Residential Practitioner

Full Time / 37 Hours Per Week / Permanent

Are you an enthusiastic and resilient individual keen on providing an effective service to young people in the care of the Local Authority? Join us as a Residential Practitioner in one of our children's homes teams which play a key role in improving the lives of children and young people in Leicester. As a result of the planned expansion of our residential service, we are advertising for new posts as well as recruiting to current vacancies.

We are currently recruiting for full time permanent Residential Practitioners who will provide care, guidance, and support to the young people in care who will have a range of social emotional and mental health needs, disabilities and complex physical health care needs, and in appropriate cases, to work with their families or carers. (Please note that you must have the resilience to support young people who may demonstrate behaviours that may be challenging, including verbal and physical aggression).

We use Signs of Safety & Success, the Secure Base Model and Lundy Model of Participation as frameworks of intervention to support sound social care practices and our work is underpinned by the principles of trauma informed practice. As an authority we are committed to addressing racial and other forms of injustice both for the children and families we work with and across the workforce. We are committed to supporting your continual professional development and have a comprehensive training and development programme whatever the stage of your career.

Working as a shift leader and key worker you will work in a team of 20 to 30 staff offering care, guidance and support to children and young people who are in the care of the Local Authority. You will be based in one of our children’s homes, but you must be prepared to work in a range of locations within the community and across the service. In addition, you must be able to work to a shift rota (earlies, lates and weekends), 365 days per year, recognising that rotas may need to be altered to reflect the needs of the service, including undertaking sleeping in duties.

What you’ll be doing

Day to day activities will include working with our looked after children and young people who may have low self-esteem or challenging behaviours. Considering the young people’s cultural, racial, linguistic background, sexual orientation, religious persuasion, gender, disability, age and understanding. You will support their views and wishes, as well as those of their families and other people of importance to them. Working under the direction of the Team Manager and Assistant Managers, you will contribute to the day-to-day work of the home, by providing a safe and stimulating environment that offers care and structure that encourages appropriate social boundaries and is conducive to the total care of young people in which their emotional, social, spiritual, educational, leisure, health (including administering medication & personal care) and physical needs are met.

You will use your experience of recording observations, writing letters and reports on a variety of subjects being organised to suit a varied workload. Putting into practice your knowledge of legislation, e.g. Children Act 1989, Care Standards Act 2000, Children’s Homes Regulations and Quality Standards 2015, safeguarding policies & procedure as well as your knowledge of child development to ensure best practice and outcomes for all those who use our service.

What you’ll need

As the ideal candidate you’ll be expected to demonstrate previous experience in a residential setting with users with low self-esteem and/or challenging behaviours. An understanding of child development and providing practical care of young people is essential in this role. To succeed in this role, you must be flexible to ensure that the provision of a high-quality service that takes into account the diverse needs of young people & staff. The role requires you to use LCC IT systems therefore you must possess basic IT skills to include knowledge of using a variety of software packages including word processing, spreadsheets and databases. You must possess a Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare, Level 3 Diploma for Children and Young People’s Workforce (Social Care Pathway) or equivalent qualification or Social Work qualification (DIPSW, CQSW, CSS or equivalent). Under the Equality Act 2010, you must be aged 21 and over and upon being offered a post, we undertake an enhanced DBS check, qualifications and reference checks.

What we can offer you

As well as the satisfaction of helping to improve thousands of lives across Leicester, you can look forward to a work environment that encourages a healthy work/life balance. You’ll enjoy generous annual leave, membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme. We’ll also give you the chance to develop your skills and expertise with a variety of training and development opportunities. In addition, you can choose from a number of flexible benefits, including childcare vouchers, discounts on city buses and trains and help with relocation to Leicester, where appropriate.

Join us

We’re committed to recruiting a diverse and highly talented workforce as we continue to build a council that is fitting and representative of our great city. That’s why we’ve designed our recruitment process to put you at your ease, make you feel welcome and bring the best out of you. We’ll do all we can to make our recruitment process as fair as possible. To help you with your application, take a look at the 'our approach to recruitment' page.