Service Manager - Children's Residential Home

About Us

West Sussex County Council provides a range of high-quality Children's Residential Homes offering short and long term stays across the county from Crawley, Haywards Heath, Worthing and Shoreham-by-Sea. Our homes offer a safe, nurturing, and stable environment, underpinned by strong safeguarding practice and a commitment to improving outcomes for children between ages 7 and 18 years old. Our approach is child-centred, placing emphasis on building trusting relationships and supporting children to develop independence, resilience, and confidence.

WSCC is committed to delivering the highest standards of care, learning from best practice, and developing supportive, skilled teams who we recognise as essential to achieving long‑term, sustainable outcomes for our children and young people. We take pride in our children's residential homes' record of 'Good' and 'Outstanding' Ofsted inspection outcomes and are dedicated to ensuring every home continues to maintain and/or exceed these standards.

About the Role

iSalary: £64,682 - £68,330 per annum, plus an excellent pension and a supportive work‑life balance, working in partnership with another Service Manager.
Contract: Permanent
Working Pattern: Full time, 37 hours per week
Locations: Multiple sites between our Residential Homes in Crawley, Haywards Heath, Worthing and Shoreham-by-Sea. The ability to travel independently throughout the county is required.

• Are you an experienced Registered Manager, driven by child-focused, trauma‑informed practice and achieving positive outcomes for children?
• Do you hold a Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare?
• If you thrive on leading with confidence while meeting Ofsted standards and creating safe, stable homes where children can flourish, this could be your next step!

We are looking for a Children's Residential Service Manager to jointly lead our children's homes, ensuring the highest standards of care, compliance, and consistency for children and young people.

In this role, you will provide strong, visible leadership to residential teams, embedding high‑quality, child‑centred and trauma‑informed practice. You will drive robust operational management, ensuring that Registered Managers and their teams are delivering safe, high‑quality care. You will maintain compliance with Ofsted requirements, safeguarding legislation, and organisational policies, while promoting a culture of accountability and continuous improvement across all settings.

You will also lead on the development of staff, supporting Registered Managers to foster a positive, motivated, and skilled workforce. You will be available in an emergency or urgent circumstances, providing calm, decisive aid in challenging scenarios. Building strong, collaborative relationships with our teams as well as partner agencies will be vital in this role. Alongside this, you will manage budgets, maintain high‑quality reporting, and conduct audits to investigate Ofsted compliance.

If you're motivated by making a lasting difference for children and young people and want to grow your leadership career within a collaborative, supportive team alongside maintain a health work/life balance - now is the perfect time to apply!

Required Qualifications, Experience and Skills

To succeed at this role, you will need some of the following key skills and experience:

• Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare, or an equivalent recognised professional qualification such as a degree in social work or youth work.
• Worked as a Registered Manager for at least 4 years, of which 2 are in the last 5 years.
• Strong understanding of outstanding practice in Children's Residential Homes, with the confidence to challenge and improve standards
• Proven leadership and decision‑making skills, with the ability to drive change and continuous improvement
• Excellent communication and influencing skills, including handling complex or sensitive issues
• Effective people management experience, including supervision, performance management, and staff development
• Ability to manage complex information, make sound judgements, and communicate clearly in writing and verbally
• Strong partnership working skills, collaborating with families, professionals, and partner agencies
• Demonstrable emotional intelligence, resilience, and ability to manage pressure and workload
• Experience of budget management and contributing to financial decision‑making
• Sound working knowledge of relevant legislation, safeguarding, and regulatory frameworks
• Driving licence, or ability to travel independently throughout the county.

For more information please feel free to contact Hayley Grover for an informal conversation, and review our Job Description attached below for the full list of qualifications, key skills and experience required.

Rewards and Benefits

As an employer we recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive and dynamic working environment where employees can achieve their full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance and are rewarded for the work they do. Upon joining us you will have access to a range of benefits including the following:

For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee you can find them on our Rewards and Benefits page.

How to Apply

The reference number for this role is CAFHE06160

To apply, upload your CV and application form explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV. Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check, 5 years referencing, an occupational health check and a completed full employment history form.

Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.

For information regarding your eligibility to apply for this role under our Disability or Veteran's Guaranteed Interview Scheme, this can be found on our application help page.

Note for Recruitment Agencies: We prefer to hire people directly, but we do have a supplier list for when we need a helping hand. We'll be in touch directly if we need you!