Senior Residential Childcare Worker

Coventry City Council; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 28,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

A local council in the UK seeks a dedicated individual for a role focused on leading and supporting a staff team in children's residential care. The ideal candidate will have a Level 3/4 qualification in Residential Childcare and must demonstrate experience in managing sensitive information. This full-time position includes a mix of shifts to meet the varied needs of children. The role promises an opportunity to make a lasting impact on young lives.

Benefits

Training and development opportunities

Family-style working environment

Supportive team culture

Qualifications

• Ability to work holistically across services for positive outcomes.
• Knowledge of current legislation regarding children's care.
• Minimum 2 years experience in a children's residential setting.

Responsibilities

• Lead staff through challenging situations, remaining solution-focused.
• Accountable for informed decision-making in short time frames.
• Provide supervision to develop the team's professional skills.

Skills

Holistic approach

Knowledge of Children's Home Regulations

Professional qualification in Residential Childcare

Experience in case file management

Education

Level 3/4 Diploma in Residential Childcare

Job description

About Us

We value diverse perspectives and experiences and are striving to create a workplace culture that is inclusive, is accepting of all and is free from discrimination and bias. We offer warm, family-style homes for children aged 10–18 years, providing individualized care tailored to each child’s needs. Our well-established homes across Coventry are places where children can heal, grow, and feel secure. As our service expands you could be a key part of this exciting journey.

What Makes Us Unique?

Family Atmosphere: Our homes truly feel like home – offering stability and genuine care.

Your Voice Matters: Our strategy is shaped by the views and experiences of both our children and our teams – you’ll help set the standards of excellence.

Career Growth: As we expand, we offer outstanding opportunities for training, development, and progression within our service.

We regularly ask our children how they want to be cared for, and they’ve told us that: They want to be truly listened to and respected as individuals. They want to feel safe in a supportive environment. They value help to reach their full potential, develop independence, build strong relationships, and stay connected to familiar places and schools. Above all, they wish to make lasting, happy memories with caring adults who won’t give up on them.

By joining our highly motivated and dedicated team, you’ll play a vital role in delivering exactly what our children have asked for.

Our Values

• Open and fair: We are fair, open, and transparent.
• Nurture and develop: We help and encourage everyone to be their best and do their best.
• Engage and empower: We talk and listen to others, working together as one.
• Create and innovate: We embrace new ways of working to continuously improve.
• Own and be accountable: We work together to deliver the best services for our residents.
• Value and respect: We put diversity and inclusion at the heart of all we do.

What is the job role?

There are 4 key areas of skill essential to this role:

• Role model – leading by example to support a culture and ethos within the home where everyone understands the importance of relationship‑based practice to improve outcomes for children and young people.
• Leader – having sound values, confidence to address others, good communication skills and a strong practice and knowledge base to ensure consistency throughout the team. Through using experience to coach and mentor new and less experienced team members.
• Organiser – taking a leading role in project development and new initiatives whilst working with keyworkers and being accountable for ensuring that plans and other key responsibilities and deadlines are implemented and met.
• Skilled Practitioner – understanding the matching and admission process for children and supporting transition plans within the wider care system. Facilitating initial visits and supporting staff in the planning for children’s positive service transition. Representing the service at key project meetings and working in a co‑operative manner with other agencies to achieve joint objectives and provide complimentary services.

All candidates must have the Right to Work in the UK. We are currently not offering sponsorship for this role. This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such, appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

Qualifications

• Ability to work holistically across a wide range of services to deliver positive outcomes.
• Knowledge of current legislation in particular the Children’s Home Regulations 2015 and Working Together to Safeguard Children [2025].
• A professional qualification relevant to working with children, which must be at minimum of Level 3/4 Diploma in Residential Childcare and have at least 2 years recent experience of working in a children's residential setting.
• Experience in the recording of sensitive information, maintaining case files, and adhering to confidentiality policies.

Responsibilities

• Lead the staff team through difficult and challenging situations, to remain solution‑focused and enable others to effectively reflect on actions and practice.
• Be accountable for and make informed decisions within a short time frame when necessary.
• Work in conjunction with others in service teams and steer the work of colleagues where appropriate.
• Provide formal and informal supervision to develop the professional skill base of the team.
• Understand models/theories relevant to the children we work with.
• Undertake self‑directed learning to develop knowledge base and ensure this is shared with others.
• Ensure that the welfare of children is safeguarded and advise staff on implementing strategies that ensure children’s exposure to risk is minimised.
• Have a solid understanding of and be an advocate for the principles of diversity and inclusion in relation to workplace culture and service delivery.

In return we will offer you support and training and the opportunity to develop your front‑line management skills. If this sounds like the perfect next step in your career, then we would love to hear from you.

Special Notes

Working Patterns & Posts: This is a full‑time post, 37 hours per week, on a rota basis including evenings, weekends, bank holidays and sleep‑ins to enable us to meet the needs of the children we look after.

Applications: as part of the process, you will need to provide us with your full work history since leaving school and identify any gaps in employment to meet the requirements of Schedule 2 of the Children’s Homes Regulations 2015.

Right to Work: all candidates must have Right to Work in the UK with a minimum of 2 years remaining on current Right to Work. We are currently not offering sponsorship for this role.

Interview date: Wednesday 17th December 2025

For role related queries or additional information please contact us via email at [e-mail]

If you need help or support to complete your application, please visit our accessibility page to see how we can assist you.

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 below 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. For full details on the application process please read the attached document on our jobs page labelled ‘Coventry City Council Application Process’.

If there is any evidence of a candidate using AI to complete their application, then the application will be rejected unless the candidate can provide a justification which the Council considers to be reasonable.

About Coventry

Coventry has a proud, innovative and creative spirit that throughout its history has seen communities come together to tackle problems and bring about real social change.

We are cutting‑edge, challenging, youthful, vibrant and diverse.

At Coventry we are committed to excellence in everything we do. With around 5100 staff from a range of different backgrounds, our aim is to recruit and develop talented people who will focus on our customers, take responsibility, work together and find better ways of doing things.

To deliver the best services to our residents, we need the best people working for us to make a difference to our communities.

If you join us, we will provide a fantastic rewards and benefits package - to find out more please visit https://www.coventry.gov.uk/council-vacancies