Relief Residential Children's Worker

We value diverse perspectives and experiences and are striving to create a workplace culture that is inclusive, is accepting of all and is free from discrimination and bias. Coventry Residential Children’s Services currently have several well-established children's homes within the city. Our family style homes offer individualised care for children aged 10 to 18 years, who have a diverse range of needs and may have been impacted by childhood trauma. We also have a forward-thinking strategy with a clear vision to expand our provision and due to this we are currently in the process of opening new homes, so why not join us and be part of our incredible journey.

Our Values

In line with our One Coventry Values, we want to ensure that our communities are represented across our workforce. A vital part of this is ensuring we are a truly inclusive organisation that encourages diversity in all respects, including diversity of thinking. We particularly welcome applicants from minority ethnic, LGBT+, disabled and neurodiverse communities to make a real difference to our residents so that equity and respect remains at the heart of everything we do.

Our Values are:

1. Open and fair: We are fair, open, and transparent.
2. Nurture and develop: We help and encourage everyone to be their best and do their best.
3. Engage and empower: We talk and listen to others, working together as one.
4. Create and innovate: We embrace new ways of working to continuously improve.
5. Own and be accountable: We work together to deliver the best services for our residents.
6. Value and respect: We put diversity and inclusion at the heart of all we do.

What is the job role?

Our homes provide a warm and stable environment that enables Coventry’s children to stay closer to their family, friends and community. By joining our highly motivated and dedicated team it offers opportunities to make a real difference to the lives of our amazing looked after children. We deliver excellent standards of care using Signs of Safety and Relationship Based Practice to provide a safe and nurturing space for them to call home.

What our children say

Our priority is to deliver a service that works for and reflects the views of our looked after children and on consulting with them about how they would like to be cared for, here are some of the things they said:

1. We would like to be listened to
2. To be treated with respect, dignity and individuality
3. To feel safe
4. To be helped to achieve our full potential
5. To be supported to be independent
6. To be cared for by people who won’t give up on us
7. To build and maintain positive relationships and where possible, not to move too far away from where we used to live and to stay in the same school
8. To make happy memories

About the job role

There are 3 key areas of skill essential to this role:

1. Day to day carer: Supporting the children to continue their daily routines within a safe, secure, nurturing environment in which they can thrive.
2. Relationship builder: Supporting behaviours through positive relationships and promoting the development of meaningful interaction between carers and children. This is based on the core values of mutual respect, good parenting, privacy, dignity, independence, choice, rights, fulfilment, child centred practice, planning and partnership.
3. Educator: Providing children with the information they need in a way that they understand to enable them to make informed choices about their own care and to give them the ability to make reasoned decisions about the world around them, for example, social issues, preparation for independence, physical and emotional health.

This post is exempted under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and as such appointment to this post will be conditional upon the receipt of a satisfactory response to a check of police records via Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

Who are we looking for?

The children we care for within our homes have a diverse range of needs. You may not have worked in residential care before, but you will need to have experience of working with children and young people and be passionate about improving outcomes for them. Preferably you will be a driver, have a good level of computer literacy and communication skills to be able to effectively evidence the work we do, and be committed to continued professional development. In return we will offer you a high level of support with bespoke training and, if you haven’t already achieved the Diploma for Residential Childcare, we will support you to do this.

You should have:

1. An understanding of the needs of children who become 'looked after' and/or require a short break
2. Knowledge of relationships and the impact on children coming into and leaving care
3. An understanding of the individual needs of our children and be able to work holistically to deliver within the 3 key areas of skill

If you think you have the right skills to help us to achieve great things for our children by placing them at the centre of everything you do and feel that you are caring, non-judgmental, enthusiastic, committed and child focused with the ability to work in partnership with others, are reflective, flexible, accountable and resilient, we would like to hear from you.

As part of the application process, you will need to provide us with your full work history since leaving school and identify any gaps in employment to meet the requirements of Schedule 2 of the Children’s Homes Regulations 2015.

Children's and Education Services encourage applicants from Coventry to apply who will have similar lived experiences to children whose homes are the Residential Care Homes.

Working Patterns & Posts

We are currently recruiting to Relief posts. Relief carers are contacted to support gaps on the rota, which will include evenings, weekends, bank holidays and sleep ins. The role is based on operational need with the expectation that relief carers work a minimum of one shift per month.

If you need help or support to complete your application, please visit our accessibility page to see how we can assist you.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme: As part of our commitment to inclusion, we offer guaranteed interviews for specific groups of people. To qualify, you'll need to meet the minimum requirements for the role and identify with one of the below criteria:

1. Members of the Armed Forces and veterans
2. Are currently in care or have previously been in care
3. If you consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition

For full details on the application process please read the attached document on our jobs page labelled 'Coventry City Council Application Process'. If there is any evidence of a candidate using AI to complete their application, then the application will be rejected unless the candidate can provide a justification which the Council considers to be reasonable.

Interview date

Week commencing 28th April 2025

About Coventry

Coventry has a proud, innovative and creative spirit that throughout its history has seen communities come together to tackle problems and bring about real social change. We are cutting-edge, challenging, youthful, vibrant and diverse.

At Coventry we are committed to excellence in everything we do. With around 5100 staff from a range of different backgrounds, our aim is to recruit and develop talented people who will focus on our customers, take responsibility, work together and find better ways of doing things.

To deliver the best services to our residents, we need the best people working for us to make a difference to our communities.

If you join us, we will provide a fantastic rewards and benefits package - to find out more please visit Coventry City Council Vacancies.