Learning Disability Community Leader, L'Arche London
ABOUT THE ROLE
Hours of work: 37.5 hours per week (including some evening and weekend working, and regular on-call)
Salary: £55,000 (including London weighting)
Reports to: L’Arche UK Director of Care and Communities
Place of work: L’Arche London Community, West Norwood, SE27. Some travel and overnight stays will be required within the UK.
Contract type: Permanent
Closing date: Thursday, 16th April, at midday
Notes: If you have already applied for this role and received an update on your application from us, please do not submit another application.
Main purpose of the role
The Community Leader is responsible for ensuring that the Community is living the mission of L’Arche, by providing excellent and sustainable care and support services, support for spirituality, and engaging with our neighbours and the wider community around us.
The Community Leader will:
- Lead the Community by responding to the needs, choices and context of our members while being faithful to the L'Arche UK Vision and Values, the L'Arche International Identity and Mission Statement, and to a co-created Community Mandate and plan.
- Maintain and enhance high-quality, person-centred care, support, and housing for people with learning disabilities, both at home and in our day services in partnership with the Registered Manager, the Team in London, the National Leadership Team, individual circles of support, and external partners;
- Ensure the Community's financial sustainability through robust financial planning and management, including setting budgets, controlling spending, maximising occupancy, negotiating care contracts, growing day services, and spotting fundraising opportunities;
- Foster a culture that maximises the voice and power for people with learning disabilities, building listening and collaboration between Community members with and without learning disabilities;
- Contribute to the national work programmes of L'Arche UK, as part of the National Council, collaborating with Community Leaders of other L'Arche Communities, to share skills, best practice, and resources
Key essential criteria
- Senior leadership experience in support to adults with learning disabilities (or transferable skills and experience in a closely related field);
- Experience in leading, managing, and developing an organisation or large teams to deliver results, maintain compliance and quality, and to respond to risks and opportunities;
- Good financial planning skills and experiences of successfully managing a substantial budget;
- Ability to think strategically and work collaboratively to develop and implement community plans;
- Experience of living or working alongside people with learning disabilities and/or autistic individuals;
- Passionate about person-centred support and the values and mission of L'Arche;
This role is subject to an enhanced DBS criminal record check.
You may have held these job titles in the past: Registered Manager, Service Manager, Head of Care, Senior Operations Lead, Community Director, Head of Community Services, Country or Regional Lead, Learning Disability Services Manager, Head of Mission and Community Life, Health & Social Care Manager, Local Authority Commissioning Lead;
You can find more details about L'Arche London here.
Additional details about L'Arche can be found here.
Discover what makes L’Arche a rewarding place to work—explore our employee benefits here.
A full job description and person specification can be found in the Recruitment Pack.
To apply, please submit your CV and include a cover letter via our online application form.
The closing date is: Thursday, 16th April at midday
First round interviews are expected to take place either on 22nd or 23rd April 2026 online via Microsoft Teams.
Second round interviews will take place on 30th April 2026 and will take place within the L'Arche London Community.
We encourage you not to wait until the closing date to submit your application, as we may begin interviewing strong candidates before then.
We also reserve the right to close the advert early if we receive enough suitable applications.
Please also read our privacy notice for job applicants.
Registered Charity
501 - 1000
Our inclusive communities challenge people to think differently about disability
The client requests no contact from agencies or media sales.
Thank you!
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a House Unit Manager, Residential to join our Nursing and Quality Team. This role will require the successful candidate to be accountable, alongside a team of Clinical Leads and Deputy House Managers, for leading and managing a team of nursing and care staff to ensure the delivery of high-quality care to children and young people.
You will be the lead professional responsible for coordinating the overall care and management of the children across a minimum of three Residential Houses and be the key contact for the family and multidisciplinary team.
You will provide clinical and operational leadership across all the Residential Houses providing highly specialised advice to nursing teams and wider professional colleagues as well as be involved in the strategic development of the residential services.
Staff benefits include London weighting, shuttle bus, and more… Read more below
Role Requirements
· In collaboration with the Placement Managers, you will ensure care is appropriately planned and resourced, and you will ensure care is delivered in a safe manner at all times.
· You will be responsible for ensuring that the care in the Houses enables the children to access rehabilitation sessions, clinics, education and leisure activities as scheduled in their timetable.
· You will work as part of a leadership team comprising of a House Unit Manager, 4 x Deputy House Managers / Deputy Clinical Leads and 4 x Clinical Leads.
With experience of working in a complex environment, across a large and diverse workforce, you will be exceptionally organised with a high-level of attention to detail. You will naturally possess excellent inter-personal skills, and an ability to consult and positively engage with key stakeholders across the organisation.
Interview Date: Wednesday 8th April 2026
Terms and Conditions
PLEASE NOTE: The Children's Trust Application Form MUST be completed and submitted, for your application to be considered. As part of the shortlisting process, gaps in employment will be examined and further explored during the interview process.
Strictly no agencies, please.
About Us
The Children’s Trust is the UK’s leading charity for children with acquired brain injury, providing expert rehabilitation, education, therapy, and care at our national specialist centre in Tadworth, and to children and their families across the UK, via our Brain Injury Community Service.
Boasting a beautiful 24-acre site in Surrey, we are located just outside of London, close to the M25 (accessible via Junction 8, A217 to Tadworth) and easily accessible via National Rail, by way of: Clapham Junction, Sutton, and Epsom.
Staff Benefits
The work we do is highly rewarding, and in addition to an attractive salary, we offer a valuable range of benefits, including our staff flexible benefits platform, on-site nursery, free eye tests, enhanced Maternity and Paternity Pay, time out days for those experiencing menopause symptoms and time off for gender reassignment.
We also offer additional annual leave days for those with long service, with entitlements ranging from 35 to 41 days (including bank holidays) depending on your length of service.
Other benefits include free on-site parking; a staff shuttle service from Epsom and Sutton train stations to Tadworth Court, subsidised cafeteria, on-site staff accommodation (subject to availability), the ability to retain your NHS pension (where applicable), Teacher’s pension (where applicable) or the opportunity to join an alternative scheme, and the opportunity to develop your career in a supportive and collaborative environment.
Rehabilitation of Offenders
Many roles at The Children’s Trust are exempt from the provisions of Section 4 (2) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, by virtue of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended in 2013 and 2020) and as such, are subject to an Enhanced DBS check. Successful applicants will be required to complete an Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check, which will disclose all unspent convictions and adult cautions and any spent convictions or adult cautions that would not be protected. The exceptions to this are our retail roles within The Children’s Trust shops, which are subject to Basic DBS checks which will disclose unspent convictions or adult cautions.
Equal Opportunity Employer
To help us achieve our ambition to give children and young people with brain injury and neurodisability the opportunity to live the best life possible, we want to accurately reflect the UK’s diverse population. We want equity, diversity, and inclusion to be at the heart of everything we do, and our people, services, and culture to reflect the diverse needs of all. Through our diversity and inclusion strategy, we have made a commitment to increase the diversity of our charity and create an inclusive culture. We have networks across the organisation working to ensure that these aims are met - including an LGBTQIA2S+ group, Ethnic Diversity Group, and Spark – our broad EDI group. Read more about our EDI work here. We welcome applications from all who share our ambition regardless of background. We will strive to ensure that any reasonable adjustments are made in respect of interview and working arrangements.
Online Searches
In accordance with statutory safeguarding and child protection guidance, online searches will be conducted for shortlisted candidates before interview. The online searches will be conducted by a person who is independent of the interview and selection process and will focus on relevant information returned via searches of the candidate’s name (and variations thereof). Social media searches will be limited to professional platforms such as LinkedIn. Any concerns relating to suitability for work with children and young people will be forwarded to the interview panel, for discussion during the interview.
