Join Gratia Cura – Where Care Creates Opportunity
At Gratia Cura, we believe every child deserves a safe, nurturing, and inspiring home where they can heal, grow, and achieve their full potential. Our mission is to provide exceptional, therapeutic residential care that places children and young people at the heart of everything we do.
As we continue to grow, we are looking for an experienced and passionate Quality & Assurance Manager to help shape and maintain the highest standards across our children's residential homes. This is an exciting opportunity to join a forward-thinking organisation that is committed to continuous improvement, outstanding practice, and delivering life-changing outcomes for the children and young people we support.
About the Role
The Quality & Assurance Manager plays a pivotal role in ensuring that Gratia Cura consistently delivers safe, effective, and high-quality care across all services. Working closely with the Responsible Individual, Operations Team, and Registered Managers, you will lead on quality assurance, regulatory compliance, and service improvement, ensuring our homes exceed the expectations of Ofsted and, most importantly, meet the individual needs of every child.
You will be responsible for embedding a culture of excellence, supporting managers to achieve outstanding outcomes, and driving continuous improvement throughout the organisation.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead and oversee quality assurance, compliance, and continuous improvement across Gratia Cura's residential children's homes.
- Conduct comprehensive quality audits, compliance visits, and mock Ofsted inspections to ensure services remain inspection-ready.
- Support Registered Managers in achieving and maintaining Good and OutstandingOfsted judgements through coaching, mentoring, and practical guidance.
- Develop, implement, and monitor quality improvement plans, ensuring measurable progress and sustainable improvements.
- Analyse safeguarding information, incidents, complaints, compliments, and performance data to identify trends and drive organisational learning.
- Ensure compliance with the Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015, Quality Standards, and all relevant legislation and statutory guidance.
- Monitor Regulation 44 and Regulation 45 reports, ensuring actions are completed effectively and within agreed timescales.
- Promote best practice across services through audits, reflective practice, and the sharing of learning.
- Deliver training, workshops, and coaching to managers and staff to strengthen regulatory knowledge and quality of care.
- Work collaboratively with senior leaders to develop policies, procedures, and governance systems that support excellent service delivery.
- Build positive relationships with Ofsted, Local Authorities, placing authorities, and other key stakeholders where required.
- Champion a culture where children and young people's voices are heard, valued, and influence service development.
About You
You are passionate about achieving the very best outcomes for children and young people and have a proven track record of improving quality within residential childcare services. You are confident working both strategically and operationally, supporting teams to achieve excellence while maintaining strong regulatory compliance.
Essential
- Significant experience within children's residential care.
- Previous experience as a Registered Manager, Responsible Individual, Quality & Compliance Manager, or similar senior leadership role.
- Excellent knowledge of:
- Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015
- Quality Standards
- Ofsted Inspection Framework
- Regulation 44 and Regulation 45 requirements
- Safeguarding legislation and statutory guidance.
- Experience conducting audits, inspections, and quality assurance reviews.
- Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret performance data and produce meaningful reports.
- Excellent communication, coaching, and leadership skills.
- Full UK Driving Licence and willingness to travel across Gratia Cura services.
Desirable
- Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare (or equivalent).
- Experience supporting homes through Ofsted inspections.
- Experience developing quality frameworks and governance systems within children's services.
Why Join Gratia Cura?
At Gratia Cura, we are building more than children's homes—we are creating environments where children feel safe, valued, and empowered to thrive. We invest in our people because we know outstanding care starts with outstanding teams.
We offer:
- Competitive salary.
- Opportunities for career progression within a growing organisation.
- Ongoing professional development and specialist training.
- Supportive and collaborative leadership team.
- Generous annual leave entitlement.
- Employee wellbeing support.
- Pension scheme.
- Mileage reimbursement for business travel.
- The opportunity to make a genuine difference in the lives of children and young people every day.
Our Commitment
Gratia Cura is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people. All appointments are subject to satisfactory enhanced DBS checks, references, and safer recruitment processes.
We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from candidates from all backgrounds who share our passion for delivering exceptional care.
Pay: £40,000.00-£49,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Company events
- Company pension
- Discounted or free food
- Free parking
- On-site parking
- Store discount
Ability to commute/relocate:
- Oxford, Oxfordshire: reliably commute or plan to relocate before starting work (required)
Education:
- Diploma of Higher Education (preferred)
Language:
Licence/Certification:
- Driving Licence (required)
- Level 3 children’s and young people (required)
Work authorisation:
- United Kingdom (required)
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Oxford (Oxfordshire)
