Residential Support Worker

Earls Barton, Northamptonshire

£12.90 to £13.50 per hour + Sleep-ins (circa £7,200 per annum)

This is a permanent, full-time position working a one-on two-off shift pattern, based in a small, purposefully run children's residential home in Earls Barton, Northamptonshire, supporting young people aged 12 to 17 with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

The salary range sits at £12.90 per hour as a Residential Support Worker, rising to £13.50 per hour at Shift Leader level, and that's before you factor in sleep-in payments of £60 per night, which adds roughly £7,200 on top annually. Pay reviews happen twice a year, in March and October, so if you pass your probation in August, you're not waiting until the following spring to see the benefit. There's also an overtime rate of £2.50 extra per hour after 160 hours a month, which is worth knowing about.

What makes this different

This is a small home, which matters more than people realise. Three beds means the young people who live here are genuinely known by the people who care for them. It means decisions get made with real context rather than at a distance, relationships are built properly, and the care that's delivered is genuinely individual. The organisation has an in-house psychologist who reviews care plans and provides bespoke training to the staff team, which tells you something meaningful about how seriously the provider takes the quality of the work its people are expected to do.

That kind of investment filters through everything. Ofsted inspectors noted that the manager is described by staff as genuinely supportive and that the home consistently provides an environment that nurtures both young people and the people who work there. That's not standard language in an inspection report, and it doesn't happen by accident.

What the role involves

• Providing consistent, relationship-based day-to-day care for young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties, supporting them across all aspects of daily life including activities, education and statutory meetings

• Completing and maintaining care plans, risk assessments and daily records accurately and on time

• Working as an active and collaborative member of the staff team, attending supervisions, staff meetings and face-to-face training

• Supporting young people to build positive social networks, manage their behaviour, and develop the kind of trust that takes time and consistency to earn

• Undertaking the QCF Level 4 qualification in residential childcare as part of your ongoing professional development

• Being present for the less dramatic parts of the job too, which is to say the cooking, the cleaning, the shopping and the kind of ordinary domestic life that gives young people a stable foundation

• Sleep-in duties as required

• Completing weekly checks and leading shifts at Shift Leader level, supporting the management team and other homes within the group when needed

What we're looking for

• Experience of working with children or young people aged 12 to 17 who present with challenging behaviour, whether in a residential setting or another relevant context

• A genuine desire to be part of a small, committed team where the relationships you build with young people actually mean something

• The emotional resilience to sit with difficulty without it pulling you under, and the self-awareness to know when you need support

• Good written skills, because the recording in this type of work matters and it matters a lot

• Willingness to work toward QCF Level 4 if not already held

• Ideally, experience or knowledge relating to young people with ASC, mental health needs or emotional and behavioural difficulties, though this is desirable rather than essential

What you'll get

• Salary of £12.90 to £13.50 per hour depending on role level, with structured six-monthly pay increments tied to progression

• Sleep-in payments of £60 per night, adding approximately £7,200 per annum

• Overtime rate of £2.50 additional per hour after 160 hours per month

• Probation completion bonus and annual appraisal bonus

• Ofsted bonus, because the quality of the home is something the whole team contributes to

• Eight hours of additional annual leave for your birthday, which might sound like a small thing but is the sort of detail that tells you something about how this organisation thinks about its staff

• Paid face-to-face training and funded professional development

• Paid Christmas party

• Refer a friend payment, paid once your referral completes their first shift

• Company pension scheme

• Employment assistance scheme

If this sounds like the kind of place you'd want to work, or maybe you're not completely sure yet but something in this advert has caught your attention, have a conversation before you decide. Send over your CV or drop a message, and we can have a proper chat about whether this is the right fit on both sides.