Registered Manager – New Children’s Home
Location: Sheffield,
Salary: £47,000–£54,000 per annum, depending on experience
bonus scheme with total annual earnings up to £58,000 - Full-time, permanent
Build a home you will be proud to lead
Alderwing Care is looking for an experienced and ambitious Registered Manager to lead the development and opening of a new children’s home in Sheffield.
This is an opportunity to join at the beginning and shape the home properly—from its culture and care model to its staff team, systems and standards.
You will have genuine influence over how the service develops, who joins the team and which placements are right for the home. You will be trusted to lead with professional judgement, protect the quality of care and create an environment where children feel safe, valued and understood.
If you are an experienced Registered Manager—or an exceptional Deputy Manager ready to take the next step—and want to build something meaningful from the beginning, we want to hear from you.
Salary and benefits
- £47,000–£54,000 base salary, depending on experience and qualifications
- Bonus scheme with total annual earnings up to £58,000
- 32 days’ annual leave
- Annual salary review
- Full-time, permanent senior leadership position
- Funded enhanced DBS check
- Funded role-specific training and professional development
- Support towards completing the Level 5 Diploma where appropriate
- Workplace pension
- Protected management and administrative time
- Professional autonomy to lead and develop the home
- Genuine involvement in recruiting and developing your staff team
- A meaningful role in referral assessment and placement matching
- Support from the Responsible Individual and senior leadership
- Free on-site parking
- Future career-development opportunities as Alderwing Care grows
Your role
As the proposed Registered Manager, you will lead the home through its pre-opening development, Ofsted registration and safe mobilisation.
Once registered, you will be responsible for the day-to-day leadership of the home and for ensuring that children receive safe, consistent and child-centred care.
Your responsibilities will include:
- Leading and supporting the home through the Ofsted registration process
- Preparing confidently for the Registered Manager’s Ofsted interview
- Contributing to the Statement of Purpose, children’s guide, workforce plan, policies and care model
- Ensuring compliance with the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015, the Quality Standards and relevant statutory guidance
- Creating a safe, warm and genuinely child-centred culture
- Leading safeguarding practice and responding effectively to concerns, allegations and significant incidents
- Recruiting, inducting and developing a skilled and values-led residential team
- Providing high-quality supervision, appraisals, coaching and performance management
- Establishing safe staffing levels, effective rotas and appropriate on-call arrangements
- Promoting a culture in which staff feel supported, accountable and confident in their practice
- Assessing referrals carefully and making defensible placement-matching decisions
- Ensuring children’s views, wishes and feelings influence their care and the operation of the home
- Overseeing care plans, risk assessments, behaviour-support plans and safeguarding plans
- Promoting positive outcomes in children’s education, health, relationships, identity and independence
- Monitoring the quality of care through audits, feedback, incident analysis and improvement planning
- Maintaining accurate, purposeful and inspection-ready records
- Building effective relationships with families, social workers, commissioners, schools, health professionals, police and other agencies
- Maintaining readiness for Regulation 44 visits, Regulation 45 reviews and Ofsted inspections
- Managing budgets and resources responsibly without compromising children’s care
- Ensuring the home operates safely and consistently in accordance with its Statement of Purpose
- Remaining visible and available within the home while maintaining effective management oversight
Essential experience
To be considered, you must have:
- At least two years’ experience within the last five years in a role relevant to the residential care of children
- At least one year’s experience supervising or managing staff working in a care role
- Substantial recent experience within an Ofsted-regulated children’s residential setting
- Experience leading shifts, supervising staff and maintaining professional standards
- Strong knowledge of safeguarding, child protection and safer working practices
- A sound understanding of the Children’s Homes Regulations and Quality Standards
- Experience completing or overseeing care plans, risk assessments, incident reviews and safeguarding records
- The ability to make safe, balanced and child-centred decisions under pressure
- Experience working effectively with social workers, families and external professionals
- The leadership skills required to recruit, motivate and retain a strong staff team
- The ability to prepare for and contribute confidently to regulatory monitoring and inspection
Applications based solely on adult social care experience will not meet the requirements of this position. Relevant children’s residential-care experience is essential.
Essential qualifications and eligibility
You must:
- Hold, or be actively working towards, the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare (England) or a qualification accepted as equivalent
- Be able to demonstrate a credible plan to complete the required qualification within the regulatory timeframe
- Have the experience, knowledge, skills, integrity and fitness required to apply for registration with Ofsted
- Be willing and able to complete all required safer-recruitment and Schedule 2 checks
- Be able to provide a complete employment history and satisfactory professional references
- Be eligible for an enhanced DBS check with children’s barred-list information
- Hold a full UK driving licence and be able to travel as required, subject to reasonable adjustments
- Have the right to work in the United Kingdom
Highly desirable experience
We would particularly like to hear from candidates who have:
- Previously been registered with Ofsted as a children’s-home manager
- Successfully managed or deputised within an Ofsted-regulated children’s home
- Helped open or register a new children’s home
- Completed or prepared for an Ofsted registration interview
- Led a home through an Ofsted inspection
- Achieved or maintained a Good or Outstanding Ofsted judgement
- Improved the quality or regulatory performance of a residential service
- Recruited, developed and retained a stable residential staff team
- Strong experience of referral assessment and placement matching
- Worked constructively with commissioners and local-authority professionals
- Supported children with complex emotional, behavioural or safeguarding needs
Previous Registered Manager experience is strongly preferred. However, Alderwing will consider an exceptional Deputy Manager who meets the regulatory experience requirements, demonstrates strong safeguarding judgement and is genuinely ready to lead and register a home.
The person we are looking for
Qualifications and experience matter, but so do judgement, leadership and values.
We are looking for someone who is:
- Child-centred and prepared to place children’s needs ahead of commercial pressure
- Safeguarding-led, with the confidence to challenge unsafe or poor practice
- Calm, credible and decisive during difficult situations
- Visible and approachable to children and staff
- Organised and accountable, with strong attention to regulatory detail
- Reflective, open to challenge and committed to continuous improvement
- Ambitious for children without making unrealistic promises
- Confident when dealing with Ofsted and external professionals
- Capable of building a positive, stable and accountable staff culture
- Commercially aware without compromising care or placement matching
- Motivated by the opportunity to create a high-quality home from the beginning
Why join Alderwing Care?
At Alderwing, your professional judgement will matter.
You will have a genuine voice in how the home operates, who joins the team and whether a proposed placement is right. You will have the opportunity to establish clear expectations from the outset rather than inheriting an unsuitable culture or poorly designed systems.
Alderwing is committed to building a home around:
- Careful placement matching
- Strong safeguarding
- Stable and consistent relationships
- A well-supported and accountable workforce
- Meaningful outcomes for children
- Honest and constructive relationships with professionals
- Sustainable growth without compromising care
This is more than an opportunity to manage an existing service.
It is an opportunity to build the team, shape the culture and lead a home you can genuinely be proud of.
Apply now
Please apply through Indeed with an up-to-date CV clearly showing your children’s residential-care and leadership experience.
Applications will be reviewed as they are received, and suitable candidates will be contacted promptly. The vacancy may close early if the right candidate is identified.
For a confidential initial enquiry, contact:
[email protected]
Safeguarding statement
Alderwing Care is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people.
The successful candidate will be subject to robust safer-recruitment checks, including an enhanced DBS check with children’s barred-list information, verification of qualifications, a full employment-history review, satisfactory professional references, identity and right-to-work checks, and all other checks required by legislation and Ofsted.
Alderwing Care is an equal-opportunities employer and welcomes applications from suitably qualified candidates from all backgrounds.
Pay: Up to £58,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Casual dress
- Company events
- Company pension
- Free parking
- On-site parking
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Sheffield, South Yorkshire: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (preferred)
Experience:
- Childcare: 1 year (preferred)
Work Location: In person
