Viner House, operated by Innovative Start Ltd, is designed for up to three children aged 8-17 with learning disabilities. Associated mental health, emotional, behavioural, sensory and physical needs are assessed individually. Care is relationship-based, trauma-informed and focused on safety, belonging, communication and increasing independence, within the home's Statement of Purpose and registration conditions.
Purpose of the role
Lead a safe, nurturing home in which children feel heard, develop trusting relationships and make progress that matters to them. Take responsibility for day-to-day management, the quality of care, safeguarding, staff leadership and compliance with the home's registration conditions.
Accountability and authority
Report to the Responsible Individual and retain overall line-management responsibility for the home's staff. Delegate clearly to the deputy without transferring statutory accountability. Maintain appropriate Ofsted registration, act within the provider's financial and employment authority, and challenge any decision that could compromise children's welfare.
Children's care and safeguarding
1. Child-centred care, admissions and progress
- Know each child personally and make their wishes, communication, identity, relationships and aspirations central to decisions. Provide accessible information, communication passports and advocacy; make complaints easy to raise and respond without retaliation.
- Lead referral assessment and placement matching with the placing authority. Consider the new child's needs, compatibility with children already living in the home, staffing, skills, education and health support. Decline or defer an admission that cannot be safely supported.
- Ensure every child has current placement, care, risk and transition plans, with clear consent and delegated-authority arrangements. Review plans after significant changes and track individual goals. Support family time, education, friendships, activities and preparation for adulthood.
2. Safeguarding leadership and escalation
- Lead day-to-day safeguarding practice with the Responsible Individual/designated safeguarding lead. Act on abuse, neglect, exploitation, bullying, self-harm, missing episodes and unsafe adult or peer behaviour. Do not dismiss pain, distress or a disclosure because a child has a learning disability or does not use speech.
- Protect children immediately, secure medical or police assistance when needed and make timely referrals to children's social care. Ensure staff preserve evidence and record the child's words or communication accurately. Do not let an internal enquiry delay external protection.
- Refer allegations about adults through the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) pathway and coordinate protective employment action with the provider. Make or secure required DBS and professional-regulator referrals when thresholds are met; cooperate with external investigations.
- Ensure concerns about the manager go directly to the Responsible Individual and appropriate external agencies. Where the Responsible Individual/provider is implicated or there is a conflict, use independent external escalation. Staff may contact safeguarding agencies, police or Ofsted without management permission.
3. Positive relationships, dignity and lawful restrictions
- Lead positive behaviour support and trauma-informed practice. Help staff recognise pain, communication barriers, sensory distress and unmet needs, use predictable routines and de-escalation, and support recovery after incidents without blame or humiliation.
- Prevent prohibited punishments. Restraint must be a lawful, necessary and proportionate last resort to prevent injury or serious property damage, not solely to secure compliance or stop a child leaving this non-secure home. Review practice, training and any injury immediately.
- Keep restrictions under review and obtain specialist advice about consent, capacity and any possible deprivation of liberty. Use monitoring devices only within Regulation 24, including written placing-authority consent, accessible explanation and the least intrusive approach necessary.
People and safe operation
4. Health, education and daily wellbeing
- Ensure children receive timely physical, dental and mental-health support, including specialist advice where needed. Work with schools, health professionals and social workers to implement education and health plans and challenge delays or unmet needs.
- Oversee safe medicines management, including prescribing instructions, administration records, as-required protocols, storage, stock control and audits. Authorise administration only after training and assessed competence. Ensure errors and adverse effects receive prompt clinical review and learning.
- Ensure dignified personal care, nutrition, sleep, mobility and meaningful daily activities. Specialist healthcare tasks require appropriate clinical delegation, written child-specific guidance and assessed competence; a management title does not confer clinical authority.
5. Staffing, supervision and professional development
- Recruit safely under Regulation 32 and Schedule 2. Verify agency and bank staff suitability and maintain complete personnel records. Ensure clear job descriptions, induction, probation and monitored qualification plans are in place; verify child-specific competence before unsupported duties.
- Maintain a needs-led rota with continuity and competent shift leadership. The home's planned minimum is three staff on site by day and one waking-night worker plus one sleep-in colleague overnight. Increase cover where assessed needs require it; these are home arrangements, not universal statutory ratios.
- Count managers in direct-care cover only when rostered, competent and available for that work. Protect management time, lawful breaks and rest, handovers and out-of-hours support. Respond immediately to sickness, fatigue or gaps; do not treat a sleep-in as a second awake worker.
- Provide regular recorded practice supervision, at least annual appraisal and a monitored development plan. Use observation and competency assessment, not training attendance alone. Support staff wellbeing, address poor practice fairly and apply protective suspension where necessary for children's safety.
6. Premises, resources and professional records
- Maintain a welcoming, safe home and current fire precautions, individual evacuation plans, safety checks and maintenance records. Implement contingency arrangements for fire, utility failure, serious incidents and staffing disruption; practise responses with staff and children as appropriate.
- Manage the delegated budget, staffing expenditure, purchasing and children's money transparently. Escalate resource shortfalls to the Responsible Individual with the action needed. Do not admit a child, reduce safeguards or compromise care to meet occupancy or financial targets.
- Ensure accurate, timely and respectful care and management records, secure information sharing and effective handovers. Keep the Statement of Purpose, children's guide and policies current, and complete the location review under Regulation 46 at least once each calendar year.
Governance and management cover
Ensure statutory notifications, restraint records, independent monitoring, quality reviews and management cover meet regulatory requirements. Act on findings and verify improvements.
Person specification and appointment
Experience
Within the last five years, at least two years in a position relevant to residential childcare; at least one year supervising and managing staff in a care role (Regulation 28).
Qualification
Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare (England), an accepted equivalent, or commitment to qualify by the applicable Regulation 28 deadline.
Registration
Able to satisfy Ofsted's suitability assessment and obtain/maintain registration for this home. Integrity, good character and verified Schedule 2 information.
Care leadership
Evidence of leading safe, child-centred practice, supporting additional needs, assessing placement suitability and improving outcomes.
Safeguarding
Sound judgement on child protection, allegations, missing episodes, lawful restrictions, escalation and professional boundaries.
Able to supervise staff, plan safe rotas and budgets, lead audits, write clear reports and work effectively with families and professionals.
Personal suitability
Compassion, resilience and professional accountability; able to perform essential duties safely with reasonable adjustments and fulfil agreed on-call arrangements.
Qualification requirements
The Level 5 deadline is normally three years from first starting to manage a children's home, not from joining Viner House. Previous management service counts. Any permitted deferral must meet Regulation 28(4) and be recorded. The provider must evidence any qualification-equivalence decision; an adult-care qualification is not automatically equivalent.
Desirable experience and skills
Previous registered-manager experience; learning-disability expertise; positive behaviour support and accessible communication; leading registration or improvement work; a driving licence valid in the UK where useful to the role.
Safer recruitment and employment
Appointment is conditional on satisfactory identity and right-to-work checks; an enhanced DBS check for the children's workforce with a Children’s Barred List check; two written references, including the most recent employer where applicable; verified qualifications; full employment history and written explanations for gaps; and, so far as reasonably practicable, verified reasons for leaving previous work with children or vulnerable adults. Post-offer fitness assessment considers reasonable adjustments. Protected convictions and cautions do not need to be disclosed. A person barred from working with children must not apply. Permanent appointments are subject to satisfactory probation.
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