Deputy Manager - Supported Living Services - Maternity Cover

Job Title: Deputy Manager

Contract: Full time - Maternity Cover 12 Months

Hours: 38 per week

Salary: £33,585 per annum

Location: NE London.

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.

Outward is proud to be an accredited Living Wage Employer . This means we are committed to paying the Real Living Wage – not just the government minimum or national living wage – to our frontline Support Workers and other eligible staff. We recognise the value of the work our teams do, and we are committed to ensuring fair pay that reflects the true cost of living. The Real Living Wage is updated annually by the Living Wage Foundation, and Outward remains committed to aligning our pay accordingly.

About the Role

We are looking for a proactive and passionate Deputy Manager to join our dedicated team supporting adults with a range of needs, including learning disabilities, autism, mental health challenges, and complex support requirements. This full-time, one-year maternity cover role offers an opportunity to combine direct care and support with service coordination and team leadership, helping the people we support to live independent and fulfilling lives.

As Deputy Manager, you will work closely with the Team Manager to support the day-to-day running of services and provide clear guidance to support staff. You will help coordinate support planning, key working and rotas, provide staff supervision, and maintain a hands-on approach to delivering high-quality care and support. Working with the people we support, their families and other professionals, you will help ensure that individual needs, choices and goals remain at the centre of service delivery. You will support consistent service delivery during the Team Manager’s absence and help keep services person-centred, well-managed, and aligned with Outward’s core values of engage, enable, and empower.

Your Responsibilities

As a Deputy Manager, you will:

· Provide direct, person-centred support that promotes independence, choice and dignity, helping people achieve their individual goals and participate in their community.

· Coordinate day-to-day service delivery, including staff rotas, shift allocation and handovers, working with the Team Manager to maintain appropriate staffing and continuity of support.

· Carry out key working responsibilities, including developing and reviewing support plans and risk assessments with the people we support, maintaining accurate records, and liaising with families and other professionals as appropriate.

· Lead on agreed areas of service quality and improvement, completing checks, gathering feedback from the people we support and following up actions with the Team Manager.

· Support the Team Manager with the day-to-day management of services, staff induction and team communication, taking delegated responsibility during their absence and escalating concerns appropriately.

· Provide line management and regular supervision to support staff, offering clear guidance, identifying learning and development needs, and promoting consistent, person-centred practice.

· Ensure support is delivered in line with safeguarding, health and safety, confidentiality and organisational procedures, maintaining accurate records and promptly reporting incidents, concerns and changes in support needs.

- Work flexibly across multiple services, including evenings and weekends, to support consistent service delivery.

Requirements

Essential Criteria

· Experience of delivering person-centred care or support to adults with learning disabilities, autism, mental health needs or complex support needs, promoting independence, choice and dignity.

· Experience of coordinating a staff team or undertaking senior support responsibilities, with the ability to provide clear guidance and support staff development.

· Good understanding of safeguarding and risk management in a care/support setting, including recognising, reporting and appropriately escalating concerns.

- Knowledge of health and safety issues within supported housing or care environments

· Ability to develop and review person-centred support plans and risk assessments, maintain accurate records and respond appropriately to changing support needs.

- Understanding of confidentiality, GDPR, and data protection principles

· Clear verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to work collaboratively with the people we support, families, colleagues and other professionals.

· Strong organisational skills, including prioritising workloads, coordinating rotas and handovers, using digital care records and escalating issues to the Team Manager.

· Commitment to Outward’s values of engage, enable and empower, and ability to work flexibly across services, including evenings and weekends.

- Staff must have access to a smartphone capable of receiving SMS messages and installing authentication apps for secure systems access
- Right to Work in the UK. Please note: Outward will not provide visa sponsorship.

Desirable Criteria

- NVQ Level 2 or 3 in Health and Social Care (or equivalent)

· Additional training in Positive Behaviour Support (PBS), safeguarding or housing-related legislation.

· Experience of providing staff supervision, supporting induction and identifying training and development needs.

· Experience of contributing to service audits, quality checks and improvement plans, including gathering feedback from the people we support.

· Experience of supported housing or managing day-to-day coordination across more than one service.

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

Benefits:

When you join us, you’ll have access to a wide range of benefits to support your wellbeing, development and work–life balance, including:

- Comprehensive Learning and Development Programme
- Pension Scheme
- Cycle‑to‑Work Scheme
- Blue Light Discounts Card
- Eye Care Vouchers
- Flu Jab Reimbursement
- Health Assured Employee Assistance Programme
- Option to purchase additional annual leave
- Refer‑a‑Friend Scheme
- Long Service Awards
- Discounted holidays at Nutley Edge Cottages
- Credit Union Scheme
- Outward Computing Scheme
- Death in Service Benefit

Full details of our rewards and benefits are available from our HR Team and through our Staff Room intranet.

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.