Child Care Worker

Old Moat; Manchester; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A local government authority in Manchester seeks an Adolescent Support Unit Worker to support children and families in maintaining stability at home or in alternative care. This role involves flexible working hours, including weekends and bank holidays, to ensure the best outcomes for young people at risk of disruption. Applicants should have resilience and strong relationship-building skills. The position offers a permanent contract with essential benefits.

Benefits

Essential Car Allowance

10% Flexibility Payment

Qualifications

• Ability to work flexibly on a rota basis including weekends and bank holidays.
• Experience working with children and families at risk.
• Ability to build effective working relationships with professionals.

Responsibilities

• Support children to maintain stability within family or carer settings.
• Work with families at risk of placement breakdown.
• Create a safe environment for children to thrive.

Skills

Resilience

Emotional and physical fitness

Confidence

Relationship building

Job description

About The Role

Working Hours: 140 hours over a 4 week rota. This includes working bank holidays, weekdays, weekends (you work 2/4 each month), mornings, and evenings.

Contract Type: Full Time, Permanent

Additional Payments: Essential Car Allowance and 10% Flexibility Payment

Closing Date: 07 October 2025.

Interviews will take place on the 23/24 October 2025 at Alonzi House (20, Halsbury Close, Ardwick, Manchester, M124NP - Tel: [phone]).

Job is not open to previous applicants - Previous unsuccessful applicants need not apply.

About The Role – Responsibilities and Scope

Alonzi House Hub provides outreach and residential placements for young people aged 8 up to 18 years old. We also support our foster care team to maintain stability to our young people.

The Hub has a strong supportive staff and management team. Alonzi House is rated Good and Willow Vue (part of our hub) is rated Good by Ofsted. There are opportunities to develop skills through our learning and development service.

Our Hub has a dedicated team which includes: Residential and Adolescent Outreach Practitioners; a Speech and Language Therapist (SaLT), 42nd Street young person’s mental health worker; and a Senior Mental Health Practitioner.

All our young people are given a Key Worker supported by our trusted multi-agency team and skilled keyworkers. We aim to secure the right services at the right time to enable children to remain with their families and avoid entering care.

About The Candidate

We are looking for people who believe they have the qualities and skills needed to support our children to maintain stability either with family or carers.

• You will need to be resilient, emotionally and physically fit to do this role. You should be able to work flexibly on a rota basis which will include earlies, lates, sleep-ins, weekends, and bank holidays. You will often work alone in the homes of families. This role can be extremely rewarding.

• The role of the Adolescent Support Unit Worker is as wide as any parenting role and the scale of provision is diverse.

• You will be working with children and their families who are at risk of placement breakdown in their home and at risk of coming into care.

• You will need to be confident and able to form effective working relationships with professionals as part of a team and with children / young people and their families.

• The focus of the role will be to affect change which leads to sustainable outcomes of a secure and safe environment in which the child / young person can continue to thrive safely in the family.

About Us

We’re the local government authority for Manchester, and have teams across the city helping to make this a great place to live for everyone. We’re proud to do local government differently, in a city with an international reputation for diversity, creativity, culture and passion.

When you join us, you’re joining a team of over 7,000 council staff helping to make our ambition for Manchester a reality. Whatever your role, you’ll be supporting our residents and communities to be the best they can be, and helping to build a Manchester that's fairer for everyone who lives, works, volunteers, studies or plays here.

To make our ambition a reality, every person we recruit needs to play their part. We have five behaviours that guide how we work together: We take time to listen and understand; We work together and trust each other; We value our differences and treat each other fairly; We own it and are not afraid to try new things; We’re proud and passionate about Manchester.

A career with us means you can be yourself, thrive, and build the career your talent and ambition deserve.

Creating an inclusive team at Manchester City Council

We strive to create a fair and inclusive workplace that is as diverse as the communities we serve. If you want to find out more about the role, our culture, flexible arrangements or any adjustments, please let us know by emailing [e-mail]. If you are invited to interview we will ask you if you require any adjustments in order for you to best demonstrate your suitability for the role in the interview process.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme

As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role, and identify with one of the listed criteria:

• Members of the Armed Forces and veterans
• Are currently in care, or have previously been in care
• If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition

Accessibility

As a Disability Confident Employer, we provide support for employees with conditions, a disability or neurodiversity. Our workplaces are accessible by design, and we make workplace adjustments including aids, adaptations and equipment. These, combined with our flexible working policies, enable our employees to perform their role and thrive.

When you join us

We want everyone to be able to be themselves at work and give their best. If you need additional support to undertake the duties of the role, we’ll make every effort to source any necessary aids, adaptations or equipment. If a task proves unachievable, we will look at redesigning parts of the role.

Other relevant information

Greater Manchester Continuous Service Commitment; Who we are - Manchester City Council; Privacy Notice