Recruiting a Deputy Service Manager to join our Young People's service in South and West Kent!

£32,000 per annum, working 40 hours per week, plus 25 days Annual Leave, Pension schemes, Staff discounts, healthcare and more.

This role requires working in Tunbridge, Maidstone, Ashford, Folkstone and Dover.

A Deputy Service Manager supports the Service Manager who is responsible for the effective management of all operational matters within their designated patches, including line managing the relevant front line staff.

Working within the county of Kent, the Deputy Service Manager will share responsibility for ensuring that a holistic and cohesive model of customer support is embedded across the accommodation services. Look Ahead operates trauma and psychologically informed approaches, ensuring that our customers benefit from being supported through strengths-based practices. The role will also require the individual to embody a psychologically informed approach to their work through their leadership style

Key Responsibilities:

- Support the Service Manager to drive operational activities within your Lots, ensuring relevant and challenging objective setting and ongoing performance tracking
- Successfully lead and motivate the team to ensure the championing of and maintenance of a positive local culture within your service
- Prioritise the filling of voids and reduction of arrears and bad debt
- Work to continuously improve staff competence, ensure ownership of all staff issues and speedy and effective conflict resolution
- Facilitate transparency of communications ensuring the flow up/down is effective
- Lead on casework management ensuring risk and support plans are completed dynamically
- Promote partnership working to maximise opportunities/outcomes for customers
- Monitor and maintain creative and ambitious customer involvement plans
- Support Service Manager to prepare for 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
- Support the Service Manager in producing and submitting Monthly Management Reports to the Performance team, ensuring that all data gathered on local KPI's is accurate and up to date
- Develop and maintain excellent internal management relationships with all other Look Ahead departments & functions, ensuring sharing of best practice and supporting initiatives to improve organisational performance
- 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
- Engage positively in reflective practice sessions with colleagues
- Oversee follow up actions so that safeguarding cases are managed in line with safeguarding protocols and accurate records are maintained
- Ensure that all other Look Ahead policies and procedures are adhered to
- Carry out other deputy management duties commensurate with the designated role level, as may be deemed reasonable by Look Ahead, including the management of other contracts within the designated patch, or an alternative patch, if such a need arises

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.

Person Specification:

- Ability to lead and motivate staff in a transparent and consistent
- Exudes a warm friendly presence and open behaviour
- Prefers working as part of a group or team
- Is fundamentally calm and resilient, does not let emotion adversely affect them or obscure their judgement
- Has a practical and logical mind and is naturally well organised
- Thrives on change and enjoys dynamic diverse environments
- Is confident with high levels of self-esteem
- Is respectful, articulate and sensitive in style of communication
- Is motivated towards excellence and improvement of personal performance with a can do attitude
- Ability to cope positively with challenging and diverse behaviour

For more information or to apply please visit our website.