Senior Residential Support Worker

4 Bed EBD/SEMH, Residential Children's Home supporting 1 YP

Stoke-on-Trent, ST1

£40,040 to £42,120pa including £65 per sleep-in

This is a Senior Residential Support Worker role in a four-bed children's home in Stoke-on-Trent, working with young people aged roughly five to seventeen who need consistency, warmth and someone who can hold a boundary.

The pay sits between £15.50 and £16.50 an hour depending on experience, plus £65 for each sleep-in, and with around ten sleeps a month worked into a 1 on 2 off rota, total earnings typically land somewhere between £40k and £42kpa.

You're trusted to lead the floor, and the home backs that up with reflective supervision and clinical input. There's a clear, mapped route through to Deputy Manager for anyone who wants it, built on real conversations about progression rather than vague promises made at interview and forgotten by month three.

What you'll be doing

• Leading shifts from start to finish, covering handovers, delegation, measured incident response and proper debriefs afterwards

• Setting the tone on the floor through predictable routines, warmth and boundaries that are clear rather than punitive

• Supporting key work, education, appointments, community activities and everyday life skills

• Coaching and mentoring newer staff, modelling tidy recording and trauma-informed practice as you go

• Keeping safeguarding front of mind, spotting concerns early and escalating and evidencing them properly

• Mucking in generally so the house stays organised, homely and safe day to day

What you'll need

• At least two years' experience in children's residential care with some shift-leading under your belt

• A Level 3 in Residential Childcare, or a recognised equivalent

• Confident communication skills and the ability to write records that are clear and genuinely useful

• A full UK manual driving licence and comfort behind the wheel of a people carrier or similar

Nice to have, not essential

• De-escalation training

• Experience in SEMH or EBD settings specifically

• Familiarity with Regulation 44 expectations and what being inspection-ready every day actually looks like in practice

Pay and what comes with it

• £15.50 to £16.50 per hour, plus £65 per sleep-in (around seven per month)

• Illustrative total earnings of roughly £40k to £42kpa including sleeps

• 1 on 2 off rota built for proper recovery time between shifts

• Paid, in-person training, regular reflective supervision and genuine wellbeing support

• 28 days' annual leave including bank holidays for full-time staff

• Pension scheme, a supportive senior team around you, and a clear pathway to Deputy Manager

If you've spent a couple of years in residential childcare and you're ready to lead a shift rather than just get through one, this could well be worth a conversation. Homes ask a lot of their senior staff, but they also give a lot back, in terms of relationships that mean something and a team that has your back when things get difficult. Get in touch and let's talk through what a normal week here looks like, whether the rota fits your life, and where this could take you if Deputy Manager is somewhere you want to end up.