Reception Centre Operations Manager – Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children’s Service

Role Responsibility

We can offer you a competitive salary starting at £49,522, staff benefits package and excellent career development in a fast moving and expanding service for UAS children.

Kent County Council’s Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking (UAS) Children’s Service provides accommodation and support to newly arrived unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Kent. The Service leads on social work practice with unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Kent, which Ofsted recognises as Outstanding. The Service is developing as a centre of excellence for social work practice nationally and we are seeking passionate individuals to join our service.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Service’s Reception Centre team. The Reception and Safe Care Services are Kent County Council owned, Ofsted regulated, children’s homes and supported accommodation, collectively termed Reception Centres. The Reception Centres, and the services they provide to children, are run by a diverse team of managers and workers, who are all committed to ensuring children are protected and supported to take the first steps in their journey to a more permanent home elsewhere in the UK.

We are seeking experienced Residential setting managers who can coordinate day-to-day operations across the reception centre, ensuring that all UAS children begin their resettlement journey with the support they need.  We a looking for managers who can motivate and inspire centre staff to meet high standards for UAS children during their stay, so they are prepared when they move on the NTS.

We are looking for managers who have the commitment to lead staff in delivering high support and care to UAS children. If you have the skills to coordinate, quality assure practice and inspire staff through day-to-day operations and provision of supervision, please apply.

Our Offer

• Full induction
• Training and development opportunities
• Basic salary of between £49,522 and £57,712
• Annual leave allowance of 29 to 30 days (plus bank holidays and an extra day off at Christmas)
• Relocation packages up to £8,000
• Excellent local government pension scheme
• Opportunities to develop in your career
• The opportunity to develop knowledge in niche areas of social work and expand your knowledge and skills of working with children seeking asylum

This post is considered by KCC to be a customer-facing position. The Council therefore has a statutory duty under Part 7 of the Immigration Act (2016) to ensure that post holders have a command of spoken English/Welsh sufficient for the effective performance of the job requirements. The appropriate standards are set out in the Job Description/Person Specification.

This post is subject to an Enhanced Disclosure application to the Disclosure and Barring service.

Contact Details

If you have queries regarding this role, please contact the Team on uascsrecruitment@kent.gov.uk

About the Company

KCC is committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the county’s working residents, encouraging applications from people of all ages, abilities, genders, sexual orientations, ethnic backgrounds, faiths and those with caring responsibilities, and aspires to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves at work.

Please note – if you are interested, please apply as soon as possible as the closing date for this advert may be earlier than stated should a number of suitably qualified candidates apply.