Residential Childrens Homes Manager in Chelmsford

Permanent, Full Time £55,892 to £69,241 per annum + 8% on call allowance

Location: Chelmsford

Working Style: Fixed-base worker

Closing Date: Wednesday 23rd September

Please note that interviews will be held in person in County Hall, Chelmsford on Thursday 1st October 2026. Please note that visa sponsorship is not available for this role. Applicants must have a current, unrestricted right to work in the UK.

Here in Essex, we continue to raise the bar about practice and our investment in our workforce is second to none. It's an exciting time to join us having received our 2nd Outstanding Ofsted rating in a row.

The Opportunity:

Children and Families is recognised as a service in which social work can develop and prosper, with a culture of collaboration, integrity, and compassion; promoting the development and wellbeing of children, young people, and their families; protecting them from neglect and abuse. Essex County Council is investing in and expanding its portfolio of internal children's residential homes. We are excited to announce the opening of a new children's home in Chelmsford, anticipated to open in 2027. It will be a 2-bedded children's home.

This role will manage the home and be responsible for recruiting the residential staff teams and supporting them through their training. This home will serve as safe havens, offering stable, short-term, and supportive placements for children aged 11 - 17 years who, for the time being, are unable to live with their birth families.

The Registered Children's Home Manager is a pivotal role within the Children and Families service. This role involves managing a short-term children's home and working closely with children, young people, their families, and partner agencies. The goal is to meet the needs of the children and young people, protecting them from neglect and abuse, and enabling a brighter future.

This role requires an experienced manager with expertise in residential care for children and young people. The manager must build strong relationships with partners to ensure the best possible outcomes for the children and young people under their care. This is a challenging yet rewarding role that truly makes a difference in the lives of children and young people.

The Home Manager is the person appointed by Essex County Council to manage the regulated activity on our behalf. As a registered person, the Home Manager has legal responsibilities in relation to that position as laid out by OFSTED. The Registered Manager is the leader of that service; they set the tone and standards and inspire the staff team. This role is also the designated safeguard lead within the Children's Home. The Registered Manager will pass the Fit Persons Interview.

Accountabilities:

• Manage a Short-Term Children's Home; deal with complex issues and challenging behaviours and make decisions 24/7, on an on-call basis along with other Managers within the home.
• Lead a skilled staff team to create a safe living and working environment within the home; balance opportunity and risk within a therapeutic, progressive culture and deliver a high-quality service to children and young people.
• Be accountable for compliance with legislative frameworks, policies, and regulations, utilise quality assurance tools and methodologies to support practice and ensure robust processes are in place to monitor risk, and meet required outcomes.
• Work collaboratively with internal partners e.g. placement services, out of hours service, in-house and therapeutic fostering teams to ensure individual care packages meet needs and deliver the wider vision of the service.
• Build strong partnerships e.g. with Divisional Based Intervention team (DBit) and Youth Offending Team, to explore interventions which create change within families.
• Support family reunification when safe and possible. Where this is not possible, support children with longer term care plans into fostering, full time educational settings or longer-term residential care.
• Act as a subject matter expert and apply professional knowledge of care within a residential setting, to ensure effective management and delivery of services to children, young people, and their families.
• Develop and strengthen relationships with the local community and identify opportunities for children and young people living in the residential environment to become part of their community.
• Line manage and supervise the deputy manager and three specialist roles; a social worker, teacher, and psychotherapist.
• Attend strategy meetings, work alongside the Risk in the Community (RIC) team and understand and implement the responsibilities of the service in relation to s20, s31 and s38 of the Children Act.
• Specific individual and shared targets and objectives are defined annually within the performance management framework.

Skills and Knowledge:

• A professional care qualification at RQF level 5 (Diploma) or ability to undertake and pass within timeframes, evidence of post qualification training and development, or a relevant degree e.g. Social Work, Teaching, Nursing, Youth and Community Diploma, and evidence of post qualification training and development.
• A Registered Manager award with OFSTED is desirable.
• Significant management experience in a residential setting with children and young people, demonstrating a comprehensive and up to date understanding of all relevant regulation, guidance, and legislation.
• Evidence of continuing professional development and expert knowledge in relevant professional area, to include knowledge of a broad range of childcare theories and practices and how trauma affects the behaviour of children and young people.
• Knowledge and experience of keeping children safe, and an ability to keep child protection at the forefront of practice within the Children's Home.
• Strong leadership skills which drive a highly performing and motivated multi-disciplinary team from diverse backgrounds, to effect lasting positive change for children and young people.
• Experience of undertaking professional supervision.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to build strong working relationships with partners, social workers, and families, often in sensitive circumstances.
• Ability to manage cultural and operational change across the service, partner agencies and within families.
• Ability to make effective contributions to implement and evaluate policy and practice.

Essex County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.