Senior Residential Care Officer

Location: Rainbow Lodge, Woodingdean.

Contract: Full and part-time positions available.

HOURS: 4 week rolling rota, shift work either early, 7am –2.30pm or late 2.00pm until 9.30pm There is an expectation of attendance at fortnightly team meetings.

Salary: £33,119 - £34,811 pro rata, plus enhancements for evenings, weekends and bank holidays

About Us

Rainbow Lodge is a nurturing residential home for up to 5 young people with learning disabilities, and complex needs. As a Senior Residential Care Officer, you will be part of the Specialist Community Disability Service 0 – 24 working alongside social work teams and children’s families to provide our young people with the support they need to thrive in our care.

Our Approach

Our work is grounded in our Statement of Purpose, which places relationships at the centre of everything we do. We use the PACE model (Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy) and strengths‑based, relationship‑based practice to create safety, belonging and trust.

We hold high expectations for all of our young people, believing in their potential and supporting them to achieve their own goals at their own pace. We see behaviour as communication, and we respond with patience, curiosity, and genuine interest in each young person’s experience.

We believe that belonging, safety, and positive relationships are the foundations of progress.

What You’ll Do

• Build warm, trusting relationships that help children feel truly seen and heard.
• Oversee and ensure that the care provided to the young people is person centred and of a high standard.
• Lead, support and motivate staff during shifts.
• Contribute to the development and review of individual care plans, risk assessments, behaviour support plans, and health action plans.
• Ensure all documentation meets organisational, regulatory, and safeguarding requirements.
• Ensure health and safety procedures, risk assessments, and safe working practices are followed.
• Be approachable, empathic, and self-aware.
• Create a sense of safety, predictability and joy within the home.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues, families and professionals to promote the wellbeing, rights and voice of each young person.
• Take delegated responsibility for the home in the absence of management.
• Uphold Ofsted standards in all aspects of care planning, safeguarding and record‑keeping.

As part of Brighton & Hove City Council, you will have access to a wide range of benefits that support your wellbeing, financial stability, and professional development. Why work for us

What we can offer

• A competitive salary ( we are a living wage employer) with enhancements, time and a half for working at weekends, double time for working on a bank holiday and time and a third for working at night (between 8pm and 6am.)
• The opportunity to work extra shifts
• A career average pension scheme
• Generous holiday up to 25 days a year
• A comprehensive induction & ongoing training (including L3 Diploma)
• Reflective practice sessions and regular supervision
• A supportive, inclusive team culture
• Wellbeing support
• A role filled with purpose, relationships and real impact

What We’re Looking For:

• We warmly welcome applicants from all backgrounds, identities, and lived experiences
• Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (or equivalent qualification) and have the willingness to complete a Level 5 Diploma whilst in post
• Experience of looking after children or young people, either in an educational or social care setting
• High level of emotional resilience, reliability and professionalism
• Experience of mentoring or supervising other staff.

• Comprehensive written, number and good organisational skills

• The ability to use your own initiative and think quickly in a difficult situation, supporting your colleagues and yourself to stay safe.
• The ability to meet the physical, emotional and mental demands of the job
• A commitment to delivering safe, high‑quality care in line with Ofsted’s regulatory framework.

We’re seeking people who bring enthusiasm, curiosity, calmness, and high expectations—both for themselves and for our young people.

You’ll thrive at Rainbow if you:

• View challenges as opportunities to grow, approaching them with warmth, humour, playfulness, and patience.
• Communicate openly, ask for support when needed, and actively contribute to a positive, supportive team culture.
• Understand behaviour as communication and respond with warmth, humour and patience.
• Believe deeply in children’s rights, potential, and capacity for joy, progress and connection.
• Want to work in a home that embraces its community and creates opportunities for young people to belong.

Safeguarding Commitment

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. All staff must share this commitment. The successful applicant will be subject to an enhanced DBS check.

If you want to help children with learning disabilities feel seen, understood and empowered — and you love working in a team where relationships come first — we’d love to hear from you.For an informal discussion, please contact Simon Kinyua, Deputy Manager via email Simon.Kinyua@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Encouraging a diverse workforce
Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.

Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).

Why work for us?
As a council, we want to:
• be connected
• be confident
• be innovative and creative
• be diverse and inclusive
• be healthy and psychologically safe
For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.

How to apply
Please read our Apply for a job at the council pages carefully. They give you all the guidance you need to complete your application as well as information on what will happen after you’ve submitted your application and at interview.

As part of your application, you will need to provide your education and career history and answer some application/shortlisting questions. Your answers to the application/shortlisting questions are the most important part of your application as they will be used in the shortlisting process to assess whether you meet the essential requirements for the role that are set out in the person specification and to decide whether you should be offered an interview. Before you start your application, please read our Shortlisting questions guidance (brighton-hove.gov.uk) as this gives important advice which will increase your chance of success in the shortlisting process.

AI advice for candidates
We are interested in hearing about your experience and skills in your own words. While we value people who know how to use AI, we ask that you minimise using it in your application.

We are keen to hear how your experience and skills align to our values and the skills and experience needed to perform well in our roles with clear real examples from you. To support you in this, we have guidance on using the STAR model which can help you ensure you are telling us your whole story. We also provide clarity on the skills we are looking for in our adverts and in the job description/person specification attached to each job advert.

All the applications we receive are read by at least two hiring managers and we do not use AI in this process. Our experience of reading applications is that those that have heavily used AI contain generic paragraphs that are strikingly similar to other applicants’ responses. This makes it extremely difficult to differentiate between applications, and doesn't give us enough evidence of your individual skills. There is a risk that we will therefore not be able to shortlist you. Instead, we recommend you ensure your application stands out by presenting clear examples of your actual skills and experiences in your own words.

Additional information
Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.

Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check.

We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.

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