corporate performance, corporate risk and governance, project development and assurance.

Strategic Planning and Development Management

Strategic Planning team is responsible for addressing the future long-term planning of the District. Their role is to implement the Horsham District Local Plan through the provision of policy and guidance documents, which form the basis for all decision making. The team review the Local Plan evidence base and prepare consultation documents as well as support the delivery of Neighbourhood Plans. The team also provides for various specialist officer who provide advice to all planning teams such as ecology, landscape and heritage. The Development Management teams then assess all planning applications that are submitted and consider whether they adhere to the local plan, and all other relevant planning matters. The Development Management teams also investigate alleged breaches of planning control and manage all infrastructure payments which are submitted by developers to mitigate the impacts of development.

Building Control

The building control team consider whether developments adhere to the building safety act and all relevant building regulation legislation. This is to ensure that buildings are safe and energy efficient. The building control team will also manage any enforcement matters, demolitions and dangerous structures.

Community

The Community teams cover a wide range of topics including ensuring safety by working in partnership to reduce crime and disorder, so our District is safer, stronger and more resilient. They also work to develop our community by actively enabling, supporting and empowering communities at grassroot level to improve quality of life. For example, the teams offer information, advice and guidance in relation to community issues, carry out fundraising and provide grants, support the youth and older people and bring together partners where gaps in provision or support arise, with the aim of finding community-based solutions. The Voluntary Sector Support team works with charities, volunteers and community groups to help new volunteers find opportunities, make it easy for groups to find volunteers, help new groups to get started, offer mentoring and peer support, help groups find community grant and funding opportunities and run events and training courses. The Neighbourhood Wardens work across the District with partner agencies and communities to support and enable local initiatives, provide a reassuring presence to reduce the fear of crime and support vulnerable members of the community.

Property and Facilities

The Property and Facilities department delivers asset and property management of the Council’s operational and investment portfolios which involves acquiring, redeveloping, disposing and maintaining, to maximise income and capital values. The department leads on property development and investment activity and delivers property and facilities management services across the Council to ensure the quality and value of Council property meets the operational requirements and reduces the facility management costs over time. Ways this is done is by planning the maintenance regime, reducing energy costs and improving security and information systems.

Sustainability and Greenspaces

The Sustainability and Greenspaces department is involved with implementing the Council’s climate change and nature recovery agenda as well as managing the Council’s greenspaces which includes play and recreational areas and countryside sites.

Recycling and Waste

The Recycling & Waste department is responsible for organising the collection of bins for general waste, mixed recycling, food and garden waste for residents of the Horsham District as well as additional services including recycling of textiles, coffee pods and electricals. The department also operates the street cleansing team including services such as litter picking, dog bin emptying and fly-tipping removal and enforcement. Commercial waste collections are also run from the depot which includes the collection of general waste, recycling and food waste from businesses. The team deal with daily logistical challenges to ensure the operation runs smoothly, including daily checks with the front-line staff, visits to residents where required and vehicle inspection and repairs, carried out by our in-house workshop technicians. The team also provides direction on long-term strategy to fulfil the requirements of any service changes or inclusions as directed by Government or other influences.

Sports Development

The aim of our Sports Development team is to increase the quantity and quality of sport and active recreation opportunities available to people in the Horsham District. The team work with local sports’ venues, operators, schools, coaches, leisure centres and other partners across the district to identify, establish and promote the right opportunities to increase activity through the development of sustainable offers. The team has a particular focus on increasing quality and inclusive provision for groups with additional needs and other demographic groups that have been historically less active.

Health and Wellbeing

The Health and Wellbeing team aims to improve the health and wellbeing of adults (18+) that live or work in the Horsham District. The team provides free evidence-based advice and support on how to make small changes to improve individuals health and wellbeing, including how to stop smoking, how to become more active (including strength and balance programmes to prevent falls), how to make healthier meals, how to lose weight, how to get an NHS Health Check and how to reduce alcohol consumption. For example, the team delivers lifestyle interventions such as weight management and physical activity courses, smoking cessation, NHS Health Checks and Wellbeing MOTs and they can also put individuals in touch with more specialist support if it’s needed.

Enterprise

The Enterprise team at Horsham District Council supports local businesses and helps the district’s economy grow and thrive. The Enterprising Horsham Strategy is the council’s long-term plan to create a fairer, greener and more prosperous local economy. A placement with the team offers insight into how a local authority works with businesses, entrepreneurs and partners across the district. Day-to-day activities may include supporting business training and events, helping promote funding and grant opportunities, researching local business needs, and contributing to projects that encourage investment and job creation.  Students can expect a varied experience that combines office-based work, research, communication and collaboration with colleagues and external stakeholders. A placement provides a valuable opportunity to develop skills in economic development, project support, teamwork and professional communication, while gaining a real understanding of how councils support local economies and communities.