Head of Residential Services & Responsible Individual in Dorchester

The Head of Residential Services and Responsible Individual will provide senior operational leadership, supervision and oversight across the organisation’s children’s homes. The role will be responsible for ensuring that each home is well-led, safe, compliant, Ofsted-ready and operating in line with its Statement of Purpose, children’s needs, regulatory requirements and the organisation’s values and expectations. The role will support our homes across Dorset & Somerset. The postholder will hold Responsible Individual responsibility for agreed homes and will act as a key link between the organisation, Registered Managers, Ofsted, placing authorities and senior leadership. They will ensure that Registered Managers are properly supervised, supported, challenged and held accountable for the quality of care, safeguarding, compliance, leadership and day-to-day operation of their homes. This is a senior operational leadership role requiring strong professional credibility, regulatory knowledge, sound judgement and the ability to drive improvement through direct oversight of managers and services.

Core Responsibilities

• Responsible Individual Accountability: The postholder will hold Responsible Individual responsibility for agreed registered children’s homes, ensuring that the provider meets its regulatory duties and that each home is managed in accordance with relevant legislation, guidance and Ofsted expectations. This includes maintaining effective oversight of the leadership, management and operation of each home, ensuring Ofsted is appropriately notified of significant events or changes where required, and providing visible accountability during inspections, regulatory visits and external scrutiny.
• Management and Supervision of Registered Managers: The postholder will directly manage, supervise and support Registered Managers, ensuring they are clear about expectations and accountable for the performance, leadership and quality of their homes. This will include regular formal supervision, setting clear objectives, reviewing progress, challenging drift or poor practice, supporting managers with complex operational issues, and ensuring Registered Managers are confident, prepared and able to evidence the quality of care within their homes.
• Operational Oversight of Homes: The role will provide direct oversight of the homes, ensuring that practice, routines, staffing, safeguarding, leadership and management systems are effective and consistent. The postholder will maintain oversight through home visits, supervision, meetings, audits, review of key information and regular communication with managers. They will monitor stability, staffing, incidents, complaints, safeguarding concerns, care planning, children’s progress and management effectiveness.
• Ofsted Readiness and Compliance: The postholder will ensure that each home is consistently Ofsted-ready and able to demonstrate safe care, effective leadership, strong safeguarding practice and positive outcomes for children. They will support Registered Managers to understand inspection expectations, maintain strong evidence of practice, respond to Regulation 44 and Regulation 45 findings, and complete inspection or improvement action plans in a timely and meaningful way.
• Safeguarding and Risk Oversight: The postholder will provide senior operational oversight of safeguarding and risk across the homes. This includes reviewing serious incidents, allegations, complaints, restraints, missing episodes and significant events, ensuring safeguarding concerns are escalated appropriately, and supporting managers to make sound decisions that protect children and promote their welfare.
• Performance, Accountability and Improvement: The postholder will ensure that each home has clear priorities, action plans and accountability arrangements. They will review performance information, identify themes, monitor improvement plans, challenge delays, and report key risks, progress and service performance to senior leadership. The role will be central to strengthening consistency, accountability and high standards across the homes.
• Partnership Working: The postholder will represent the organisation professionally with Ofsted, placing authorities, social workers, IROs, safeguarding professionals and other external stakeholders. They will support managers in complex professional meetings where senior oversight is required and ensure that concerns from professionals, families or placing authorities are responded to appropriately.

Key Relationships

• Responsible Individual / Provider / Directors
• Registered Managers
• Deputy Managers and senior residential staff
• Regulation 44 visitors
• Ofsted
• Social workers and placing authorities
• Safeguarding professionals
• HR, recruitment and training leads
• External consultants and professionals where required

Person Specification

The successful candidate will be an experienced children’s residential care leader with strong operational, regulatory and safeguarding knowledge. They must be confident supervising Registered Managers, holding managers accountable, working with Ofsted and ensuring homes are safe, compliant, and well-led. The ideal candidate will have:

• Significant experience in children’s residential care.
• Previous experience as a Registered Manager, Responsible Individual, Operations Manager, Head of Service or similar senior operational role.
• Strong knowledge of Ofsted requirements, children’s homes regulations, safeguarding and quality standards.
• Experience supervising, supporting and challenging Registered Managers.
• The ability to identify risk, poor practice or drift and take decisive action.
• Strong professional judgement and confidence in managing complex operational issues.
• Excellent communication, leadership and relationship-building skills.
• A clear commitment to child-centred care, accountability and continuous improvement.
• The credibility to represent the organisation with Ofsted, placing authorities and senior professionals.

Overall Expectations

The Head of Residential Services and Responsible Individual will be accountable for ensuring that Registered Managers are effectively supervised, homes are well-led, children are safe, and the organisation can demonstrate strong operational oversight and regulatory compliance. The role will be central to strengthening leadership, accountability, Ofsted readiness and consistency across all homes.

The Leadership & Management Standard

The Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 set out the duties of the Responsible Individual: to supervise the management of the home (Reg 2(1) and 26(7)) and to attend to their own continuing professional development (Reg 29(2)). The Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations including the Quality Standards (DfE, 2015) add the RI must “have the essential skills needed to develop the leadership and management of homes within their remit such that the homes have the capacity and capability to meet the Quality Standards.”

Structure of the RI Standards

The Leadership and Management regulation / standard itself sets out eight key areas which form the start of the analysis:

• leadership and management
• work in partnership
• supporting children
• workforce
• quality of care and impact
• feedback from children
• research and development
• quality assurance

The Responsible Individual standards are structured around each of these areas. They have been written as a self-evaluation tool to support RIs in examining their role, particularly in relation to that of the Registered Manager. These areas, however, are closely underpinned and informed by the remaining Quality Standards:

• Engaging with the wider system
• Quality and purpose of care.
• Children’s views, wishes and feelings
• Education
• Enjoyment and achievement
• Health and well-being
• Positive relationships
• Protection of children
• Care planning

The above is not an exhaustive list of duties, and you will be expected to perform different tasks as necessitated by your changing role within the organisation and the overall objectives of Lily Residential Services.