Job profile

Job reference

REQ004679

Date posted

21/04/2023

Application closing date

29/05/2023

Location

Islington

Salary

£35,000.00 per annum

Package

Benefits include 25 days Annual Leave, pension schemes, staff discounts, healthcare and career progression.

Contractual hours

35

Basis

Full time

Job category/type

Full Time, Permanent

Job description

We’re looking for a kind, compassionate and resilient Contract Manager to join our Young People service in Islington No personal care or experience is required, just the right values.

£35,000.00 per annum, working 35 hours per week. Benefits include 25 days Annual Leave, pension schemes, staff discounts, healthcare and career progression.

Want to feel like you’re part of one team? You’ll feel at home here.

Making you feel at home here means helping you thrive in every way. That’s why we offer a wide range of benefits, award-winning Learning & Development and a culture that welcomes all. These aren’t token gestures - we’ve thought long and hard about how best to support our team. After all, our people are doing something amazing: helping to transform lives every day.

Islington Young People Assessment Centre is a Supported Housing Service in Islington, in a 24 hour staffed high support property. Our customer base is made up of young people who are leaving the care system, unaccompanied asylum seeking children, young people who present themselves to the council who are experiencing homelessness or young people who are at risk of homelessness.

This role requires a valid Right to Work for the UK as Look Ahead are not a sponsoring organisation.

What you’ll do:

Contract Managers are responsible for the effective management of all contracts within their designated patch, including line managing the relevant front line staff. Leadership and competence development in direct reports is a key responsibility of the role. Post-holders may also carry client group specialism responsibilities, linking in with other Managers and Head of Operations to ensure focussed integration of specialisms across the whole organisation. 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

About you:

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.

• Drive business planning activities within your contract, ensuring relevant and challenging objective setting and ongoing performance tracking, developing turn around action plans as may be necessary
• Work with the Young People directorate, contributing to and delivering the vision and strategy of our pathway
• Maintaining excellent relationships with the local council, commissioning team, landlords, and housing team
• Using sound financial and accounting principles, manage contract budgets to deliver on corporate and local contract financial targets
• Successfully lead and motivate your team to ensure the championing of and maintenance of a positive local culture within your service
• Work to continuously improve staff competence, ensure ownership of all staff issues and speedy and effective conflict resolution
• Responsible for reporting all staff changes to HR and Payroll departments, as appropriate e.g. starters, leavers, additional hours etc.
• Responsible for maintaining quarterly staff succession plans
• Deliver effective, professional and commercially focused briefings and supervision meetings with staff and ensure that information, reporting & communications flow up/down is effective
• Responsible for managing and allocating customers to support staff (casework management)
• Develop key business relationships with all relevant customers/external parties to ensure service delivery excellence and maximise new business opportunities in own patch
• Plan, organise and prioritise operations within your contract to ensure maximum efficiencies/utilisation of all resources
• Working with your team lead creative and ambitious customer involvement plans across the patch and ensure successful implementation
• Where appropriate to role, carry client group specialism activities, linking in with other Managers and Heads of Operations to ensure focussed integration of specialisms across the whole organisation
• Lead 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
• Responsible for producing and submitting Monthly Management Reports to the Performance team, ensuring that all data gathered on local KPI’s are accurate and up to date
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives across contract portfolio ensuring Look Ahead continues to set and achieves sector best practice standards and is held as a benchmark to competitors
• Develop and maintain excellent internal management relationships with all other Look Ahead departments and functions, ensuring sharing of best practice and supporting initiatives to improve organisational performance
• Within your service, ensure competent use of all relevant business IT systems and all company policies and frameworks
• Responsible for managing petty cash for the service in accordance with Look Ahead procedures
• Deliver an out of hours on-call service for region
• 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
• Ensure that all safeguarding cases are managed in line with safeguarding protocols and are reported to Head of Operations Managers
• Ensure that all other Look Ahead policies and procedures are adhered to
• Carry out other 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

What you’ll bring:

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.

• Ability to lead and motivate staff to deliver excellent services
• Is fundamentally calm and resilient, does not let emotion adversely affect them or obscure their judgement
• Has a practical and logical mind
• Excellent organisation skills
• 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
• Enjoys social interaction and the company of others, joins in local activities to encourage customer involvement
• Exudes a warm friendly presence and open behaviour
• Able to work as part of a group or team as well as being self motivated

Essential:

• Educated to degree level or equivalent
• Experience of managing contracts and resources and delivering to budget and performance targets
• Experience of delivering to housing management performance targets
• Experience of effectively managing and developing staff to ensure delivery of services performance targets within contract
• Experience of successfully managing external partnerships to ensure successful delivery of services
• Holds relevant CMI/NVQ Level 5, or Business/Management Qualification, or be willing to be willing to work towards a Level 5 ILM to meet regulation standards (Ofsted)

Desirable:

• Other relevant professional memberships and/or specialist qualifications

About us:

Look Ahead is a dynamic, leading, not-for-profit care and support provider in London and the South East. As an organisation we deliver over 110 services, providing support to around 7000 customers each year. We work across mental health, homelessness, young people and learning disabilities so there are plenty of opportunities to grow and progress your career with us.

Look Ahead is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults at risk, and expects all employees, workers and volunteers to share this commitment.

If your application for this role is unsuccessful, but we feel that you would be suitable for another role, we may contact you to discuss alternative opportunities. If this occurs you would not need to submit another application for the alternative role.

We reserve the right to close this advert early if we are able to appoint to the vacancy before the advertised closed date.

We are committed to diversity and inclusion at work and are accredited with Silver in the Inclusive Employers Standard 2021. We are a proud member of the Employers Domestic Abuse Covenant and encourage applications from a diverse range of applicants of all backgrounds.