Principal Manager in Manchester

The Together Trust is one of the North West’s leading charities, offering individual care, support, and education to hundreds of Children, Young People, and Adults each year. We are a not-for-profit charitable trust, so every penny goes back into benefiting the people that we support.

Together we make a difference, develop and learn, and support each other. Every day with us is different, but our mission remains the same: helping the people we support celebrate along the road to a brighter future.

We are an employer that promotes a caring work environment and individual employee wellbeing with an excellent work / life balance.

Location: Hybrid working across Greater Manchester

Hours: 37.5 hours – with some on call duty (£40 for weekdays, £80 for weekend days and £120 for Bank holidays)

Salary: £55,184 - (£28.30ph) with 2 yearly increments

The Together Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the people that we support and expects all our staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

About the Position:

• Our Senior Residential Manager and Responsible Individual supports the Head of Service in the delivery of the Trust's residential services for cared for children.
• You will oversee several services that provide support to vulnerable young people, working across a range of differing needs.
• Line-manage and support children’s residential registered managers to ensure high-quality person-centred care across all services.
• Ensure all registered children’s homes comply with standards, regulations, policies, and procedures, with effective systems supporting staff in delivering care.
• Act as the Responsible Individual for designated children’s homes or services.
• Lead quality-assurance processes to maintain good or outstanding practice and clearly evidence outcomes for children.
• Ensure registered managers promote and safeguard the welfare and well-being of children in residential care.
• Work with our People and Culture team to improve staff recruitment and retention, supporting managers with staffing matters including disciplinary, capability, practice concerns, and internal investigations.
• Promote the trust’s residential services externally, develop relationships with external stakeholders, support referrals and placements, and participate in relevant conferences and events.
• Ensure delegated budgets are managed in line with financial procedures and that each residential service meets income and expenditure targets.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of relevant legislation, including the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the Social Care Common Inspection Framework.

About you:

• Level 5 Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare or equivalent.
• Significant Children’s Residential experience as a Registered Manager or suitable equivalent, experienced in promoting high quality children’s residential services.
• Strong knowledge of childcare legislation and OFSTED inspection requirements.
• Extensive experience leading high-quality residential services for young people with complex social or health needs, understanding care planning, transitions, and leaving care.
• Demonstrated ability to build effective relationships with local authority officers and commissioners.
• Knowledge of leadership and management principles, including managing change and managing service budgets, including income and expenditure.
• An analytical approach to report writing, continuing improvement of services and measurement of care outcomes.
• A full current driving licence – mileage will be paid at 45p per mile.
• Up-to-date IT skills and the ability to use electronic recording systems (Clearcare) to improve service delivery.
• A flexible approach to work, including some weekend on-call requirements.

Benefits Include:

• 27 days’ annual leave plus 8 bank holidays, increasing to 30 days after 5 years and 33 days after 10 years.
• Generous pension scheme with 4% employer contributions and death in service benefit up to 6× basic salary.
• Occupational sick pay and family-friendly policies, including enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave.
• Discount and rewards platform with savings on retail, travel, insurance and more.
• Eligibility for the Blue Light Card.
• Proud to be a Real Living Wage employer.
• Refer-a-friend scheme with financial rewards.
• Extensive training and development, including apprenticeships.
• Long service awards, including cash gifts and additional leave.
• Wellbeing support, including Mental Health First Aiders and free weekly yoga (in person or online).
• Employee Assistance Programme available to you and adult members of your household.

Applications are very welcome from all regardless of age, disability, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, religion or belief, race, sex, sexual orientation, trans status or socio-economic background. We are committed to making reasonable adjustments for disabled people. We positively encourage applications from those with lived experience.

Safeguarding checks will be undertaken for the successful candidate in line with our safer recruitment policy, including an Enhanced DBS check (at no cost to yourself). This role will involve regulated activity.