Head of senior living jobs in ardrossan, ayrshire

About the role

As one of two Regional Programmes Manager, you’ll inspire and lead a team of Senior Programmes Officers and Kinship Family Workers to effectively deliver high quality support services for kinship families across Greater London, the South of England and the Midlands.

You’ll do this by working in close collaboration with local authority teams who have commissioned our services and other funders where appropriate.

You’ll have accountability and ownership for ensuring we deliver impactful services for kinship carers and that we meet targets for our commissioned services. Working collaboratively with our other managers in other services, you’ll ensure we’re delivering high impact programmes.

You’ll ensure your team have real clarity and direction on their role and responsibilities - encouraging curiosity, learning and solutions-focused thinking. As a leader in the organisation, you are a key model for the team.

Your team will deliver the following programmes:

• Kinship Connected – in-person one-to-one support and support groups in the community
• Kinship Reach – remote one-to-one support and virtual support groups
• Kinship Ready – online workshops to prepare new and prospective special guardians for their role, as well as wraparound one-to-one support (in one local authority)

You will also manage a new role of Grants Officer - London, funded by the Aviva Foundation.

As one of our deputy safeguarding leads, you’ll be part of our key safeguarding structure.  This means you’ll take ownership to make sure our people feel confident and well supported to demonstrate best practice and making sure safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.

Key responsibilities include:

• Oversee the day-to-day running of programmes, supporting mostly home-based Senior Programmes Workers and Kinship Family Workers to ensure high quality, consistent and impactful programme delivery.

• Meet performance targets as directed.

• Create and keep developing processes and systems which support consistency across all programmes, ensuring good quality documentation and manualisation on Notion.so

• Develop quality assurance frameworks with other service managers and directors.

• Support your team to establish and deliver in-person and virtual peer support groups regionally and generate engagement with kinship carers.

• Line management and supervision of Senior Programmes Workers and Kinship Family Workers as required.

• Actively encourage personal development and support staff to deliver key targets and outcomes and ensure high levels of wellbeing.

• Work with the Director of Services and Digital, Head of Programmes and the Business Development team to develop proposals and present to local authorities to secure commissions.

• Manage the delivery of commissioned contracts through collaborative relationships with local authorities, ensuring targets are met.

• Manage the programmes and services within budget, in accordance with Kinship’s financial procedures and ensure the reporting of progress in line with funder requirements.

• Work actively and positively with other managers within Kinship to ensure sharing of best practice, problem solving, relevant connections and consistency of delivery across England and Wales.

• Act as a deputy safeguarding lead at Kinship

Essential requirements include:

• Substantial experience in managing a regional service or programme with high quality outputs (national experience desirable but not essential).
• Substantial experience of managing, developing and evaluating effective and innovative services for families experiencing crisis and experience in reaching ‘hidden communities’ and a commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion.
• Experience of leading and managing continuous improvement in changing contexts.
• Experience of governance and managing risk on high profile service delivery.
• Experience of ensuring that services are designed and led with user needs at the heart, ensuring that the voices of our kinship carers inform ongoing design and development of our programmes.
• High quality digital and data literacy and using technology to help us to be better in our processes. You’ll have to own Salesforce and be a massive champion for the team. You will be accountable for ensuring they use it well.
• Substantial experience of leading high-performing service teams including managing wellbeing, development and performance.

How to apply

In place of a cover letter, you will be asked to answer the following five questions, alongside providing your CV. Please keep your answers to a maximum of 250 words.

1. Tell us why you’re interested in working for Kinship in this role and what experience you bring that would make you successful? This is an opportunity to tell us about you, your experience and your values.
2. Please give an example where you have managed a successful regional programme or service (this could also be national). Please include scale, key performance indicators and outcome. What made it a success?
3. What makes you a great team manager? Give one example of how you have supported teams and individuals to flourish and one example when you have had to step in to address behaviour or performance issues. (This is an opportunity to share your enthusiasm for supporting others to develop and deliver to a high standard. You can share evidence of how your approach has worked and how you’ve tackled challenges and difficult conversations along the way).
4. Quality assurance and consistency is key to making sure our programmes deliver impact for our kinship carers. This includes ensuring your team are following processes, using our case management system effectively and have the tolls to do their role. Please describe how you would approach this at Kinship using a previous example.
5. In this role you will be a deputy safeguarding lead at Kinship. This is a key role, the lives of kinship carers are incredibly complex.  Give one example of a safeguarding situation that required your response in a previous role. Explain what your rationale and thought process was. How did you hold appropriate boundaries and progress actions to effectively safeguard vulnerable children and adults?

Key Dates

• Application deadline:      Friday 9th May, 10pm
• First interview: Online – Tuesday 6 May
• Second interview: In person (Vauxhall, London) – Tuesday 13 May (travel expenses covered if required)

About Kinship

We are Kinship. The leading kinship care charity in England and Wales. We’re here for kinship carers – friends or family who step up to raise a child when their parents aren’t able to.

We are made by and for our community of kinship carers. Like family, relationships run deep. And we hear their experiences; for too long they have been isolated without the help they need.

We support, advise and inform kinship carers. Connecting them so they feel empowered. Because a child needs the love and warmth of a thriving family.

We develop research, campaigns and policy solutions. Creating positive change across society. Because for kinship families, love alone is not enough.

Through our work we harness frustrations to fuel passion for change. And tough experiences to inspire ideas that transform lives.

And as we see momentum building, we keep using evidence to demonstrate the value of kinship care. Helping kinship carers navigate challenging circumstances. Believing in a child’s potential.

Join us. Together, let’s commit to change for kinship families.

About VODG

The Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG) represents over 130 organisations within the voluntary sector whose work is focused on enabling disabled people of all ages to live the lives they choose. VODG believes that an ambitious, reliable and vibrant voluntary sector that works together is critical to achieving this aim.

VODG’s mission is focused on two key areas – enabling our members to be the best they can and improving the environment in which our members operate.

VODG believes that our membership approach and operations should centre around the views of disabled people and be influenced by professional expertise.

Introduction to the role

The coordinator role is crucial in enhancing the productivity and efficiency of the leadership team within the organisation. Serving as a central point of contact, this position involves a diverse range of responsibilities, from managing executives' calendars and coordinating meetings to handling communications with professionalism and discretion. By implementing improvements to organisational processes and maintaining meticulous record-keeping, the coordinator role contributes significantly to the smooth operation of daily activities of the organisation.

Additionally, the role involves coordinating events, assisting with project administration, and supporting financial reporting, all while embodying the core values of the organisation.

This position not only demands strong organisational skills but also a proactive approach to achieving corporate objectives and fostering a collaborative work environment. 

Purpose of role 

The Operations Coordinator will: 

• Act as a central point of contact, managing executive calendars, coordinating meetings, and facilitating effective communication while maintaining a high level of professionalism and discretion. 

• Be responsible for improving organisational processes, ensuring meticulous record-keeping, and contributing to the seamless execution of daily activities.

• Coordinate events, project administration, and financial reporting, all aligned with the organisation's core values. 

Specific responsibilities and duties 

Administrative Support  

• Assist with a variety of administrative tasks that enhance the productivity of the leadership team, such as scheduling and coordinating meetings, managing executives' calendars with attention to priorities, and organising files and documentation for easy access.

• Identify and implement improvements to existing organisational processes and procedures to boost efficiency, ensuring that the team can operate at maximum effectiveness. 

Communications  

• Act as a central point of contact for both internal team members and external stakeholders, handling communications with a professional demeanor.

Meetings  

• Collaborate closely with the Business and Operations Manager to support the overall management of meetings, including preparing detailed agendas, taking comprehensive minutes during meetings, and circulating documents to all participants in a timely manner, ensuring that all follow-up actions are clearly outlined. 

Event Coordination 

• Coordinate a variety of events and meetings, supporting logistics such as venue selection, catering orders, accessability requirements and technical arrangements.

• Assist in the planning and scheduling of member events and meetings, ensuring all details are attended to, such as invitations, attendee confirmations, and venue preparations. 

Project Administration 

• Maintain comprehensive administrative records relevant to projects, ensuring that all documentation is current and easily accessible to project team members. 

Record Keeping 

• Establish and maintain accurate records, comprehensive databases, and organised documentation related to office operations and employee activities, including diligent management of the CRM system to ensure timely updates and accuracy of information. 

Finance 

• Assist with the preparation of financial statements and reports, maintaining accurate and organised accounting records, and supporting the reconciliation of accounts to ensure data integrity.

General 

• Support the organisation to achieve its corporate objectives. 

• Be a proactive and professional representative of VODG and its values at all times, including in relation to the prioritisation of your own responsibilities and professional development. 

• Undertake such duties as may be deemed necessary by the CEO and/or the line manager that are commensurate with the level of this post. 

CEASE (Centre to End All Sexual Exploitation) is seeking a highly organised, detail-oriented Administrative Officer to join our small but driven team.

In this pivotal role, you’ll be the backbone of our day-to-day operations, keeping systems running smoothly, supporting our mission to bring justice to survivors, and helping to expose the harms of a society where sexual exploitation is increasingly normalised. You'll need a can-do attitude, excellent organisational skills, and a creative approach to problem solving.

This is more than just an admin job, it’s a chance to be part of something bigger. Alongside your core responsibilities, you’ll have opportunities to deepen your understanding of the issues we tackle through training and learning sessions.

If you’re a strong communicator, tech-savvy, and passionate about making a real difference, we want to hear from you. Join us in creating a safer, more just world.

Apply now and help CEASE drive meaningful change.

Department: Programmes

Reports to: Head of Programmes

Location: Home-based, with travel across England, Scotland, and Wales

Contract: Full-time, Permanent

Benefits:

• 25 days holiday plus England bank holidays
• Employer pension contribution up to 5%
• Life insurance, critical illness cover & private health benefits
• 37.5-hour workweek

Note: This role requires travel with overnight stays across England, Scotland, and Wales.

About British Gas Energy Trust (BGET)

British Gas Energy Trust (BGET) supports individuals and families across England, Scotland, and Wales who are struggling with energy debt and financial hardship. This is an exciting opportunity to support the effective management of the Trust’s third party funded organisation grant programmes across England, Scotland and Wales

Key Responsibilities

· To act as the managerial point of contact between the Trust’s Grantees & the Trust ensuring programme materials up to date.

· To create documentation linked to grant programmes, such as Applications, Review Templates, Scoring Matrix and Grant Agreements.

· Build & manage positive “listening & learning” relationships with organisational grant applicants.

· Help ensure BGET learns from best practice delivery, and identify, recognize & respond to issues or opportunities as they arise.

· Undertaking both face to face and virtual monitoring visits as part of the project initiation, ongoing KPI and impact evaluation process, creating comprehensive follow-up reports and end of year reports.

· Ensure visibility & assurance of current policies and practice are in place with funded entities, identifying any risk to the Trust e.g. Safeguarding & Data Protection.

· Collect communication materials and help the Trust to amplify the voices of the organisations we support.

· In-put to the day-to-day contractual relationship with our Grant Management System provider, keeping data current and identifying improvements.

Reporting & Contract Management:

· Help ensure that organisations are supported to meet their obligations under their grant agreement, including KPIs and other reporting tools.  Including identifying risks to delivery and supporting the grantee to help resolve any challenges with delivery that impact on the grant obligations. 

· Collate comprehensive and clear feedback, data and information to monitor performance and impact on an ongoing and regular basis.

· Input into coordination, collection and analysis of Ofgem end of year reporting information.

· Ensure all data collection aligned to current Data Protection regulations and use and storage of data is in line with the Trust’s own policies and provide reassurance to the CEO and Board.

· Prepare clear and informative monthly programme updates and support the preparation of quarterly programme reports to the Board to clearly evidence operational delivery across the grant portfolio. 

· Ensure that the outcomes and KPI information are used to create impact reports during the contract period.

· Conduct monitoring visits to funded projects, (in person and online) ensuring accurate briefing notes and write up of meetings are compiled and logged appropriately.

· Establish clear reporting systems with each grant organisation and ensure accurate notes of quarterly meetings with portfolio of projects.

· Work with Finance to ensure grant funds are expended in line with grant agreements and any regulatory requirements.

· Ensure accurate data is in place for year-end reporting.

Knowledge Sharing

· Identify and develop opportunities for the organisational grant applicants to work collaboratively and share learning.

· Create and deliver events for our projects either online or annually at our Annual Advisors Gathering.

· Ensure case studies and other content is collated from the projects to share through our channels.

Person Specification:

Skills and Knowledge:
Essential:

· Strong project management skills, with relevant project management software training.

· Good written communication skills, with the ability to build effective working relationships.

· Strong at operational and project management with the ability to meet deadlines.

· Accuracy and attention to detail with a methodical approach.

· Flexible approach to changing circumstances, prepared to re-order priorities as required. 

· Practical “can do” approach with ability to manage multiple work streams.

· Highly adept at Office 365 and Excel, technically confident in managing Grant Management systems.

· Significant experience monitoring grant programmes including KPI reporting, assessment and write-up.

· Excellent written communication skills, with an ability to communicate with confidence to a wide range of individuals and audiences.

· Excellent analytical & numerical skills with the ability to interpret data and share insights.

Desirable:

· Stakeholder management experience

Experience:

· A proven track record of managing effective operational delivery of impact focused grant making projects or programmes. Including grant programme design.

· Experience of developing and managing positive, equitable partnerships.

· Responsibility for managing our Grant Management System including establishing reporting systems and dashboards for the Senior Leadership Team and Board.

This role is an opportunity to make a real difference in communities across the UK, working directly with organisations that deliver tangible support to those who need it most. If you are passionate about tackling fuel poverty and have the skills to drive a high-impact programmes initiative, we encourage you to apply.

Please note that we are not able to offer sponsorship and the successful candidate must hold the right to work in the United Kingdom. 

A basic DBS check is a requirement of this role. 

* We are not accepting requests to work with third party recruiters for this or any other vacancy. *

DFN Project SEARCH offer an evidence-based supported internship model which takes place entirely in the workplace.  The programmes provide continuous support to young adults with a learning disability, and autistic people who are aged between 16 – 24 with an Education Health and Care Plan, or equivalent, in their final year of education.

You will be required to identify opportunities to develop and grow DFN Project SEARCH programmes across a geographical area with the aim of supporting the organisation to ensure that as many people as need it have access to DFN Project SEARCH programmes.

In addition, you will be required to develop strategies to ensure that the operational programmes in your area are achieving at least the average outcomes expected for young people in our programmes and so you must be committed to continuous improvement.

You will be specifically required to develop strong partnerships and train and support colleagues within your area. You may also be required to support colleagues promoting DFN Project SEARCH in other areas, further European projects as required and contribute to the development of relevant UK focussed materials.

As a Programme Specialist you will be expected to:

• Demonstrate effective project planning and preparation so that each project delivers achieves the highest quality programme possible and outstanding employment outcomes for the interns.
• Establish effective working relationships with schools, colleges, local authorities, employers and the project professional staff to promote the building of excellent, high quality partnerships at each site to ensure the effective running of programmes and promote sustainability in a volatile environment.
• Take an active part in decision making, planning and audit processes of each project
• Ensure that you implement DFN Project SEARCH policy and have a clear understanding of required quality standards and criteria which constitute effective teaching and learning