Deputy Manager - Young People Supported Living Services

Job Title: Deputy Manager – Young People Supported Living Services

Contract: Full-time/Permanent – 38 hours per week

Salary: £33,744 per annum

Location: Hackney & Waltham Forest area

About Outward

For 50 years, Outward has been providing high-quality support and care services to vulnerable people across London, predominantly in North East London. Established by families seeking alternatives to institutional care, we’ve grown into a respected provider of person-centred support for adults with learning disabilities, autism, mental health needs, and complex needs. We support over 1,000 people across nine boroughs, guided by our core values: engage, enable, and empower.

About the Role

Are you passionate about empowering young people and shaping services that support their journey to independence? Outward is seeking a dynamic Deputy Manager to join our Young People’s Supported Housing Team. This is your chance to make a real difference in the lives of care leavers and young people facing housing and mental health challenges. As Deputy Manager, you’ll take day-to-day responsibility for a group of services supporting young people transitioning to independent living. Working closely with a passionate and skilled team, you will ensure a high-quality, sensitive, and responsive supported housing management service across your designated patch.

You will play a key leadership role in the day-to-day running of one or more services, supporting the Supported Housing Manager in supervising staff, overseeing rota planning, promoting quality and compliance, and maintaining strong partnerships with families and professionals.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor Support Officers and Senior Support Workers
• Plan rotas and manage service delivery to meet both contractual requirements and the aspirations of young people.
• Ensure support and risk management plans are in place and effectively implemented
• Promote young people’s engagement in education, employment, and community life
• Oversee housing management tasks including health & safety checks, repairs, and tenancy processes
• Support staff development through supervision, training, and appraisals
• Deputise for the Supported Housing Manager when required
• Mentor, coach and lead staff through best practice, reflective supervision, and day-to-day operational guidance.
• Support the development and regular review of support and risk plans tailored to individuals’ goals and preferences.
• Provide a robust induction to new staff to include regular 1:1 mentoring, coaching and    modelling best practice
• Build effective relationships with family members and stakeholders, advocating for the people we support.
• Support positive behaviour support (PBS) approaches within the team and promote a strengths-based culture.
• Monitor service performance and quality, ensuring services meet or exceed CQC standards.
• Be a key player in implementing upcoming digital systems e.g Nourish, Sona etc
• Work closely with Supported Housing Manager with change implementation for frontline staff as and when required.
• Contribute to audits, reporting, and inspection readiness.
• Participate in on-call duties as part of the management rota.
• Take part in assessments from receiving referrals and oversee void management.

Requirements

What we’re looking for

We’re looking for someone with integrity, energy and a commitment to empowering people with complex needs to lead fulfilling lives. You will support the team to develop support plans and risk assessments that reflect people’s needs, preferences and aspirations; creating a culture where plans are actively implemented and reviewed so that people are supported in the way that they want

Requirements

Essential:

• Experience in managing or deputising within supported living or residential care services
• Strong understanding of the challenges faced by young people leaving care or experiencing housing need
• Skills in risk assessment, crisis management, and housing management processes
• A commitment to safeguarding and promoting young people’s rights
• Ability to manage performance and motivate staff teams
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills; able to liaise with professionals, families, and staff.
• Ability to motivate, support and lead a team in a flexible and responsive manner.
• Established commitment to safeguarding, equality, and the rights of people with disabilities.
• Comfortable working weekends, evenings, and providing on-call support on a rota basis where need be.
• Proficient IT skills (e.g. Microsoft Office, case management systems).

Desirable:

• Experience supporting service users in supported living or outreach services.
• Formal qualification in health and social care (e.g. Level 3 or 5 Diploma).
• Experience working with Positive Behaviour Support (PBS).
• Experience contributing to service quality audits and CQC compliance.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of adults at risk and expect all staff to share this commitment. If the post you apply for involves working with or having access to adults at risk and/or their records, we will require an Enhanced Disclosure from the Disclosure and Barring Services. This will be fully subsidised by Outward.

How to Apply  

The above is not an exhaustive list of requirements for the role.

If you think you are who we are looking for, please submit a CV and statement detailing how you feel your experiences meets the requirements of the role by referring to the Job Responsibilities and the Person Specification.

There is no specific closing date for this advert. We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive a sufficient number of suitable applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible. It would be great to hear from you.

Benefits

We value everything our staff do for the people we support, so we provide a great benefits package:

• 25 days Annual Leave excluding Bank Holidays (pro rata for part time)
• Comprehensive Learning & Development Programme

• Cycle-to-Work Scheme
• Death in Service Benefit
• Health Assured – Employee Assistance Programme
• Eye care Vouchers
• Flu Jab Reimbursement
• Pension Scheme
• Purchase Additional Annual Leave
• Refer-a-Friend Scheme

Diversity and Safeguarding at Outward :

We are committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all sections of the community.

Outward applies its Equal Opportunities Policy at all stages of recruitment and selection.  Shortlisting, interviewing and selection is carried out without regard to gender, sexual orientation, marital status, colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origins, religion or belief, age or trade union membership. 

As an employer, who aspire to become Disability Confident Committed, we aim to ensure that a fair and proportionate number of disabled applicants that meet the minimum criteria for this position will be offered an interview. Please indicate clearly at the beginning of your supporting statement if you have a disability (as defined by the Equality Act 2010), and you wish to be considered for an Offer Of an Interview (OOI) Please note that the OOI is available to disabled candidates only. Regrettably, any false declaration of disability in order to secure an interview will impact on your overall application.

Outward is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of adults at risk and expects all staff to share this commitment. If the post you apply for involves working with or having access to adults at risk and/or their records, we will require a DBS for successful candidates.