Residential Practitioners in Rotherham

Rotherham Council has made a strategic decision to make a significant investment in children's residential services. This will ensure more of our looked after children are placed in Rotherham, close to their local communities, family and schools. We are looking for Casual Children's Residential Practitioners that are keen to be part of new staff teams that will work in a range of settings and with children and young people with sensory, ASD, mental health needs and who have suffered significant trauma.

This new residential provision will be part of a Children and Young People Service judged as 'Good' by Ofsted in January 2018 and build on practice from our short break residential home judged as 'Outstanding' in February 2020.

Main duties of the job

• Develop their skills and practices as part of a team
• Supporting and caring for some of our most complex children and young people, at times in solo provision
• Working evening, weekend and sleep in shifts as part of the residential team

Our vision is for the children and families of Rotherham to routinely experience and describe the services they receive from us, as outstanding and we intend to do that by putting the child first in everything we do. By being part of our residential teams, you will play a role in developing our collective commitment to an ethos of excellence, integrity, trust and transparency.

About us

This is an excellent time to work within Rotherham. We are passionate about the place and the people who live, work and visit here. We are delivering major regeneration and housing, as well as creating new jobs and opportunities for our residents. Rotherham is a real 'central UK' location with excellent road and rail links and is ideally placed near the scenic countryside of the Peak District, whilst also being conveniently located next to the vibrant city of Sheffield.

Our vision for Rotherham is that we come together as a community, where we seek to draw on our proud history to build a future we can all share. We respect decency, dignity and seek to build a town where opportunity is extended to everyone, where people can grow, flourish and prosper, and where no one is left behind.

We offer an excellent pay and benefits package which includes membership of the Local Government Pension Scheme, as well as a range of health and wellbeing and other benefits.

Job responsibilities

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council Location: Various, Rotherham, South Yorkshire Job reference REQ21621 Permanent, full time, 37 hours per week. Salary will be determined dependent on experience and qualifications. Progression through the salary bands will be subject to individual development and assessment within the role.

ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY

Are you an experienced, innovative, solution oriented, child care practitioner, keen to work alongside partners and particularly our children and young people to develop a new model of residential intervention in Rotherham? This post could be for you.

We plan to use current best practice and evidence-based models to develop a range of new children's homes, that are small, replicate family life and seek step down to family-based options wherever possible. We want our residential homes to be an 'intervention not a destination'.

Residential Practitioners in Rotherham will:

• Promote safeguard and protect the welfare of children and young people
• Ensure homes comply with all standards and legislative requirements
• Provide opportunities for children and young people to influence the decisions that affect them and the service they receive
• Promote a therapeutic approach for children
• Work systemically with a range of agencies to ensure a joined-up service centred on the child
• Contribute to the development of standards in line with Children's Home Regulations 2015 and work towards ensuring all homes being Good or Outstanding

Key benefits of working at Rotherham Council's Children and Young Peoples Residential service are:

• Strong support and clear direction from managers
• Extensive training programmes and induction. This will include the Signs of Safety operating model and Restorative Practice approaches as well as full training from our in house Therapeutic Crisis Intervention Team.
• Residential services that have access to and work closely with our high quality therapeutic service
• Innovative Edge of Care Services and a strong Early Help offer which is reducing demand and supporting professionals to think systemically and develop creative options to support children and young people
• Looked After Children are prioritised for CAMHS assessment and intervention
• The opportunity to make a real difference to the children, young people and families
• Investment in you as a practitioner involving support, supervision, training and opportunity for professional development and progression.
• All our teams have senior staff on duty that will also include deputy managers across the service during weekends and evenings.
• Local Authority pension and generous annual leave entitlements plus sleep-in allowances and enhanced rates for unsocial hours and weekends/bank holidays.

About you

We are seeking talented, inspirational and innovative individuals who can:

• Innovate to help re-define children's residential care
• Develop the resilience to work in a high-pressured environments that requires shift work.
• Develop the skills and practices to provide an outstanding service to children and young people
• Add value and make the most of available resources.

We are looking for staff that are both experienced or new to residential care, if you have the dedication, commitment and compassion to provide exceptional care, we want to hear from you.

Joining us at a time of change with regard to developing our provisions provides you with an opportunity to be involved and influence the service design and development of practice in line with best practice and evidence-based approaches.

About Yorkshire

Rotherham and the wider South Yorkshire region is a great place to live and a stone's throw from some of the UK's finest towns and cities and is home to some of the most beautiful countryside in Britain. Easy to reach from Sheffield or Leeds, there are plenty of places to see, things to do and property is excellent value for money - all within a 2-hour train journey from London.

If you have any questions regarding these opportunities and or would like a conversation about these new roles, please email richard.fisher@rotherham.gov.uk or angie.currie@rotherham.gov.uk.

These posts involve working with children and therefore if successful you will be required to apply for a disclosure of criminal records check at an enhanced level. Further information about the Disclosure Scheme can be found at www.gov.uk/disclosure-barring-service-check.

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council is committed to encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion among our workforce, and eliminating unlawful discrimination. The aim is for our workforce to be truly representative of all sections of society and our customers, and for each employee to feel respected and able to give their best. As a Disability Confident employer, we will ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this position will be offered an interview. For further information, please visit our website.

Until 31st March 2026 employees paid at Band D and above are subject to a temporary pay reduction of 1.15% spread out by means of a monthly deduction from each pay period over the full financial year. In recognition of implementing this temporary measure, those who experience a pay reduction will be awarded three additional days leave (pro rata for part-time).

Confirmation of this appointment is also subject to a medical assessment.

Please click the following link to view Rotherham Council's Privacy Notice here.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• NQF Level 3 qualification e.g. AS and A levels, NVQ Level 3, Applied A Levels, BTEC First Certificates and Diplomas, City and Guilds Advanced Craft Part 3, or NQF Level 4 Certificates of Higher Education Or Evidence of the equivalent level of knowledge gained through work experience
• Level 3 Diploma in Residential Child Care or the equivalent. Or will have completed within 2 years of starting work in the role.

Experience

• Experience of working in a service or provision designed to support children and young people with complex needs, such as difficulties in regulating their emotions and behaviours due to past experiences.
• Experience of working directly with children and families in a multi-agency setting and knowledge of the roles of other agencies and professionals.

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.