Head of Care - Children\'s Services

Do you believe in supporting people to live the life they choose? Do you have experience working alongside people with a learning disability and leading teams to deliver truly person-centred support? We are looking for a passionate and values-driven Service Manager to lead our Learning Centres in Ampthill and Bedford.

About the role

As Service Manager, you'll lead two vibrant, community-based Learning Centres that support over 90 adults with learning disabilities each week. You'll be working alongside a dedicated team including a Deputy Manager, Senior Support Workers and Support Workers, coaching, mentoring and developing them to deliver high-quality, creative and personalised support.

What person-centred support looks like here

We work in partnership with the people we support, focusing on their strengths, goals and aspirations. David has a job he enjoys, and we support him in ways that help him stay independent at home. Each week, a team member joins him for a batch cooking session, building his confidence in the kitchen, helping him plan meals, save money, and eat more healthily. It's about practical support, but also about enabling choice, control and independence. This is what great support looks like - tailored, respectful and led by the person.

Your role in leading this

• Create a positive and inclusive culture where teams feel confident to be creative and responsive in how they support people.
• Lead, coach and develop your teams through regular supervision and meaningful appraisal conversations.
• Ensure colleagues have the training, tools and confidence to provide excellent support.
• Champion truly person-centred approaches, keeping support fresh and engaging.
• Build strong partnerships with families, social workers, and local community networks.
• Oversee rotas, risk assessments and support planning.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory standards and internal quality expectations.
• Take part in the area on-call rota.

You understand that great leadership in social care is about enabling others - both the people we support and the teams around you - to thrive.

Experience supporting people with a learning disability

• A commitment to person-centred, strengths-based support.
• Good organisational skills and confidence managing the operational side of services.
• You will have experience of supporting people with additional needs, ideally those with a learning disability.
• You’ll be creative in your thinking and your approach to staff, the people we support and their families, able to inspire and motivate.
• You must be a driver with a manual licence with your own transport, as you will travel regularly between services in the area, as well as to meetings, conferences and training.

Please note, we are currently unable to offer sponsorships as we await further guidance from the Home Office. MacIntyre is a national charity which supports over 1,200 people with a learning disability and/or autism. We were founded in 1966 by the visionary parent of a child with disabilities and have been growing steadily ever since. We celebrate and develop everyone's unique gifts, talents and contributions.

Benefits include:

• Six weeks' annual leave including statutory public holidays.
• Workplace Pension scheme - MacIntyre will contribute 3% of your salary to all eligible employees.
• MacIntyre Staff Savings Scheme.
• Employee Assistance Plan (EAP) to support your health and wellbeing.
• Health Cash Plan which provides money back on core health treatments such as: optical, dental, physiotherapy, chiropody (at reduced cost).
• MacIntyre Sick Pay (qualifying period).
• Life assurance scheme offering valuable benefits to your dependents.
• MacIntyre Perks which offers up to 6% discount off leading retailers including Tesco, Curry/PC World, Costa and many more.
• Access to the Blue Light Card which offers thousands of amazing discounts online and on the high street for emergency and social care staff.
• Enhanced DBS Certificate (cost paid by MacIntyre).

Training and Development

At MacIntyre we fully support your training and development. We know it can be daunting to start a new job, and not everyone learns the same way, so throughout your probation we will provide you with a mixture of eLearning, face-to-face training and mentoring support whilst on the job. But it doesn't stop there - throughout your career with us you will have access to our own dedicated in-house Learning and Development team, Quality Specialists and HR Teams. These teams, along with your Area Manager, will provide you with opportunities to learn and develop professionally as well as enabling and supporting you to achieve professional qualifications and career progression opportunities - all free of charge.

If this job sounds like the right fit for you, click on the Apply button on the MacIntyre website, complete some brief details and upload your CV.

Safer Recruitment and Diversity statement

MacIntyre safeguards and promotes the welfare of the children, young people and adults we support. MacIntyre is committed to promoting equality, encouraging diversity and embracing inclusion among our workforce. We want our workforce to be truly representative of all sections of society and the people we support.