Job Details
Job Title: Care Farm Manager
Salary: £27,300
Reporting to: Directors
Hours: 37.5 hrs a week to include a degree of flexibility to cover leave and sickness where needed. Fixed Term Contract – yearly Following a 3 month probationary period
Direct reports: All staff/ volunteers
Job Purpose:
The main purpose of the role is:
– to drive Oldbury Cottage Care Farm (OCCF) forwards making us sustainable for
the future. Our aspiration is to be open six days a week.
– to lead a team of support workers and volunteers, providing quality activities for
an ever-changing group of people with learning disabilities and or dementia on the
Farm.
– to place fun, safety, and respect at the heart of all that you do.
Job specification
Business/Team Support
· Ensure standards are maintained and all policies/risk assessments are adhered to and periodically reviewed.
· Monitor attendance, bookings and payments of attendees including invoicing.
· Guide and support the performance and personal development of staff and volunteers.
· Deliver OCCF’s Induction package and organise relevant training for all new staff/volunteers.
· Ensure awareness of OCCF’s ethos and policies are read and understood.
· Support OCCF team to achieve tasks and end goals.
· Manage staff and volunteer rotas including: annual leave, illness and arranging cover.
· Manage and delegate daily activities to the support team.
· To conduct regular checks and maintain records to ensure that the overall health, welfare, and well-being needs of all staff, volunteers are met, in line with our Health and Well-being policy.
· To keep abreast of and share literature, ideas, and best practice in the field of the Care Farming, to improve the development of the Farm.
· Source suitable funding to sustain Oldbury Cottage Care Farm CIC (OCCF) with support from the Directors.
Animal care and welfare
· Ensure daily checks of animals, housing, and welfare are carried out.
· Check supplies weekly.
· Develop/Undertake risk assessments for all farm activities.
Attendees and families
· Take responsibility for all referrals and arrangements of taster/entry sessions.
· Manage entry paperwork ‘About Me’ form and collaborate with family and/or other professionals to agree the support required.
· Work with other professionals, such as social workers and therapists, to ensure consistency of support.
· Work closely with families and partners to agree person-centred goals for each attendee.
· Analyse an individual’s needs and draw up a person-centred support plan.
· Ensure individual needs are communicated to all staff/volunteers where appropriate.
· Understand each attendee’s communication needs and ensure staff/volunteers have the skill set to adapt their communication to everyone, e.g. sounds, tones, body language, Makaton, BSL.
Person specification
SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
1. Sound judgement, skills and experience in relation to the following:
· A qualification (Level 4 in Health and Social Care or equivalent) and/or extensive experience/knowledge of running a business.
· Experience of working with people with learning disabilities and/or dementia.
· Knowledge of mental health issues would be beneficial.
· Experience of managing and supervising staff and volunteers.
· Knowledge of invoicing, book-keeping, and spreadsheets.
· Co-ordination/project-management skills with the ability to take on tasks from conception to completion.
2. Communication
· Good interpersonal and motivational skills, with the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately with a wide range of people, internally and externally. This will include attendees and their families, a range of professional partners (e.g. therapists, social care practitioners, members of the public and colleagues).
· Good verbal and written skills.
· Able to listen, respond and build on feedback received.
3. Creativity and change
· Able to create engaging programmes of activities, aimed at meeting agreed attendee’s person-centred goals.
· Responsive to recommended changes in policies, procedures and best practice and able to adapt working practices to ensure these are incorporated.
· Open to new ideas and confident in putting them forward to colleagues.
4. Team-working skills
· Able to work effectively as part of a team, with a diverse range of people.
· Able to work calmly when under pressure.
5. Planning and organisation
· Good planning disciplines, focused on clear outcomes and delivered in line with recognised standards of practice.
· Able to manage and prioritise own workload and that of others to meet commitments and deadlines.
· IT skills: Able to use technology to support the delivery of the service and to ensure data and records are kept up to date and are stored safely.
6. Knowledge in the following areas:
· GDPR, safeguarding, food & hygiene, COSHH.
· Health and safety practices.
PERSON PROFILE
We are looking for a person who can demonstrate the following qualities:
· Proactive, positive, and flexible approach.
· Outcome-oriented; a ‘can-do’ person.
· Self-motivated and organised.
· Creative approach and problem-solver.
· Inclusive style, willing to share and learn.
· Operates to high standards.
OTHER REQUIREMENTS
1. You will be required to hold a full UK driving licence.
2. As you will be working with vulnerable people, you will be required to undergo a DBS check and adhere to OCCF’s Safeguarding policy and procedures and those of our partner organisations.
3. The jobholder will be required to work to OCCF’s standards of Animal Welfare, which embrace the standards of DEFRA.
4. Flexible working hours will be required in some instances to facilitate the effective delivery of the farm’s activities/covering staff absences.
Note additional conditions:
As well as checking with referees and assuring qualifications, additional checks will be carried out.
DBS Checks
Appointment to this post is dependent upon a DBS check being carried out.
This is a legal requirement as OCCF works with vulnerable people. Refusal to give consent to carry out this check means you cannot be considered for this or any other position in the organisation.
About Oldbury Cottage Care Farm CIC
Oldbury Cottage Care Farm CIC (OCCF) is a life-long dream of Jonathan Smith founder and Director, built upon his personal experiences driving his motivation, dedication, and devotion to provide a positive rural experience using traditional farming practices for people with learning disabilities and dementia to get close to nature. Offering hands-on with animals/horticulture allowing the development of practi-cal/social skills and improve physical, emotional well-being and improve overall health.
What we can offer you
The exciting opportunity to grow with us as the project is in its infancy. The pro-ject wants to achieve a supportive, relaxed, and enjoyable place to be and work where the rewards are solely gained by doing the job well and we believe this is everyone’s responsibility by adopting an honest and positive Team approach.
To have the best chance of success:
· Tailor your application of the job advertised focusing on the jobs PERSON SPECIFICATION.
· Explain how you meet each of the criteria, by providing information about and examples of your skills and experience gained. This may be in paid employ-ment, as a volunteer or within your personal capacity.
· Answer each point in detail – the recruitment panel cannot guess or make assumptions. For example, it is not enough to say `I am well organised’ – you need to explain how you organise yourself.
· Remember that the short-listing panel are seeking to appoint the applicant who best meets the criteria specified in the person specification, in accord-ance with equal opportunities.
To find out more visit http://occf.org.uk/
To apply please visit Vacancies - Oldbury Cottage Care Farm (occf.org.uk)