Children's Home Registered Manager

Some children’s homes are built around occupancy.

This one is being built around two children.

We're partnering with a community interest company supporting autistic people and their families through early intervention, crisis prevention, specialist support and environments designed around the individual.

They are now looking for a Registered Manager to lead a new children’s home in Sunderland for a maximum of two children with autism, learning disabilities and behaviours of concern.

This is an opportunity for a manager who still believes that children’s care should be led by need, compatibility, safety and long term outcomes, not pressure to fill beds.

Why this role is different

Experienced managers are frequently approached with the same offer.

A larger home. More responsibility. Occupancy pressure. Another provider talking about values while measuring success through filled beds and margins.

This opportunity offers something different.

You will be joining a purpose led community interest company whose wider work is built around improving the lives of autistic people, supporting families and creating environments in which people can feel understood and succeed.

The home will support no more than two children.

That creates the space to build support around each child, recruit the right team and make placement decisions based on compatibility rather than commercial pressure.

The organisation’s existing CQC regulated service is rated Good across all five areas: safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led.

CQC found that staff and leaders went above and beyond to help people build confidence, overcome barriers, increase their independence and achieve their goals.

Those are not simply values written on a website.

They are outcomes already being delivered.

The opportunity

The home is currently progressing towards Ofsted registration following the departure of the previous manager.

You will take ownership of the registration journey, shape the home’s culture and build a team capable of providing safe, consistent and specialist support.

You will have the opportunity to influence the service from the beginning rather than inherit a culture, team or operating model that is already fixed.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Leading the home through the Ofsted registration process

• Creating a safe, nurturing and autism informed environment

• Recruiting, developing and retaining a values led staff team

• Maintaining strong safeguarding, governance and quality assurance systems

• Developing individualised care plans and behaviour support strategies

• Embedding trauma informed practice and Positive Behaviour Support

• Reducing restrictive practice wherever safely possible

• Building positive relationships with children, families, professionals and commissioners

• Ensuring placement decisions remain centred around compatibility and the needs of each child

• Creating a culture in which staff feel supported, developed and accountable

Who this role is for

This role may suit an experienced Registered Manager who has become frustrated with providers where commercial pressure has started to override professional judgement.

It may also suit a strong Deputy Manager who is ready to step into their first registration and can demonstrate the leadership, regulatory knowledge and resilience required to build a home properly.

You will need:

• Experience within children’s residential care

• Strong knowledge of Ofsted regulations and the Children’s Homes Regulations

• Experience supporting children with autism, learning disabilities or behaviours of concern

• A clear understanding of safeguarding and safer recruitment

• The confidence to build and lead a new staff team

• The ability to create structure without losing compassion

• A commitment to reducing restrictive practice and improving quality of life

• The judgement to challenge decisions that are not in the best interests of the children

• A relevant Level 5 qualification, or a commitment to completing it within the required timeframe

What you will receive

• A salary of £55,000 to £60,000 depending on experience

• The autonomy to shape a new children’s home

• Specialist autism and leadership development

• Support from a senior team with extensive experience of autism and behaviours of concern

• The opportunity to build a stable, specialist team around a maximum of two children

• A purpose led environment where quality, safety and individual outcomes remain central

This is not a role for someone who simply wants another Registered Manager title.

It is for someone who wants to build a home they can be proud of.

A home where two children are known properly.

Where staff are selected because they are right for the children.

Where professional judgement matters.

Where the organisation’s purpose is visible in the decisions it makes.

Applications and initial conversations will be treated confidentially.

To discuss the opportunity, contact Daniel Monem at Ignis Care Solutions.