Nursing Home Manager jobs

Nursing Home Manager jobs: frequently asked questions

Welcome to our Nursing Home Manager jobs page, where we list all the latest roles across the UK – in addition to some handy FAQs below.

"With lots of experience you can earn more than £45,000"

What is a Nursing Home Manager?

A Nursing Home Manager oversees residential care homes and nursing homes in the private sector and the NHS.

Nursing Home Managers have a wide range of duties.

You’ll manage recruitment and training of staff, budgets, administration of medication, and much more besides.

But as care homes become more specialised, your role could too. You could work exclusively with people with dementia, for example, which requires very specific skills and experience.

The terms ‘Home Manager’, ‘Care Home Manager’ and ‘Nursing Home Manager’ are often used interchangeably, and broadly refer to the same positions.

However, a Nursing Home Manager role can demand slightly different skills or involve slightly different duties.

Fundamentally, the difference is that a care home doesn’t necessarily have registered nurses on site, while a nursing home typically does.

As a Nursing Home Manager, this doesn’t necessarily change the nature of your role too much, but it does mean that Nurses will always make up part of your team.

It also inevitably means that nursing homes attract residents with medical conditions and specific medical requirements.

What does a Nursing Home Manager do?

As explained above, roles can vary depending on the nature of the home and its patients. But your duties will normally include:

• Making assessments of aspiring residents

• Implementing and managing care plans for each resident

• Managing the home’s budget

• Managing residents’ personal budgets

• Recruiting and supporting staff

• Overseeing health and safety compliance

• Supporting and working with organisations in your local community

• Managing medication plans

• Working closely with residents’ families

• Organising outings for residents and daily events

Nursing Home Managers work around 40 hours a week, in a shift pattern that includes evenings and weekends. It’s also possible that you’ll be on call for some shifts, or that you’ll have to sleep in.

How do you become a Nursing Home Manager?

You don’t technically need a degree of any kind to become a Nursing Home Manager. A wide variety of people become Nursing Home Managers, from a wide variety of vocational and academic backgrounds.

However, being a registered Nurse or social worker will normally give you a big advantage.

Most commonly, experienced Nursing Home Managers are qualified Nurses with solid leadership experience, or people with a Level 5 qualification in Social Care Leadership.

Many residential homes will employ qualified Nurses with the right experience as Nursing Home Managers, and then support them in completing a 12-18 month Social Care Leadership course.

However, some residential homes, especially ones within NHS Trusts, could specifically demand that you have a nursing qualification.

As a nursing graduate, you can do a 12-month ‘Skills for Care Management Graduate Programme’, which is co-run by the NHS.

This is a fast-track post-graduate leadership course, and is a very effective route in nursing home management.

How much do Nursing Home Managers get paid?

Nursing Home Manager pay isn’t structured in the same way as nursing roles are, and with so many homes sitting outside of the NHS, bandings aren’t in place.

However, based on market data it’s clear that average salaries fall somewhere around the £30,000 a year mark.

Entry level Nursing Home Managers can expect to earn closer to £25,000 a year.

With lots of experience you can earn more than £45,000 – and with enough skills, experience and qualifications, it isn’t uncommon for Nursing Home Managers at large and complex homes to earn in excess of £70,000.

Some larger homes will also advertise Deputy Nursing Home Manager jobs, which will involve similar duties and offer a similar rate of pay.

These positions are also, inevitably, a very good route into a managerial position.

The key to maximising your earnings throughout your career, whether you choose to work in the public or private sector, is experience.

The more positions you take on, and the more skills you build, the more in-demand you’ll become.

Try also to top up your qualifications at every opportunity to command the very highest salaries.

Find your next Nursing Home Manager job today

View our latest roles above, or if you can’t find what you’re looking for, create an account and register your CV here and we’ll send you the latest roles as soon as they come up.