Registration: Subject to successful registration with Ofsted, for a children's home for 2 or 3 children.
Purpose of the role
The Registered Manager will have day-to-day responsibility for the leadership, management and operation of the children’s home. They will ensure that children receive safe, nurturing, child-centred care that meets their individual needs and supports measurable progress from their starting points. The Registered Manager will lead a positive culture in which children are listened to, protected from harm and supported to develop relationships, independence, education, health, confidence and preparation for adulthood. The postholder will ensure that the home operates in accordance with its Statement of Purpose, the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015, the Quality Standards, associated statutory guidance and Ofsted’s Social Care Common Inspection Framework. Regulation 13 requires the registered person to enable, inspire and lead a culture that promotes children’s welfare, supports them to fulfil their potential and ensures staff work effectively as a team.
Main responsibilities1. Leadership and quality of care
The Registered Manager will:
- Provide visible, confident and child-centred leadership within the home.
- Create a nurturing culture in which children feel safe, valued, respected and cared about.
- Ensure that practice reflects the home’s Statement of Purpose and agreed model of care.
- Maintain high expectations for children while recognising their individual needs, experiences, development and starting points.
- Ensure that children receive consistent care from staff who understand their plans, communication needs, risks and preferred support strategies.
- Model professional curiosity, respectful communication, integrity and sound decision-making.
- Ensure that routines and boundaries are predictable, proportionate and individually appropriate.
- Spend sufficient time in the home to understand children’s experiences and observe staff practice.
- Challenge institutional, punitive, discriminatory or complacent practice.
- Promote a learning culture in which staff can reflect honestly on mistakes and improve practice.
- Ensure that management decisions result in demonstrable improvements in children’s lives.
2. Safeguarding children
The Registered Manager will:
- Hold overall operational responsibility for safeguarding practice within the home.
- Ensure that all allegations, disclosures, injuries and safeguarding concerns are taken seriously and responded to promptly.
- Ensure appropriate referrals and notifications are made to children’s social care, police, the local authority designated officer, Ofsted, placing authorities, parents and other relevant professionals.
- Ensure Regulation 40 notifications are timely, accurate and supported by appropriate management analysis.
- Maintain effective systems relating to missing-from-care incidents, exploitation, self-harm, substance misuse, online safety, bullying and allegations.
- Ensure that safeguarding plans and risk assessments are current, individualised and understood by staff.
- Review incidents for patterns, emerging risks, staff practice and lessons learned.
- Ensure that children receive meaningful support following incidents and are able to express their views.
- Ensure that staff understand whistleblowing procedures and can raise concerns without fear of inappropriate consequences.
- Cooperate fully with safeguarding enquiries, police investigations and professional meetings.
- Take immediate action where staff practice may place a child at risk.
3. Children’s care and progress
The Registered Manager will:
- Ensure that each child has clear and current placement, care, health, education, behaviour-support and risk-management plans.
- Ensure staff understand children’s legal status, including any court orders, care orders or deprivation of liberty arrangements.
- Oversee key-work and direct-work programmes that reflect each child’s needs and goals.
- Ensure children’s wishes, feelings and preferred communication methods influence their care.
- Monitor progress in relation to education, health, emotional wellbeing, relationships, identity, independence and preparation for adulthood.
- Ensure children are supported to access education and overcome barriers to attendance and achievement.
- Promote positive relationships with families and significant people where this is consistent with the child’s plan.
- Ensure children have access to advocacy and know how to make complaints.
- Promote enjoyable activities, hobbies, friendships and community involvement.
- Ensure children receive support that respects their identity, culture, religion, sexuality, disability and individual background.
- Monitor whether restrictions are necessary, lawful, proportionate and regularly reviewed.
4. Referrals, matching and admissions
The Registered Manager will:
- Lead the assessment of referrals and proposed placements.
- Obtain sufficient information to assess whether the home can safely meet the child’s needs.
- Consider compatibility with children already living in the home.
- Evaluate staffing, environmental, education, health and safeguarding implications.
- Record a clear matching analysis and professional decision.
- Challenge requests for emergency admission where essential information is missing.
- Decline placements where the home cannot safely or appropriately meet the child’s needs.
- Ensure planned transitions are child-centred and reduce unnecessary anxiety.
- Ensure placement-planning meetings are held and required documentation is obtained.
- Review placement stability and escalate concerns before a placement reaches crisis.
5. Staff leadership and workforce development
The Registered Manager will:
- Recruit and retain a suitably experienced, skilled and diverse staff team.
- Ensure safer-recruitment procedures and required pre-employment checks are completed.
- Provide a structured induction for new employees and agency workers.
- Allocate responsibilities according to staff competence and experience.
- Ensure staffing levels are sufficient to meet children’s needs safely.
- Prepare and oversee rotas, including arrangements for sickness, leave, training and emergencies.
- Provide regular reflective supervision and annual appraisals.
- Set clear objectives and hold employees accountable for agreed standards.
- Identify capability, conduct, attendance or wellbeing concerns and address them fairly and promptly.
- Implement performance-improvement plans where required.
- Ensure staff complete mandatory and specialist training relevant to the children living in the home.
- Monitor completion of required residential-childcare qualifications.
- Observe staff practice and test whether learning is being applied.
- Recognise strong practice and provide constructive feedback.
- Promote staff wellbeing and ensure appropriate support following serious incidents.
- Develop deputies and senior staff so that the home remains effectively managed in the manager’s absence.
The Registered Manager must undertake continuing professional development sufficient to maintain the knowledge and skills required to manage the home.
6. Regulation, inspection and governance
The Registered Manager will:
- Maintain a thorough working knowledge of the regulatory framework.
- Ensure the home remains compliant with its conditions of registration.
- Maintain an accurate and current Statement of Purpose and Children’s Guide.
- Notify the Responsible Individual and Ofsted of relevant changes and significant events.
- Prepare the home for unannounced Ofsted inspections.
- Provide inspectors with prompt access to children’s records, staff records, policies and other evidence.
- Respond to requirements and recommendations through clear, time-bound action plans.
- Maintain evidence of how management oversight improves children’s experiences.
- Facilitate monthly Regulation 44 visits and respond promptly to findings.
- Lead or contribute to the Regulation 45 review of the quality of care at least every six months.
- Ensure actions from Regulation 44 visits, Regulation 45 reviews, inspections, complaints and audits are completed and evidenced.
- Maintain oversight of previous inspection findings.
- Inform the Responsible Individual immediately of any potential regulatory breach.
Children’s homes are subject to monthly independent visits under Regulation 44, while Regulation 45 requires the registered person to review the quality of care at least every six months.
7. Quality assurance and management oversight
The Registered Manager will:
- Maintain a structured quality-assurance programme.
- Audit children’s records, daily notes, incidents, safeguarding records, medication, risk assessments and key-work.
- Ensure records are factual, respectful, timely and demonstrate the impact of care.
- Maintain an accurate chronology of significant events for each child.
- Analyse patterns relating to incidents, missing episodes, restraints, complaints, sanctions, education, health and safeguarding.
- Maintain good-practice and lessons-learned logs.
- Ensure management review is analytical and does not consist only of administrative sign-off.
- Track actions through to completion and evaluate whether they achieved the expected impact.
- Use children’s feedback, family feedback and professional feedback to improve the home.
- Maintain and regularly review the home’s development plan.
- Report accurately to the Responsible Individual and provider.
- Ensure audits lead to changes in practice rather than simply identifying deficiencies.
8. Medication and health
The Registered Manager will:
- Ensure medication is stored, administered, recorded and disposed of safely.
- Ensure staff administering medication are trained and assessed as competent.
- Investigate medication errors, discrepancies and near misses.
- Ensure children attend health appointments and receive appropriate treatment.
- Ensure staff recognise and respond to deterioration in physical or emotional health.
- Oversee health plans and communication with GPs, CAMHS and specialist services.
- Ensure health information is shared lawfully and promptly with relevant professionals.
- Monitor accidents, injuries, self-harm and first-aid records.
- Escalate where health services do not respond adequately to a child’s needs.
9. Behaviour support and restrictive practice
The Registered Manager will:
- Ensure behaviour-support plans are individualised, current and trauma-informed.
- Promote early intervention, emotional regulation and relationship-based practice.
- Ensure consequences are restorative, reasonable and not punitive.
- Monitor the use of restraint and other restrictive interventions.
- Ensure physical intervention is used only when necessary, proportionate and in accordance with training and the child’s plan.
- Ensure children and staff receive appropriate post-incident support and debrief.
- Review every significant restraint or serious incident.
- Identify whether staff communication, the environment or care planning contributed to escalation.
- Ensure learning is incorporated into updated plans and staff practice.
10. Multi-agency working
The Registered Manager will:
- Develop effective relationships with social workers, independent reviewing officers, schools, colleges, health services, CAMHS, police, advocates and local-authority commissioners.
- Attend and contribute to statutory reviews, professionals’ meetings, strategy meetings and placement-planning meetings.
- Provide clear, accurate and timely reports.
- Challenge professional delay or poor-quality planning when this affects a child.
- Escalate concerns through appropriate professional channels.
- Ensure that actions agreed at meetings are recorded, allocated and completed.
- Promote constructive relationships with families and significant people.
- Ensure children are appropriately prepared and supported to participate in meetings.
11. Health, safety and premises
The Registered Manager will:
- Ensure the home provides a safe, clean, welcoming and well-maintained environment.
- Maintain oversight of fire safety, health and safety, infection control and emergency planning.
- Ensure required checks, servicing and risk assessments are completed.
- Ensure repairs are reported and addressed promptly.
- Maintain a current location assessment.
- Ensure staff understand emergency procedures.
- Ensure confidential information, medication, money, keys and hazardous items are stored securely.
- Ensure the physical environment meets the needs of the children living in the home.
12. Financial and resource management
The Registered Manager will:
- Manage the home’s delegated budget responsibly.
- Maintain accurate records of expenditure, petty cash and children’s money.
- Ensure children receive their agreed allowances and financial support.
- Protect the home’s finances from loss, misuse or unauthorised access.
- Monitor staffing and agency expenditure.
- Ensure purchasing decisions represent value while meeting children’s needs.
- Report financial concerns or irregularities immediately.
- Maintain adequate staffing, equipment, food and household resources.
13. On-call and emergency responsibilities
The Registered Manager will:
- Participate in the management on-call rota.
- Provide clear advice and decision-making during emergencies.
- Attend the home where remote advice is insufficient.
- Ensure serious incidents are escalated appropriately.
- Arrange additional staffing or management support when necessary.
- Maintain accurate records of on-call decisions.
- Ensure appropriate follow-up occurs after every significant incident.
Authority and accountability
The Registered Manager is authorised, within organisational policy and delegated limits, to:
- Deploy staff and alter staffing arrangements to maintain safety.
- Reject or pause admissions that cannot be safely supported.
- Remove staff from specific duties where immediate safety concerns arise.
- Initiate safeguarding, disciplinary or capability procedures.
- Seek emergency support from police, health or social-care services.
- Authorise expenditure within the delegated budget.
- Escalate concerns directly to the Responsible Individual and placing authority.
- Challenge professional decisions that do not promote a child’s welfare.
The Registered Manager remains accountable to the Responsible Individual and registered provider for the operation of the home. Providers and registered managers must continue to demonstrate their suitability throughout registration.
Person Specification
Essential qualifications and registration requirements
The successful candidate must:
- Hold the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare, or an accepted equivalent qualification; or be able to complete the required qualification within the statutory period.
- Be able to demonstrate fitness and suitability to manage a children’s home.
- Be willing and able to complete the Ofsted registration process.
- Undertake relevant continuing professional development.
- Hold or be willing to complete all mandatory training required by the provider.
- Satisfy enhanced DBS and safer-recruitment requirements.
A manager who does not already hold the appropriate Level 5 qualification must normally obtain it within three years of beginning to manage the home.
Essential experienceThe successful candidate should demonstrate:
- Substantial experience of working with children in residential childcare or a closely related setting.
- Experience of supervising and managing staff who provide direct care.
- Experience of safeguarding children with complex needs.
- Experience of managing incidents, allegations and significant risks.
- Experience of care planning, risk assessment and behaviour-support planning.
- Experience of reflective supervision and staff development.
- Experience of quality assurance, audits and improvement planning.
- Experience of working with social workers, education providers, health services and other professionals.
- Evidence of improving outcomes for children.
- Experience of contributing to or leading an Ofsted inspection is desirable.
Knowledge
The postholder must have a strong working knowledge of:
- Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015.
- The Quality Standards and associated statutory guide.
- Ofsted’s Social Care Common Inspection Framework.
- Safeguarding and child-protection procedures.
- Safer recruitment.
- Care planning and looked-after children arrangements.
- Missing-from-care procedures.
- Regulation 40 notifications.
- Regulation 44 visits and Regulation 45 quality-of-care reviews.
- Trauma-informed and relationship-based practice.
- Positive behaviour support and restrictive-practice reduction.
- Equality, diversity, identity and children’s rights.
- Information sharing, confidentiality and data protection.
- Health and safety within residential care.
Skills and abilities
The successful candidate must be able to:
- Lead confidently and remain calm under pressure.
- Make defensible, child-centred decisions.
- Communicate clearly with children, staff, families and professionals.
- Analyse complex information and identify patterns.
- Produce high-quality reports and management evaluations.
- Challenge poor practice respectfully and decisively.
- Manage conflict and professional disagreement.
- Organise competing priorities and meet regulatory deadlines.
- Develop staff competence through coaching, supervision and feedback.
- Balance children’s rights, autonomy and safety.
- Demonstrate emotional resilience and professional boundaries.
- Use electronic recording and quality-assurance systems effectively.
- Work flexibly, including evenings, weekends and on-call duties.
Personal qualities
The Registered Manager must demonstrate:
- Integrity and professional accountability.
- Warmth and genuine commitment to children.
- Emotional intelligence.
- Reliability and consistency.
- Curiosity and willingness to learn.
- Resilience without becoming desensitised.
- Openness to challenge and feedback.
- Fairness and sound judgement.
- Ambition for children.
- Ability to inspire confidence in staff and professionals.
Performance measures
Performance will be evaluated through:
- Children’s safety, experiences and measurable progress.
- Placement stability.
- Quality and consistency of staff practice.
- Feedback from children, families and professionals.
- Staff supervision, retention, attendance and qualification compliance.
- Quality of records and management oversight.
- Completion of Regulation 40, 44 and 45 responsibilities.
- Timely completion of improvement actions.
- Safeguarding practice and incident learning.
- Ofsted inspection outcomes and regulatory compliance.
- Effective financial and resource management.
General requirements
The postholder must:
- Act in accordance with organisational policies and professional standards.
- Maintain confidentiality.
- Promote equality and challenge discrimination.
- Declare conflicts of interest.
- Report concerns about unsafe or unlawful practice.
- Participate in training, supervision and appraisal.
- Carry out other reasonable duties consistent with the responsibilities of a Registered Manager.
- Understand that the job description may be reviewed as the needs of the children, home or regulatory framework change.
For further information, please contact [email protected]
Pay: £39,000.00-£55,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Casual dress
- Company events
- Company pension
- Free parking
- Health & wellbeing programme
- On-site parking
Education:
- Diploma of Higher Education (preferred)
Experience:
- Managerial : 3 years (required)
Work Location: In person
