Deputy Manager - Children\'s Home in Basingstoke

We are looking to bring on two new Deputy Managers, one in a new home and one in an established home. Both of them share the same values, the same expectations, and the same opportunities.

The Deputy Manager role is a hands-on, shift-based leadership position for someone who genuinely loves working with children, understands therapeutic practice at a real level and wants to be part of a team that is building something worth being proud of. The organisation was awarded Outstanding at its very first Ofsted inspection, a reflection of a leadership team whose entire careers have been spent getting this right.

This isn’t a corporate giant. It’s a tightly run, genuinely therapeutic organisation built by people with a passion for supporting young people, who know what good looks like and refuse to settle for anything less.

The homes support young people aged 5-18 who have experienced significant trauma, neglect, domestic violence, parental substance misuse, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), sexual abuse, and family breakdown. Many children arrive unable to attend school, struggling with self-harm, missing episodes, or with high emotional and behavioural support needs.

This provider uses a love-led, therapeutic parenting model. No sanctions. No punishments. No consequences. The approach is relational, consistent and genuinely therapeutic, and the Deputy Manager is central to holding that on the ground every single day.

You will spend approximately 60% of your time working shifts alongside your team, days, evenings and weekends. The remaining 40% is admin, supervisions, planning and oversight. This split is intentional. You cannot hold the quality of care without knowing what is actually happening in the home, and you cannot know that without being present in it.

Waking nights run 9:30pm–7:30am. Days run 7am–10pm. There are no 24-hour shifts and no sleep-ins required at Deputy Manager level.

• Work shifts with your team across all days of the week, including weekends
• Support and deputise for the Registered Manager with confidence
• Model the therapeutic approach on every shift, especially the difficult ones
• Carry out supervisions, return-to-work conversations and staff development
• Support the development of care plans and risk assessments
• Manage incidents calmly and therapeutically, without punitive responses
• Contribute to Regulation 44, Ofsted readiness and ongoing compliance
• Stay when a child needs you to, a missing child or a crisis does not end at shift time

We will consider a range of profiles for this role, including:

• Experienced Deputy Managers ready to bring their best to a truly therapeutic environment
• Highly experienced Team Leaders with strong potential who are ready to take the next step
• Registered Managers who want to step back for a period, 6 to 12 months, before stepping up again when the time is right

What we’re looking for:

• Significant experience in children’s residential care, you must know this world well
• A real, practised understanding of therapeutic parenting, not just the theory
• Genuine passion for SEMH work, the kind you can feel in a home, not just describe in an interview
• Strong safeguarding knowledge and confidence with Ofsted standards
• Openness to new ideas and a way of working that is always evolving
• Flexibility, including evenings, nights and weekends as a regular part of the role
• Located within approximately one hour of Basingstoke or Andover

There is a clear and supported pathway from Deputy Manager to Registered Manager as the organisation grows, in new homes or stepping into existing ones. Level 5 development is supported. There is genuine access to senior leadership conversations and real input into how the business develops. The people who join now will help shape what this organisation looks like at scale.

Get in touch today for a confidential discussion about the role, we’d love to hear about your experience and give you more information about the company and role and how that lines up with your passion and want for progression.