Apply for a role in Children's Services

Senior Residential Child Care Practitioner (2 posts)

£40,444 to £43,149 | 37 hours per week | Permanent | Closing date: 16 October 2026

The role is based in a children's home which provides residential care and support to children and young people who may experience emotional and behavioural difficulties, including trauma-related needs, attachment difficulties, mental health needs, social and emotional challenges, and behaviours that may present as complex or high risk.

The home works in partnership with families, social workers, education providers, health services and other professional agencies to provide safe, nurturing and consistent care that promotes stability, positive relationships, resilience and improved outcomes for each child and young person.

The successful applicant will be an enthusiastic, resilient and motivated person who is able to meet the emotional, behavioural and practical demands of working within a residential children’s home.

What you'll need

You should be able to build positive and trusting relationships with children and young people, respond calmly to challenging situations, promote clear boundaries and routines, and support children to develop emotional regulation, independence skills and a sense of safety and belonging.

You should have experience of working in a residential setting with children and young people who have experienced trauma, adversity, disrupted attachments, emotional distress and/or behaviours that may challenge.

You'll need to evidence your experience of direct work with children and young people, including safeguarding practice, behaviour support, risk management, key working, partnership working and promoting positive outcomes in line with each child’s individual care plan.

If successful, you'll be required to work following a shift pattern including weekends, bank holidays and night working.

Service Manager - Residential Care

£63,375 - £68,707 | 37 hours per week | Permanent | Closing date: 2 October 2026

Barnsley is investing in three new children’s residential homes as part of its Children in Care Sufficiency Strategy 2026 to 2030, reducing reliance on external and out of area placements and giving more of our children in care a home in Barnsley.

We’re recruiting a Service Manager to lead this residential portfolio from the ground up. You’ll take responsibility for all three homes as they move through registration, staffing and opening, and then for their ongoing operational and strategic management once live.

What you’ll be doing

You’ll provide leadership and line management across the three homes, taking the lead on their development and on the recruitment of the staff who’ll run them, including Registered Managers. You’ll build relationships with partner agencies and stakeholders across the sufficiency programme, represent the homes at internal and external forums, and manage the budgets, contracts and performance systems that keep the service running to standard.

You’ll also sit on the Out of Hours Senior Management Rota.

This is a new post, and you’ll be building the team and the operating model for the homes rather than stepping into something already established.

What we’re looking for

• Educated to degree level or equivalent, and a qualified, registered social worker

• A post-qualifying award, ideally with a postgraduate leadership or management qualification

• Team manager level experience (or equivalent) of operational management in a large organisation delivering services to children, young people and families

• Experience managing complex budgets and financial processes

• Experience of planning or delivering services in a multi-agency context, including within a commissioning environment

• A track record of leading and motivating teams to deliver sustainable, high quality service improvement

• Sound knowledge of the legislative and policy framework around children’s services, and of the regulatory and inspection regime you’ll be operating under, including Ofsted registration requirements

• Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders and resolve conflict at a senior level

Why this role

You’d be shaping three services from inception rather than inheriting an existing structure, with direct input into staffing models, practice standards and how the homes operate day to day. It’s a chance to build something rather than manage around the edges of something already fixed.

For an informal conversation about the role, contact: Ella Barton, Service Manager, EllaBarton@barnsley.gov.uk

Senior Programme Officer (SME) - Children in Care Sufficiency

 £48,738 - £51,928  | 37 hours per week | Permanent | Closing date: 2 October 2026

Children in care sufficiency is at the heart of this programme. Barnsley is investing in a strengthened kinship offer, foster care service, the Mockingbird constellation model, and its own internal residential provision. This role holds the thread across all of it. 

You’ll bring subject matter expertise in looked after children, placement sufficiency or children in care commissioning. You’ll know the system from the inside, whether through social work practice, commissioning, data or programme delivery, and you’ll understand what the pressures facing children in care teams actually look like day to day. 

Strong analytical skills are essential. You’ll be working with complex demand and cost data, interpreting trends, and translating that analysis into clear programme intelligence for senior governance. Excellent written communication matters too: the reports and briefings you produce will inform gateway decisions and go to senior leadership. Accuracy and clarity are not optional. 

Reporting to the Head of Programme Management Office, you’ll work closely with social work teams, commissioners and the Head of PMO to keep the Children in Care workstream on track against milestones, and you’ll be expected to spot drift and escalate risks before they become problems. This is a role for someone who takes both their subject matter and the quality of their outputs seriously.