Overview
Residential Practitioner- Children’s Home – Permanent
This is a Gloucestershire County Council job.
- Job Title: Residential Practitioner- Children’s Home
- Job Location: Gloucester
- Salary: £30,024 – £32,597 per annum (plus enhanced pay for unsociable hours and sleep-in allowance)
- Hours per Week: 37
- Contract Type: Permanent
- Closing Date: Ongoing
- Job Requisition Number: 9880
- This post is open to job share (on an 18.5 hour per week basis)
Make a Real Difference – Join Us as a Residential Practitioner
Are you driven by purpose? Do you believe every child deserves safety, love, and the chance to thrive? If you’re passionate about transforming lives and want to be part of something truly meaningful, we’d love to hear from you.
We’re looking for compassionate, resilient, and dedicated individuals to join our growing team in our newly opened children’s homes. This is more than a job, it’s a chance to be a positive force in a child’s life, every single day.
About us
Right child, right support, right time, every time
Following our June 2025 Ofsted inspection, our Children’s Services were rated ‘Good’ with ‘Outstanding’ elements. Ofsted praised our leadership for creating a culture where children, families, and staff feel valued and heard, and where risk is managed confidently and ethically.
We’re proud to be launching new purpose-driven children’s homes, each designed to meet specific needs. These homes are built around trauma-informed care, clinical support, and staff development — ensuring our practitioners are empowered to deliver the highest standards of care.
What makes us different?
- on-site mental health clinicians to guide trauma-informed practice.
- Advanced Practitioner-led training to support your growth and confidence.
- a culture of listening, learning, and valuing your voice.
We’re excited to be opening our new children’s homes. Each home has a specific purpose. We have one small home dedicated to providing short term care, supporting younger children to make the transition to foster care or to return home. We have a larger home for older children with a plan of long term residential care and we will support them to transition towards independence through the use of our supported accommodation studios. Our third home will be supporting older children with a plan of ‘step down’ from residential care to foster care or a return home.
About you
We are looking for individuals who are:
- passionate about supporting children and young people flourish.
- are empathetic, patient, and resilient, with strong teamwork and communication skills.
- can build trusting relationships with children who may have experienced trauma.
- are flexible to work shifts, evenings, weekends, and sleep-ins.
- are committed to learning and professional development.
Experience in residential care is welcomed but not essential, we’ll provide full training and ongoing support.
As well as your experience of working with children, there are some things we require of you to be successfully appointed to this post:
- Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) or an equivalent qualification, or a commitment to achieving the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare within two years of commencing employment at the home if you do not already have this qualification.
- a full driving licence and willingness to drive
- DBS clearance
About the Role
As a Residential Practitioner, you will:
- deliver high-quality, personalised care in a safe and nurturing environment.
- use a trauma-informed approach to support emotional healing and growth.
- encourage positive behaviour, life skills, and independence.
- work collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team to implement tailored care plans.
- support children in education, recreation, and personal development.
- handle challenging situations with professionalism and therapeutic techniques.
- ensure the home runs smoothly and meets all safeguarding and regulatory standards.
Typical shift pattern: 10:00am – 11:00pm + sleep-in + 7:00am – 10:30am
Why Join Us?
- be part of a forward-thinking, values-led team.
- receive specialist training and clinical support.
- make a lasting impact on children’s lives.
- grow your career in a supportive and ambitious environment.
How to apply
For additional information about this role please reach out to ChildrenHomeRecruitment@gloucestershire.gov.uk
* Any hours worked between 20.00 – 06.00, weekends and Bank Holidays attract an unsociable payment over and above the basic salary for this post.
This is a rolling advert and will remain live until all our current Residential Practitioner vacancies are filled.
Interviews for shortlisted candidates will be held on Thursdays.
We reserve the right to close an advertisement earlier than the stated closing date if we receive a suitable number of applications.
Under the terms of our Safer Recruitment Policy, if you are invited to interview, we will take up safeguarding references prior to your interview to understand your suitability to work with vulnerable children. These references will then be discussed in your interview. Please give details of at least two referees, one of whom must be your present and/or last employer and the other from a previous employer(s). These will need to cover the last three years of employment/education. In the case of applicants leaving full time education or not having worked since doing so, the Head of School, College or University should be one of the named referees. We do not accept references from friends or family members or workplace colleagues (who are not more senior). To ensure we process your application in a speedy and efficient way, we will contact your referees by DocuSign. Where appropriate, please inform them of your application.
Additional Information
To access the Job Profile for this role, please follow the link below:-
Residential Practitioner job profile
This position is subject to a DBS check.
Please ensure that your personal statement relates to this particular role and that a full CV is uploaded. If information is missed off your application, the hiring managers may not review it.
The council is not currently able to offer sponsorship in this role. Candidates will need to have right to work that enables them to commit to at least 6 months employment. Right to work is not transferable from a sponsored role held with another employer.
Gloucestershire County Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people or vulnerable adults and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
We want to be an employer of choice, attracting and retaining excellent people to work for us, so that we can best serve all of Gloucestershire’s diverse communities. Our promise to you is that we will provide an inclusive and supportive working environment that enables you to bring your whole self to work and realise your full potential.
It is a legal requirement, under the Immigration Act 2016, that anyone appointed to a ‘customer facing role’ must be able to demonstrate an ability to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence in fluent English.
Hybrid working arrangements are available for the majority of our roles, giving teams the opportunity to work in a way that suits them, balancing service need and individual choice, with a mix of both remote and office working.
