Service Unit Manager; Children's Homes

Base

Location:

Tameside Children’s Homes and Tameside Council Offices

Assessment Date
:
To be arranged

This is an exciting opportunity to be part of our Tameside children social care senior management team working together to make a real difference to the lives of children, young people, and families across Tameside.

The service manager for residential children’s homes has children and young people at the very heart of our practice model and improvement planning. The role has the strategic lead for the development and delivery of our residential children’s homes and working closely with the head of service and homes registered manager you will lead on Ofsted inspections. You will provide effective leadership to the workforce and oversee the operational management of our children’s homes to ensure that we deliver an excellent standard of care to children where their needs are well understood and promoted.

You will support our staff teams through role modelling our care and high ambition for children and young people.

In Tameside we have developed a good relationship with Ofsted and all our homes are presently rated as good across all areas. In this role you will have the opportunity to provide ongoing leadership for our existing homes, as well as the opportunity to grow and develop our sufficiency plan and be highly ambitious for children and young people in Tameside.

We are seeking a highly motivated, skilful, and creative leader to join our leadership team and support our residential children’s homes and their registered managers.

You will be experienced in leadership with a proven track record of delivering quality services for children and young people.

You will be an experienced person manager with the ability to build strong relationships and trust with teams and individuals. You will lead by positive example and be an active advocate for achieving the very best for children and young people.

You will be able to demonstrate clear leadership grip, in order to continually drive progress and performance of our children’s homes and staff teams.

At Tameside, we believe in:

• Compassion understanding the lived experiences of children and families.
• Curiosity asking questions that lead to deeper insight and better outcomes for children.
• Collaboration working together across services to deliver joined-up support.
• Conversation listening and engaging meaningfully with children, families and professionals.
• Courage leading with courage, making bold and compassionate decisions that put children first.

Message from Jill Colbert, Director of Children’s Services

“I joined the council at the beginning of 2025 and was instantly charmed by the warmth, openness, and energy of colleagues.”

“I came to Tameside for one reason; because I know we can do fantastic things for our families here.”

“We’re a children’s service on a significant improvement journey. We know what needs to be different for our children and families and we’re ambitious to deliver that change.”

“We have a growing range of specialist services for children, where you can test and grow your skills and practice. We have a Social Work Academy that is led by people who bring passion to learning and who know that the DCS’ of the future are right in front of them. We are working on our progression pathways so that staying in Tameside is rewarded and recognised.

We have investment in innovation and improvement from the council so that we can grow services and support for families that we can sustain, from family hubs through to complex safeguarding.”

“I am so certain that we can build a proud, inclusive and safe climate for great practice to flourish in Tameside. I’d love you to join me on the journey here at Team Tameside.”

At Tameside, we are committed to ensuring all our Citizens lead long, fulfilling and healthy lives. We are committed to supporting economic growth, providing high quality health and care services, protecting our most vulnerable and creating strong and supportive, self-sufficient communities.

We recognise that our people drive our success and enable the organisation to deliver on its…