Care With Kindness
Head of Service
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Key Details
Qualifications/skills:
- Developed leadership and management skills
- Highly effective communicator
- Level 5 Leadership and Management in Health and Social Care Sector
Experience:
- Senior experience within domiciliary care sector
- Experience scaling a service
Must have had substantial senior experience within domiciliary care and must previously have held CQC Registered Manager registration
Terms and conditions:
£36,000–£40,000 per annum, depending on experience, plus performance-related pay and potential for equity. Full-time, with flexibility required to meet the needs of the service. Based at Devon Business & Education Centre, Tale, Payhembury, Honiton, EX14 3HL.
About us
“Our mission is driven by compassion. Through our exceptional team we will provide high quality and professional care for the elderly of rural Devon so that they can stay in their own homes as part of their community.”
The Head of Service will have a pivotal role in driving this mission forward, ensuring that it is reflected not simply in the care we provide, but in the way Care With Kindness is led, managed and developed. We are a small (45 service users), community-based home care company, passionate about making a positive difference to people’s lives. We support individuals to live independently in their own homes, and we believe that great care starts with a supported, valued team.
Role Purpose
The Head of Service is the senior leadership position within Care With Kindness and will work closely with the Director and Founders to lead the organisation through its next stage of development as it continues to grow.
The role holder will have responsibility for ensuring that the organisation has the leadership, culture, people, systems and operational capability required to deliver outstanding care while developing sustainably.
A particularly important aspect of the role will be helping Care With Kindness to migrate successfully towards employee ownership over the next 3 years so that we can develop a community asset that will benefit all, especially our exceptional team of carers.
The Head of Service will therefore need to be much more than an experienced care manager. They will need to be an inspirational and pragmatic leader who can engage people in the future direction of the organisation, build a strong sense of shared ownership and accountability, and translate the company's mission and values into everyday behaviours and decisions. This will require the role holder to build powerful relationships with all partners and stakeholders, including Devon Business & Education Trust, our partner charity.
Reporting to the Director, the Head of Service will lead the Registered Manager and Operations Manager, ensuring that the operational delivery of the organisation supports its strategic ambitions.
1. Drive the Mission and Vision Forward
- Work closely with the Director and Senior Managers to ensure that the mission is understood and demonstrated by staff at every level.
- Continue supporting a culture where decisions are made with the needs and outcomes of clients at the forefront.
- Provide leadership and momentum so that Care With Kindness continues to develop rather than simply maintain its existing services.
- Act as a visible and credible leader of the organisation, representing its values internally and externally.
- Work with Senior Managers to develop them as exceptional leaders.
- Work closely with the Director to develop and implement the organisational and cultural shifts required to support employee ownership, including greater levels of employee involvement in decision-making and organisational improvement.
- Encourage ideas and innovation from employees and help continue to develop a culture of shared responsibility, accountability and pride.
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2. Organisational Leadership and Culture
- Establish a strong, positive and values-led organisational culture.
- Ensure that Care With Kindness is a place where people want to work and where employees feel valued and listened to.
- Develop a culture of openness, trust and constructive challenge.
- Ensure managers lead through engagement and accountability rather than simply through processes and procedures.
- Break down organisational silos and encourage collaboration.
- Develop a culture in which problems are identified early and addressed rather than hidden.
- Encourage staff to take ownership of problems and identify solutions.
- Ensure that learning and continuous improvement are part of everyday organisational life.
- Develop future leaders within the organisation.
- Ensure that the culture supports both excellent client outcomes and sustainable organisational performance.
3. Quality, Compliance and Client Outcomes
- Ensure that excellent care remains the fundamental priority of the organisation.
- Maintain a strong focus on outcomes rather than simply completion of tasks.
- Work closely with the Registered Manager to ensure the service meets its regulatory responsibilities.
- Ensure effective governance, quality assurance and risk-management arrangements.
- Promote a culture where safeguarding, safety and quality are everyone's responsibility.
- Ensure that incidents, complaints, feedback and audits result in learning and improvement.
- Ensure that quality is maintained during periods of growth or organisational change.
- Support the Registered Manager in maintaining effective relationships with CQC, commissioners and other external stakeholders.
4. Lead Organisational Development and Growth
- Work with the Director and Senior staff to determine how Care With Kindness should develop over the next 3–5 years.
- Identify opportunities to grow the organisation while protecting the quality and culture of the service.
- Assess the organisational capacity required to support growth.
- Ensure that new services and initiatives are properly planned and resourced.
- Lead organisational change effectively and sensitively.
- Challenge existing ways of working where they no longer meet the needs of the organisation.
- Support the organisation's increased use of technology and digital systems.
- Reduce unnecessary administration and manual processes.
- Develop systems that allow the organisation to grow without unnecessary increases in bureaucracy.
- Ensure that growth is sustainable financially, operationally and culturally.
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5. Leadership of the Registered Manager and Operations Manager
- Provide clear strategic direction to the Registered Manager and Operations Manager.
- Ensure that both managers understand how their roles contribute to the wider mission and strategy.
- Establish clear objectives, measures and expectations.
- Provide coaching, support and constructive challenge.
- Ensure that the two roles operate as an effective leadership team.
- Hold managers accountable for agreed outcomes.
- Encourage managers to develop their own teams and future leaders.
- Ensure that operational issues are resolved effectively and do not unnecessarily escalate to the Director.
- Identify emerging leadership and organisational issues and address them proactively.
6. Financial and Commercial Leadership
- Work with the Director and Senior Managers to ensure the organisation remains financially sustainable.
- Contribute to budgeting and financial planning.
- Monitor operational expenditure and identify opportunities for efficiency.
- Ensure that financial considerations are balanced with quality and client outcomes.
- Assess the financial and operational implications of growth opportunities.
- Support development of new services and income streams.
- Ensure that the organisation grows in a financially responsible way.
Person Specification
Essential
- Think strategically while remaining grounded in operational reality.
- Inspire and engage people around a shared mission.
- Lead organisational change.
- Build trust and strong relationships.
- Hold people accountable without creating a blame culture.
- Challenge constructively.
- Make difficult decisions when required.
- Develop managers and future leaders.
- Communicate clearly with both senior leaders and frontline staff.
- Work collaboratively with partners.
- Turn strategy into measurable action.
- Lead cultural change.
- Build employee ownership and engagement.
- Level 5 in Leadership and Management within Health and Social Care
Desirable
- Experience of leading a growing domiciliary care organisation.
- Experience of service development or introducing new care services.
- Understanding of employee ownership, social enterprise or values-led organisations.
- Experience of implementing digital systems within care services.
- Experience of working with NHS, local authority or integrated care systems.
- Experience of commissioning and contract management.
Performance-Related Pay
In addition to the basic salary of £36,000–£40,000, the role will have the opportunity to earn performance-related pay and a potential for equity.
Performance measures will be agreed with the Director and will reflect both organisational and strategic outcomes, including the transition towards employee-ownership.
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