Service Manager - Aberdeen Housing First

 JOB PURPOSE: To manage the delivery of consistent and high quality services ensuring their continuing relevance to all stakeholders.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES/TASKS:

Service Delivery

• Maintain the continuing relevance of services to individuals’ needs and purchaser requirements by ongoing planning, monitoring and evaluation.
• Where a need or an opportunity is identified, assist in the development of new services
• Maximise stakeholder involvement in service and business planning
• Ensure that equality of opportunity is reflected in all aspects of service delivery

Quality Assurance

• Ensure agreed standards of service delivery in compliance with relevant legislation, National Care Standards and purchaser requirements.
• Develop, promote and monitor quality assurance systems appropriate to the needs of the individual/Service and organisational requirements
• Ensure compliance with the Scottish Social Services Council Code of Practice.
• Ensure that stakeholder processes are managed

Staff Management

• Be responsible for and ensure the appropriate support, supervision and appraisal of staff.
• Develop, monitor and evaluate staff communication and support systems.
• Develop, monitor and implement supervision and appraisal systems for staff.
• Ensure that all Turning Point Scotland policies and procedures are adhered to.
• Recruit, develop and ensure the provision of relevant induction for staff and continuing learning opportunities

Financial Management/Administration

• Ensure that records are kept up-to-date and take account of relevant legislation and individuals requirements.
• Ensure that service records are audited to ensure compliance with organisational requirements
• Maintain the economic viability of the Service by operating within agreed budgetary requirements.
• Record information in line with the organisation’s Confidentiality Policy and the Data Protection Act.
• Monitor, develop and review financial systems that take account of organisational, individual and legislative requirements
• Assist in the development and negotiation of service budgets

Health & Safety and Property Management

• Ensure a healthy and safe environment by implementing and monitoring systems that take account of relevant legislation and organisational policies and procedures.
• Develop and monitor all domestic, maintenance, medication and recording systems in line with organisational policy.
• Monitor, review and ensure implementation of risk assessment and management strategies within the service.

Learning and Development

• Maintain, promote and ensure within the service an awareness of current developments in practice and legislation.
• Participate in relevant internal and external training, identify own, individual and team training and development needs.
• Ensure that staff receive appropriate training to meet individuals and service needs.
• Actively participate in and be committed to the supervision and appraisal processes in line with organisational policy.
• Maintain own recognised and required qualifications.

Communications

• Promote the aims of the Service and Turning Point Scotland.
• Represent Turning Point Scotland at local level and build positive links with all relevant stakeholders.
• Develop and maintain effective communication systems between all stakeholders.

Other Requirements

• Organise your working time to maximise the efficiency of the Service.
• Undertake on-call, overnight, weekend and rota-working as required.
• Undertake any other tasks as may be reasonably requested.
• Undertake registration with the SSSC within the timescale required, where relevant, and maintain this.

About TPS

TPS works with adults who are experiencing a range of support needs.  This includes housing and homelessness, learning disability, autism, acquired brain injury, fluctuating mental health, physical disabilities, problematic alcohol and/or other drug use and involvement in the criminal justice system. We believe that people matter. We believe they are the experts on their support needs. It is for us to work creatively with them and with partners to ensure we meet those needs. 

Every day we work with well over 4,000 people and every year around 8,700.  We help them to address issues they are experiencing and recognise their own skills and interests. 

We embed our approach to support in a framework of Citizenship. Using this we deliver a holistic approach promoting the recovery, self-determination and inclusion of people experiencing challenges in their life.  And we do this through focusing on their strengths and the valuable contributions they can make to their communities. 

We define Citizenship as a measure of the strength of an individual’s connection to the 5 R’s of rights, responsibilities, roles, resources, and relationships that society makes available to its members. 

Homelessness work within TPS

TPS is the biggest provider of services to people experiencing or at risk of Homelessness across Scotland. We deliver support to over 2800 individuals on any given day, and over 5,100 each year. This number increases when taking into account our services accessed through Justice or Alcohol and Other Drugs funding streams.

We believe that in many cases, Homelessness is entirely preventable.  It is failures in the siloed and complex systems that we have designed to protect people that stops us from achieving this. Where Homelessness is not or cannot be, prevented the experience should be short lived, and we should meet that with a psychologically informed response. A menu of options should be available to individuals to prevent, or support someone to move on from Homelessness.  This ensures we use a ‘no wrong door’ approach to accessing services.

We deliver a range of service models.  These include Outreach Housing Support; Outreach Housing First; Outreach Crisis Support; Supported Accommodation. In line with our Citizenship approach we have a specific focus on key areas.  These are; Building on people’s strengths, skills and interests as well as meeting their needs; Connecting people to communities, people and / or places; Harm reduction and / or Recovery; and providing a Psychologically informed / Trauma informed approach.

We also deliver a range of additional services across the country.  Examples include Peer Mentoring services, Community Connectors, TPS Moving Service and TPS Connects amongst many other initiatives.

We recognise the importance of animals in people’s lives and helping individuals move on from the trauma they have experienced. We are currently developing our policies and frameworks to engage with stakeholders and develop our policy and procedures to make our services as pet friendly as possible.

We are also active members of the European Federation of National Organisations with the Homeless (FEANTSA).

Service Model 

Service Model - Outreach Housing First

In 2010 TPS invested in the UK’s first Housing First pilot project. This was in response to the clear evidence that there was a small population who were experiencing multiple and enduring support needs and were being failed – and worse, increasingly traumatised – by the homelessness system that is supposed to help them. Since then we have grown our services across multiple local authorities including Consortium partnerships with other agencies. We believe that a home is a human right and that an individual is best placed to deal with the issues that often made them homeless in the first place, in a place they can call home. We believe that Housing First should be the default model for people who are experiencing homelessness and have multiple and enduring support needs. We believe strongly on delivering Housing First with high fidelity to the 7 principles and working towards ensuring we deliver Systems Fidelity within the wider systems that Housing First effects or is affected by. We deliver the Housing First Academy focussed on the Communities of Practice Hub, Training Hub and Housing First Europe Hub www.housingfirstacademy.com We are also active co-founding members of the Housing First Europe Hub.

About the Service

Turning Point Scotland has been commissioned  to provide a Housing First Service within Aberdeen City. Housing First will give people who have experienced repeat homelessness the support to maintain a stable home and help to rebuild their lives. Housing First will assist service users to access appropriate housing, sustain their tenancies, and contribute to preventing future homelessness by addressing both housing and social support needs. Lead Practitioners will provide flexible, intensive and responsive support to a small caseload of people aged 16 years and above, to meet individual needs.

Essential Criteria

EDUCATION & QUALIFICATIONS

• Mandatory - Practice: Social Service and Health Care at level 9 (SCQF) or other speciality/qualification recognised by the SSSC for registration purposes

EXPERIENCE

• Post qualifying experience.
• Experience of staff and service management.
• Experience and knowledge of Person Centred Practice.
• Evidence of working with individuals who challenge service and societal norms.
• An awareness of current developments in practice, service delivery context and legislation.

ATTITUDES AND VALUES

• Understanding of equal opportunities, challenging oppressive practices and valuing diversity in relation to all aspects of service delivery.
• Commitment to both the local service provision and the aims and structure of Turning Point Scotland as the corporate employer and building positive relationships and communications between the service and the organisation.

SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

• A sound knowledge of and skills for effective staff management and development.
• Demonstrable expertise and knowledge of your practice area/specialism.
• Ability to communicate clearly and effectively in a range of internal and external settings.
• Ability to work in partnership with a range of stakeholders.
• Ability to monitor and evaluate services to ensure quality assurance and service improvement.
• Effective change management skills.
• Ability to manage conflict constructively.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS OF THE POST

• Ability to work shifts and be available to staff and other out with set hours.
• Most be committed to CPD, learning, reflective practice and supervision
• Ability to manage a budget and resources.

It is a requirement of this post that you undertake a PVG Scheme Record application

Desirable Criteria

EDUCATION & QUALIFICATIONS

• Desirable - Management: SVQ 4 in Care Services and Leadership and Management at level 10 (SCQF) or other equivalent recognised by the SSSC for this purpose and if not already registered, to register with the SSSC within the timescale required, where relevant.

We are a large, stable national provider and a charity. As we are not for profit there is ongoing investment into our staff training and development, a good GPP pension scheme, and annual leave and sick pay that significantly exceeds the statutory minimum. 

We also have a brilliant employee assistance programme (independent advice, information and support online, by phone and in person), a group reward scheme to help your money go further and access to a contributory ‘hospital’ fund. We have a relationship with a credit union and promote saving directly from salary. 

We aim to provide a working environment where opinions and ideas are valued and arrangements are in place to ensure that there is a high level of staff representation and that people are encouraged to make their views heard and to participate at service and organisational levels.

As a leading national social care provider our breakthrough and forward-thinking models of practice and service are well recognised. Examples of this recently have been: Housing First, Psychologically informed environments (PIE), Citizenship and both Scottish and International research and evaluation of a range of projects. We work across a wide range of types of services and the organisation provides pathways for development: a career development workshop; appraisal; learning and training options; internal forums and project groups; and opportunities for internal secondment, temporary acting up or sideways roles and career progression.

The salary scale for the post will be (reduced pro rata for part time posts, the full time equivalent is a 37 working hour week)

• £31,400
• £32,209
• £33,122
• £34,086
• £35,167

The annual leave entitlement will be (reduced pro rata for part time posts and will include a proportional entitlement to public holidays)

30 days per year, plus 8 public holidays and 2 local holidays.