Senior Residential Care Worker in Stoke-on-Trent

Service: Children's Residential Home - up to 6 young people

Reports to: Registered Manager / Deputy Manager

Role Purpose

The Senior Residential Support Worker plays a key role in providing safe, consistent and nurturing care to young people living within our six-place children's residential home.

Alongside providing direct care and support, the Senior Residential Support Worker will take responsibility for leading shifts, supporting and guiding the staff team, maintaining high standards of safeguarding and ensuring the home operates safely and effectively in the absence of senior management.

The role requires a confident and experienced residential childcare practitioner who can lead by example while maintaining a warm, therapeutic and child-centred environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead shifts and coordinate the staff team to ensure the individual needs, routines and risk management plans of all young people are effectively met.
• Allocate duties and provide clear direction and support to Residential Support Workers throughout the shift.
• Ensure appropriate staffing deployment, including individual support and 1:1 or 2:1 staffing arrangements where required.
• Provide high-quality, nurturing and therapeutic care, promoting positive relationships, stability and positive outcomes for young people.
• Safeguard young people and respond appropriately to safeguarding concerns, missing-from-home incidents, disclosures, accidents and significant events.
• Understand and follow individual care plans, placement plans, risk assessments, behaviour support strategies and safeguarding plans.
• Support staff to safely manage challenging situations and incidents, using de-escalation and approved positive intervention approaches where necessary.
• Ensure young people are supported with education, health, appointments, family contact, activities, independence skills and their individual goals.
• Complete and oversee accurate daily records, incident reports, handovers, medication records and other required documentation.
• Check the quality of recording completed by staff and challenge or address poor practice appropriately.
• Administer and oversee medication in accordance with policy and individual medication plans.
• Ensure effective handovers between shifts and communicate significant information, risks and concerns.
• Provide guidance, mentoring and practical support to new and less experienced members of the team.
• Promote positive teamwork, professional boundaries and consistent approaches across the home.
• Support the Registered Manager and Deputy Manager with audits, monitoring, key-working, meetings and other delegated responsibilities.
• Maintain the safety and security of the home, completing required health and safety, fire and environmental checks.
• Respond confidently to emergencies and escalated concerns to management/on-call services where appropriate.
• Work collaboratively with social workers, education providers, families and other professionals involved in each young person’s care.
• Ensure practice reflects the home's Statement of Purpose, policies and procedures, Children's Homes Regulations 2015 and the Quality Standards.

Person Specification

The successful candidate will:

• Have experience working within a children's residential care setting.
• Have experience of taking responsibility or leading shifts within a residential environment.
• Hold, or be working towards, the Level 3/4 Diploma for Residential Childcare or an equivalent recognised qualification.
• Have a strong understanding of safeguarding children and managing risk.
• Be confident leading and supporting staff during challenging or high-pressure situations.
• Have excellent communication, recording and organisational skills.
• Be able to maintain professional boundaries while developing positive and trusting relationships with young people.
• Be confident challenging poor practice and promoting high standards within the team.
• Be flexible and able to work as part of a residential rota, including evenings, weekends, bank holidays and sleep‑in duties where required.
• Be committed to providing a safe, stable, homely and therapeutic environment in which young people can develop and achieve positive outcomes.
• Have a UK driving license

Additional Responsibility within a Six-Place Home

As the home can accommodate up to six young people, the Senior Residential Support Worker must be able to oversee a busy shift where young people may have different routines, appointments, activities, risks and support requirements.

The postholder must be able to prioritise effectively, deploy staff safely, maintain oversight of all young people and respond appropriately when several demands or incidents occur at the same time.

Above all, the Senior Residential Support Worker is expected to lead by example, ensuring that young people remain at the centre of every decision and that staff provide safe, consistent and compassionate care.

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