Care Home Manager Jobs

Care Home Manager jobs: frequently asked questions

Welcome to our Care Home Manager jobs page, featuring all the best positions currently available throughout the UK.

"A Care Home Manager is a frontline leadership position in a residential care setting."

Here are some handy FAQs for those wishing to join the profession or develop their career.

What does a Care Home Manager do?

A Care Home Manager is a frontline leadership position in a residential care setting.

As a Care Home Manager, you’re in charge of the day-to-day operation of a care home, and that comprises a wide range of responsibilities.

You will have to manage recruitment and training of staff, as well as their ongoing management and development.

You will also manage budgets and the provision of quality care that meets nationally regulated standards.

But care homes are becoming more specialised, some focusing more specifically on dementia or end-of-life care, for example.

This, inevitably, is changing the role of a Care Home Manager, requiring ever more specific skills and experiences.

Regardless, a Care Home Manager is responsible for round-the-clock care, all year round, making it a challenging but extremely rewarding career choice.

What are the daily responsibilities of a Care Home Manager?

Roles can vary depending on the setting, but your responsibilities will typically include:

• Managing budgets and the financial prudence of your care home

• Finding and managing staff

• Organising training and helping staff to improve their skills

• Helping staff with specific issues that arise with residents

• Working on health and safety compliance

• Supporting and working with other relevant organisations in your local community

• Overseeing the administration of any medications or regular medical procedures

• Communicating with residents’ families

• Planning activities and outings with the residents In some cases Care Managers also work specifically with children.

In this instance, your responsibilities may also include:

• Safeguarding the wellbeing of children

• Working closely with other local organisations to ensure the best possible development for children

• Managing child protection concerns and complaints

• Supporting case reviews and conferences

• Managing Ofsted reviews and processes

• Assessing new referrals and managing inductions

Typically Care Home Managers work around 40 hours a week, often in a shift pattern that includes evening and weekend work.

This is a role that can also involve sleep-ins and on-call duties.

Do you need to be a Nurse to become a Care Home Manager?

The short answer is no, but in reality the answer is much more complicated.

Care Home Management is not a degree-entry profession.

A wide variety of people, with a wide variety of skills, qualifications and experiences have built long and successful Care Management careers.

However, having a qualification in nursing or social work will undoubtedly help your chances of landing a position.

Typically, experienced Care Home Managers have nursing qualifications but also leadership experience, giving them an ideal mix of skills for the job.

It’s also true that some Care Home Manager roles will specifically require a nursing or social work qualification, particularly when it asks for clinical management skills.

As a graduate, you’re also able to fast-track your way into a management position by applying for a 12-month ‘Skills for Care Management Graduate Programme’, which is co-run by the NHS.

This post-graduate course is open to graduates in any degree subject.

Typically, opportunities arise within private residential settings, NHS trusts, local authorities and the charity sector. And inevitably, the qualifications and skills demanded can vary greatly.

It’s best to treat every opportunity and opportunity uniquely, and dig into the unique requirements of each.

How much can Care Managers earn?

Care Home Manager pay is a little less regulated and formalised than Nursing roles.

The average annual salary is somewhere around £30,000, while entry level managers can expect to earn closer to £25,000.

However, with experience you can expect to earn upwards of £45,000 – indeed, in certain settings Care Managers can earn up to £70,000.

A major factor will be the care setting in which you work.

A position within an NHS trust will mean far more generous benefits than with a private provider. But private providers may sometimes offer greater potential for rapid salary growth.

Building a lucrative career as a Care Home Manager requires you to do your research on every organisation.

Get to know the nuances of each, and build all the necessary skills you need to maximise your earnings.

When you find the right provider and have the right skillset to match, you could find you earn well above the industry average.

Find your next Care Home Manager job today

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