Head of Residential Services

About Serenity Welfare

Serenity Welfare provides compassionate, child-centred services for children and young people experiencing family or community exclusion, including those on the edge of care and those who are looked after. Our services include secure transport, wellbeing support, 24-hour care services, residential children’s homes and 24-hour hospital watch. More information is available on our website.

About the role

We are seeking a dynamic, experienced and values-driven Head of Service to provide strategic leadership and operational oversight across Serenity Welfare’s Ofsted-registered children’s homes, unregulated services and developing service areas. The postholder will ensure that services deliver exceptional, child-centred support that meets or exceeds regulatory, safeguarding, contractual and quality standards. They will also identify, develop and resource sustainable new income streams that advance Serenity Welfare’s strategic objectives and benefit the children, young people and families we support.

Reporting to the senior management team, the Head of Service will hold organisation-wide accountability for service quality, safeguarding, regulatory compliance, operational performance and sustainable growth across the areas within their remit.

Responsibilities include:

• Provide strategic leadership and direction across all residential settings, ensuring a consistent and high-quality standard of care.
• Support, supervise, and challenge Responsible Individuals and Registered Managers to maintain full Ofsted compliance and continuous improvement.
• Ensure that all services meet legislative and regulatory requirements, including the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the Quality Standards.
• Lead on service development, quality assurance, and performance management.
• Lead, develop, resource and oversee regulated and unregulated services, ensuring safe delivery, sufficient and suitably skilled staffing, effective safeguarding arrangements, robust quality assurance and reliable operational systems.
• Identify, plan and mobilise new service models and sustainable income streams that strengthen Serenity Welfare’s strategic growth, financial resilience and relationships with commissioners.
• Establish and maintain robust systems to monitor, audit and report on service quality, safeguarding practice and outcomes, using findings to inform improvement plans and senior management decisions.
• Build effective working relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including local authorities, Ofsted, commissioners and safeguarding partners, to support compliant services, effective commissioning and coordinated safeguarding practice.
• Oversee the recruitment, development and retention of high-performing teams, ensuring that workforce planning, supervision, training and professional development meet service needs across the organisation.
• Drive a culture of excellence, accountability, and trauma-informed practice.
• Lead and contribute to serious incident reviews, complaints, and safeguarding investigations as needed.
• Monitor budgets and financial performance in partnership with the finance team, ensuring effective cost control, value for money and transparent financial reporting without compromising care quality or safeguarding.
• Work with senior management and the finance, recruitment and operational teams to ensure that services are accurately costed, appropriately staffed and resourced, and operationally viable without compromising quality or safeguarding.
• Manage operational, safeguarding, financial, contractual, reputational, and regulatory risks across services, providing clear reports and escalation to senior management where required.
• Represent the organisation at strategic forums and commissioning panels as required.

Requirements and skills:

• Applicants should demonstrate all essential criteria. Desirable criteria will strengthen an application but are not mandatory.
• Significant leadership experience within children’s residential care, with demonstrable success managing multiple settings.
• In-depth knowledge of the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015, the Quality Standards, Ofsted’s inspection framework and relevant safeguarding legislation and guidance.
• Proven experience in service improvement, quality assurance, and achieving "Good" or "Outstanding" Ofsted outcomes.
• Strong understanding of trauma-informed practice, child development, and therapeutic care models.
• Excellent leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to build strong, positive relationships with children, staff, professionals, and regulators.
• Full UK driving licence and willingness to travel between sites.
• Experience in strategic planning and service expansion.
• Experience of developing, resourcing, or operationalising regulated, unregulated, or alternative income-generating services within social care, children’s services, health, education, or a related sector.
• Strong commercial awareness, including budgeting, cost control, service viability, utilisation, income generation, and commissioner-led growth.
• Ability to mobilise new services, manage operational change, monitor KPIs, and use performance data to drive improvement and accountability.
• Therapeutic or clinical background supporting trauma recovery or complex needs.
• Experience liaising with commissioners and supporting business development.

Employment details:

Contract Type: Full Time

Salary:  Competitive

Hours: Standard working hours are 9:00am to 5:30pm, with flexibility required outside these hours to meet the needs of the service.

Own vehicle is a must

Benefits

Spacious offices set in a beautiful country setting with onsite parking

Team building and exciting team events

Referral programmes

Company pension

Casual dress

On-site parking

Health and wellbeing programmes including yoga classes and swimming pool use

Welfare checks

Reflective practice groups

Safer Recruitment

A DBS check will be required. The role involves contact with children, you will be required to undergo the relevant vetting checks. This will include checking for criminal convictions and checking that you are not barred from working with children. All information you provide will be treated as confidential and managed in accordance with relevant data protection legislation and guidance. You have a legal right to access any information held about you. You will also be subject to an in-house driving assessment, and drug and alcohol testing to determine the use of illegal drugs.