Service Manager

Posting date:	16 July 2025
Salary:	£42,000 per year
Additional salary information:	Benefits include 25 days Annual Leave
Hours:	Full time
Closing date:	15 August 2025
Location:	Newham, London, E16 1PN
Company:	Look Ahead Care, Support and Housing Ltd
Job type:	Permanent
Job reference:	REQ006303_1752679291

Summary

We're looking for a kind, compassionate and resilient Service Manager to join our Nimrod House service in Newham.

£42,000.00 per annum, working 40 hours per week.

Want to feel in control of your career? You'll feel at home here.

Making you feel at home here means helping you thrive in every way. That's why we offer a wide range of benefits, award-winning Learning & Development and a culture that welcomes all. These aren't token gestures - we've thought long and hard about how best to support our team. After all, our people are doing something amazing: helping to transform lives every day.

All applicants must be legally eligible to work in the UK by the start of employment as Look Ahead are not able to offer sponsorship.

What you'll do:
As the Service Manager you will be required to successfully apply for CQC registration for regulated activity and/or registered services within 6 months of appointment. You will ensure that your teams meet all statutory requirements and that all support is delivered in compliance with CQC expectations and Look Ahead's policy and procedures. You will take responsibly for maintaining compliance with the regulations and ensure that the appropriate notifications are made where necessary.

You will be responsible for the effective management of all aspects of service delivery, including line managing the relevant front line staff as well as effectively managing all stakeholder relationships in partnership with the Head of Operations. You will lead and manage the teams ensuring that Positive Behaviour Support is embedded in the service and provide ongoing coaching and support to allow staff to effectively support customers with high needs.

Leadership Accountabilities:

- Successfully lead and motivate your team to ensure the championing and ongoing maintenance of a positive performance culture within your service
- Work to continuously improve staff competence, ensure ownership of all staff issues and speedy and effective conflict resolution - this includes but is not limited to staff supervision, coaching, team meetings, reflective practice and training
- Responsible for reporting all staff changes to HR and Payroll departments, as appropriate e.g. starters, leavers, additional hours etc.
- Deliver effective, professional and commercially focused briefings and supervision meetings with staff and ensure that information, reporting & communications flow up/down is effective
- Responsible for managing and allocating customers to support staff (casework management)
- Where appropriate to role, carry client group specialism activities, linking in with other Managers and Heads of Operations to ensure focussed integration of specialisms across the whole organisation
- Develop and maintain excellent internal management relationships with all other Look Ahead departments and functions, ensuring sharing of best practice and supporting initiatives to improve organisational performance
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Operational Accountabilities:

- Drive business planning activities within your contract, ensuring relevant and challenging objectives are set and ongoing performance tracking, developing turn around action plans as necessary
- Using sound financial and accounting principles, manage contract budgets to deliver on corporate and local contract financial targets
- Develop key business relationships with all relevant customers/external parties to ensure service delivery excellence and maximise new business opportunities in own patch
- Have sound knowledge of the customers living in the service and be able to promote their wellbeing and quality of life
- Plan, organise and prioritise operations within your contract to ensure maximum efficiencies/utilisation of all resources
- Working with your team, lead creative and ambitious customer involvement plans across the patch and ensure successful implementation
- Lead quality visits, using Look Ahead's local indicators to monitor quality/performance, set targets and lead action plans to ensure highly rated services that reflect requirements of local funders and local and national standards
- Responsible for producing and submitting Monthly Management Reports to the Performance team, ensuring that all data gathered on local KPI's are accurate and up to date
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives across contract portfolio ensuring Look Ahead continues to set and achieves sector best practice standards and is held as a benchmark to competitors
- Within your service, ensure competent use of all relevant business IT systems and all company policies and frameworks
- Responsible for managing petty cash for the service in accordance with Look Ahead procedures
- Deliver an out of hours on-call service for region
- Ensure Look Ahead Health and Safety policies are adhered to throughout the service, to review at local level and ensure staff are competent and suitably trained
- Ensure that all safeguarding cases are managed in line with safeguarding protocols and are reported to Head of Operations Managers
- Ensure that all other Look Ahead policies and procedures are adhered to

This is not an exhaustive list of all the duties and responsibilities that may be required from time to time and is subject to change in accordance with the needs of Look Ahead

Please see our website for the full job description.