Residential Care Officer Rainbow Lodge

Residential Care Officer

Job Introduction

Do you enjoy helping children and young people achieve their full potential?

Do you have experience supporting children or young people with learning disabilities, autism, or complex needs?

Can you build trusting relationships with children, families, and professionals from a wide range of backgrounds?

Are you looking for a rewarding role where no two days are the same and where you can make a genuine difference every day?

If so, we would love to hear from you.

At Rainbow Lodge, we provide a safe, nurturing and inclusive home for children and young people with learning disabilities and complex needs. We are committed to ensuring every child has the opportunity to develop independence, enjoy new experiences, have their voice heard, and achieve the best possible outcomes.

Our team works together to create a positive and supportive environment where diversity is celebrated, individuality is respected, and children are encouraged to thrive.

For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Marcos Maroto, Practice Manager Marcos.Maroto@brighton-hove.gov.uk

About the Role

As a Residential Care Officer, you will play a vital role in supporting children and young people with learning disabilities, autism, physical disabilities, additional health needs and behaviours of concern.

You will help create positive experiences and opportunities that support children to develop life skills, independence and confidence.

Key responsibilities include:

• Providing high-quality care and support tailored to each young person's individual needs.

• Supporting children with personal and intimate care when required.

• Building positive and trusting relationships with children, their families and other professionals.

• Supporting children to participate in fun, meaningful and inclusive activities both at home and in the community.

• Using a range of communication approaches, including visual communication tools and Makaton where appropriate.

• Supporting children during times of distress or behaviours of concern using positive behaviour support approaches.

• Maintaining accurate records and contributing to care planning and risk assessments.

• Working as part of a supportive team to provide a safe, welcoming and homely environment.

• Assisting with day-to-day household tasks including meal preparation, shopping and maintaining the home.

What We Are Looking For

We are seeking caring, resilient and motivated individuals who:

• May have experience working with children and young people with learning disabilities, autism, complex needs or other vulnerable groups.

• Can communicate effectively with children, families and professionals from diverse backgrounds.

• Understand the importance of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children.

• Can remain calm and supportive in challenging situations.

• Can work as part of a team while also using their own initiative.

• Are reflective, willing to learn and committed to delivering high-quality care.

• Share our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.

Knowledge of alternative communication methods, such as Makaton or Picture Exchange Communication Systems (PECS), would be beneficial but is not essential as training can be provided.

Why Join Us?

Working at Rainbow Lodge is both rewarding and meaningful. Every day brings opportunities to support children to achieve something new, whether that is learning a life skill, enjoying a new experience, building confidence or developing greater independence.

We offer:

• A comprehensive induction programme and ongoing support.

• Excellent training opportunities, including specialist training in communication, safeguarding and positive behaviour support.

• Support to achieve the Level 3 Diploma in Residential Childcare if not already held.

• Opportunities for career progression within Children's Disability Services and the wider council.

• Regular supervision and professional development.

• Enhancements for evenings, weekends, bank holidays and sleep-in duties.

• Additional shifts may be available.

• Access to the wide range of benefits available to Brighton & Hove City Council employees.

Our staff regularly tell us that the most rewarding part of the role is seeing children grow in confidence, develop new skills and achieve goals that previously seemed out of reach.

Working Pattern

This role involves working a rolling rota which includes:

• Early shifts (7.00am to 2.30pm).

• Late shifts (2.00pm to 9.30pm/10.00pm).

• Some shifts during the weekends.

• Some Sleep-in duties.

• Occasional work across other residential children's homes within the service as required.

Additional Information

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

We welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and communities. We are committed to building a workforce that reflects the diverse community we serve and creating an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive.

Further details about the job are available in the attached Job Description and Person Specification

Encouraging a diverse workforce
Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.

Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).

Why work for us?
As a council, we want to:
• be connected
• be confident
• be innovative and creative
• be diverse and inclusive
• be healthy and psychologically safe
For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.

How to apply
Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview.

As part of your application, you will need to provide your education and career history and answer some application/shortlisting questions. Your answers to the application/shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.

AI advice for candidates
We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.

We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert.

All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants’ responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.

Additional information
Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.

Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check.

We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.

Recruitment scam alert

Some third-party websites may be using details from our vacancies to advertise roles that are not authorised by us. To protect your personal information, please ensure you verify the job details and application route through the Brighton & Hove City Council jobs board.

We will never ask candidates to pay a fee, purchase a subscription, or make any payment to apply for one of our vacancies.