Residential Worker (Children and Young People)

Join us in Staffordshire to work with our children, young people, and families. 

We are committed to providing the best care and support, fostering lifelong relationships with our children. Creativity and fun are at the core of our approach, both inside and outside the homes. Our specialist teams support children and young people across Staffordshire, with numerous vacancies available.

As we continue to develop and enhance our in house residential service, we currently have roles across Tamworth and Stafford. Our new increased pay range recognises the challenging nature of the role.

Working hours vary between homes, but we operate on 15 hour shifts on a 1 on 2 off basis or a mix of early and late shifts.

Hear more from Natalie, about what it is like to work here!  

Are you ready to make a difference in a children's home? Apply now!

Main Responsibilities

We embrace strength-based approaches and offer a rewarding work-life balance.

As a Residential Worker, you'll work within the children's home, supporting young people aged 8 to 17. Your role will involve basic household tasks and providing emotional support, as many children come from challenging backgrounds.

You'll engage in 1:1 sessions addressing emotions and behaviours, collaborating with professionals to meet their needs. We prioritise your well-being, ensuring manageable caseloads and a supportive environment.

What you can expect from us:

We have a detailed induction programme specifically designed to cover all elements of the role, so that you have all the tools and knowledge ready to get going.

We have an ambitious, confident, and motivated management team who are experienced, supportive, and keen to help you learn and grow.  We have a selection of free courses for you to learn new things, and even have funded qualifications we can support you with obtaining.

You will have a monthly 1:1 reflective space with managers, a comprehensive employee support offer, and lots of opportunity to network with other professionals that support children.

The Ideal Candidate

We encourage our children to participate and get involved in all decisions, and recruitment is no different. It is really important to us that anyone joining the residential team has the skills, abilities, and outlook that our children tell us they need from us.

What our children want from you:

"I would like someone like me who has time to listen instead of being behind a locked door”

"I would like someone who listens to me but also takes action and who I can have a laugh with – they also need to be able to make nice food"

"I would like someone who spends time with me"

What we are looking for:

• Passion – Thinking creatively to ensure that our children are supported to achieve their aspirations (no matter how big or small) will need to be top of your list!  We are looking for passionate practitioners (irrelevant of length of experience) who truly care and want to make a difference to children, young people and families.
• Challenge – Some days will be tough, for our children, for you, and for your colleagues - we're after someone who is dedicated and committed, and who will always go that extra mile for our children (even on the bad days).  Working as part of a close professional team is really important and you will need to be a team player to get through those tough times.
• Forward thinking – We are an expanding service with big ideas and aspirational views.  We are looking for workers who can join our team and join us on this exciting journey, making contributions to help shape and inform the future of the service for our children
• Values – We are looking for someone who has values aligned to those that are integral to our service and our organisation - supportive, innovative, respectful and collaborative

Are you interested?

You are welcome to contact any one of our Residential Senior Managers to discuss the role in greater detail and gain more information about the service.  They can be contacted either by email or phone – 01827 782101

Toby Williamson-Smith (Manager) - toby.williamsonsmith@staffordshire.gov.uk

Natalie Harvey (Manager) - natalie.harvey@staffordshire.gov.uk

When applying please ensure your supporting statement shows evidence how you meet the criteria for the role. We may be unable to shortlist you for interview without this evidence.

If you are applying for a part time position, please note the salary quoted is full time equivalent, the salary received will be paid on a pro–rata basis.

We reserve the right to close a vacancy early before the closing date if we receive sufficient applications.

About Staffordshire County Council

We are no ordinary county council:

Our Values:

The core of who we are as an organisation. Just like we all have personal values that shape our thoughts and behaviour, organisational values drive how we think and act collectively.

Our values were created and shaped by colleague feedback and national best practice and they sit at the heart of People Strategy:

We have a real sense of community spirit that brings our people together. This feeling of belonging means we are all connected to what we do and take pride in the difference we make every day for Staffordshire people. We are ambitious and our sights are set firmly on a better future.

We look forward and race ahead - that goes for your career too. 

Our benefits:

We recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive working environment where employees can achieve their full potential and achieve a healthy work-life balance. 

In addition to your salary, as a member of staff, you will have access to Our rewards and benefits - Careers at Staffordshire

Our recruitment process:

As an Authority we are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people/vulnerable adults and expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.

Staffordshire County Council is an equal opportunities organisation and Disability Confident employer. We encourage applications from all background and communities

As part of our commitment as a Disability Confident employer, a Gold Award Armed Forces employer and our commitment to supporting care leavers - we offer a guaranteed interview as long as your application meets the minimum criteria for the post. 

As you’ll know safeguarding and promoting the welfare of our children and young people/vulnerable adults is important to us and that’s why this position is subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service. If applicable you should disclose details of unspent and unfiltered spent reprimands, formal warnings, cautions and convictions in your application form.