Registered Manager (North East)

Team Fostering Ltd; Tees Valley; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Monthly supervision

30 days annual leave plus 8 days bank

Flexible working arrangements

Staff loyalty bonus

Employee assistance programme

Life assurance cover

GP Helpline

Learning & development opportunities

Job summary

Team Fostering Ltd in the North East is seeking an experienced Registered Manager to provide strategic and operational leadership for our fostering service. You will ensure high-quality outcomes for children while supporting foster carers and staff.

You will work with the Senior Leadership Team to ensure compliance with fostering legislation and regulatory standards, driving excellence, service development and regional growth across the North East.

Qualifications

• Significant leadership and management experience within fostering or children’s social care services.
• Thorough understanding of fostering legislation, safeguarding, National Minimum Standards and regulatory frameworks.
• Experience leading teams, managing performance and driving continuous service improvement.
• Strong decision-making, organisational and quality assurance skills.
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills with carers, colleagues, local authorities and Ofsted.

Responsibilities

• Act as Ofsted Registered Manager for the North East service, ensuring compliance with fostering regulations, National Minimum Standards and agency policies.
• Provide leadership, management and support to managers and staff, promoting high standards of practice and professional development.
• Ensure safe and robust decision-making across the service, including safeguarding, referrals, assessments and allocation of work.
• Oversee recruitment, assessment, training, support and retention of foster carers to ensure excellent service delivery.
• Lead quality assurance and auditing to maintain high-quality assessments, reports, planning and risk management.
• Monitor outcomes for children and young people, implement improvements to placement stability and care experiences.
• Contribute to budget planning, set annual targets and report on outcomes, compliance and performance.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with local authorities, partner agencies and stakeholders to support development and growth.
• Support tendering processes, contract opportunities and regional growth initiatives.
• Monitor performance, compliance and financial viability, report to Board and Senior Leadership Team.
• Lead service improvement, innovation and strategic development to achieve outstanding outcomes.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Fostering knowledge

Team development

Regulatory compliance

Stakeholder relationship

Travel flexibility

Communication skills

Driving licence

Education

Social work qualification or equivalent

Tools

Policy frameworks

Audit tools

Regulatory frameworks

Job description

We offer hybrid working which includes a blend of home and office working with a minimum of one day per week in our office.

Contract: Permanent Full Time: 37.5 hours per week.

Responsible to: Director of Fostering Services & Responsible Individual

Responsible for: Social Work Service

Closing Date: 4pm on Fri 18th Sep 2026.

About the Role:

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced and inspirational fostering leader to join our Outstanding fostering agency and help shape the future of our service across the North East. As Registered Manager, you will provide strategic and operational leadership, ensuring the delivery of high-quality fostering services that achieve positive outcomes for children and young people whilst supporting and developing our foster carers and staff.

As the Ofsted Registered Manager for Team Fostering North East, you will work closely with the Senior Leadership Team to ensure the service operates effectively, efficiently and in full compliance with fostering legislation, National Minimum Standards and regulatory requirements. You will play a key role in driving service excellence, business growth and continuous improvement across the region.

There will be a requirement to travel across the North East region and, occasionally, to Team Fostering’s offices in Yorkshire and the East Midlands. Participation in the agency’s out-of-hours rota is also required.

Key responsibilities include:

• Acting as the Ofsted Registered Manager for the North East service, ensuring compliance with fostering regulations, National Minimum Standards and agency policies.
• Providing leadership, management and support to managers and staff, promoting high standards of practice, accountability and professional development.
• Ensuring safe and robust decision-making across the service, including safeguarding matters, referrals, assessments and allocation of work.
• Overseeing the recruitment, assessment, training, support and retention of foster carers, ensuring excellent service delivery and positive experiences for fostering families.
• Leading quality assurance and auditing activity to ensure high-quality assessments, reports, planning and risk management processes are maintained throughout the service.
• Monitoring outcomes for children and young people, identifying areas for development and implementing improvements that enhance placement stability and care experiences.
• Contributing to budget planning, setting annual targets and regularly reporting on outcomes, compliance and performance.
• Developing and maintaining strong relationships with local authorities, partner agencies and other key stakeholders to support service development and business growth.
• Supporting tendering processes, contract opportunities and regional growth initiatives.
• Monitoring performance, compliance and financial viability, reporting regularly to the Board of Directors and Senior Leadership Team.
• Leading on service improvement, innovation and strategic development to ensure outstanding outcomes for children and young people.

The Successful Candidate:

We are looking for a passionate and experienced leader with a proven track record within fostering services and a commitment to improving outcomes for children and young people. We would welcome applications from candidates who can demonstrate:

• Significant leadership and management experience within fostering or children’s social care services.
• A thorough understanding of fostering legislation, safeguarding, National Minimum Standards and regulatory frameworks.
• Experience of leading teams, managing performance and driving continuous service improvement.
• Strong decision-making, organisational and quality assurance skills.
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills, with the ability to work effectively with carers, colleagues, local authorities, partner agencies and Ofsted.
• A commitment to achieving outstanding outcomes for children, young people and foster families.
• A full UK driving licence and the ability to travel as required.

About Team Fostering:

Team Fostering is an ethical not for profit fostering agency with a strong reputation and track record for providing high quality, fostering placements for looked after children. We pride ourselves on our values and our commitment to making positive changes for children and young people. Our Northeast Service was graded as Outstanding by Ofsted in November 2025.

We offer a blend of home and office-based working arrangements, to support a healthy work-life balance for all our staff. This will be a minimum of one day per week based at our Middlesbrough office.

Team Fostering offer an exceptional range of employee benefits including:

• Monthly supervision
• 30 days annual leave plus 8 days bank holidays
• A blend of home and office working
• A wide range of flexible working arrangements to support a good work life balance
• Flexi time & TOIL
• Staff loyalty bonus
• Employee assistance programme
• Generous benefits package including retail discount scheme, salary sacrifice schemes
• Life assurance cover
• GP Helpline
• Learning & development opportunities to support your continuous professional development

Team Fostering are wholly committed to our ongoing investment in professional training and development, health and wellbeing for our staff. We are immensely proud of our recognition as a Real Living Wage Foundation Employer, an Investors in People Employer which we have held since 2006, our accreditation as a Mindful Employer and the achievement of our Better Health Award at Continuing Excellence level.

If you are an experienced fostering leader looking to make a lasting difference within an Outstanding agency, we would love to hear from you.

Closing Date: 4pm on Friday 18th September 2026
Shortlisting: Friday 25th September 2026
Interviews will be held on Monday 5th October 2026.

Team Fostering is an equal opportunity and Disability Confident Committed employer that is committed to equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging at work. As we continue to grow, we know that we must have the most talented employees with diverse backgrounds, cultures, perspectives, and experiences to support our children and young people.

Team Fostering strives to be diverse and inclusive – a place where we can ALL be ourselves. We particularly encourage applications from people who identify as Black, Asian or from a Minority Ethnic background, who are underrepresented within the agency.

Please note if you are shortlisted for interview we will contact you via the email you have provided. Please ensure you check your emails including your junk folder regularly.