Relief Service Manager - South West England (Supported Living)

Job Description

Relief Service Manager - South West England  (Supported Living)

Location: Home-based with travel across the South West

The Opportunity

We are seeking a Relief Service Manager to provide cover across our Supported Living services in the South West region.

Our services consist of individual dwellings and flat schemes supporting adults with learning disabilities, autism, physical disabilities, and related cognitive and developmental conditions.

The Relief Service Manager role involves working flexibly across services to cover periods of absence, including long-term sickness, vacancies during recruitment cycles, and to provide expert support in preparation for and during CQC inspections.

This is a home-based role requiring regular travel across the South West region as needed. Wherever possible, work will be planned in advance to support effective service delivery and work–life balance.

Impactful Leadership: Step into a dynamic role where you’ll provide leadership to services during pivotal times, ensuring continuity and high standards of care while managing multisite teams. If you are a Service Manager or a Residential Manager with aspirations to become an Area Manager or gain a peripatetic skillset - this is the role for you!

Career Flexibility: This is a home-based role, offering the flexibility of remote work, but will require travel across the regions, including occasional overnight stays during weekdays. All accommodation and travel expenses will be covered and planned in advance.

Quality-Focused Environment: As part of Lifeways’ transformation journey, you will contribute to our mission to be the provider of choice, focusing on delivering safe, effective care that not only meets but exceeds regulatory expectations.

Continuous Improvement: Be part of a culture that values innovation, feedback, and growth, where you will lead initiatives to improve service quality, compliance, and outcomes for the people we support.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide time-limited leadership and management across services experiencing prolonged absence of managers, ensuring seamless delivery of care.
• Lead teams in delivering safe, effective, and person-centred support, driving quality improvement initiatives to meet and exceed CQC standards.
• Promote a culture of continuous improvement, embedding Lifeways’ values and ensuring that all services under your leadership excel in care delivery.
• Engage with external stakeholders, families, and health professionals to ensure the well-being and safety of the people

What You’ll Bring

About You: You are an experienced Service Manager or Registered Manager with a proven track record of delivering high standards of care in social care settings. You are passionate about quality improvement and have the leadership skills necessary to inspire teams to deliver person-centred support. Flexibility, resilience, and an unwavering commitment to making a positive impact are key to your success in this role.

• A minimum Level 3 qualification in Health & Social Care with Level 5 being desirable (or working towards it)
• Strong experience in operational and people management
• A valid UK driver’s licence and willingness to travel locally
• A genuine passion for quality care — and the ability to lead by example

We’re looking for individuals who embody empathy, courage, honesty, equality, and passion. If that sounds like you, we’d love to welcome you to the team.

Why Join Lifeways?

When you join Lifeways, you step into a leadership role in a company that values and invests in its people. Our shared values guide everything we do:
Caring – Honest – One Team – Innovative – Courageous – Equal

You’ll get:

• Leadership development programmes & progression pathways
• A supportive, inclusive workplace culture
• Matched contribution company pension scheme
• Wellbeing resources and mental health support
• Reward and Recognition Schemes
• Discounts on shopping, tech, travel, and more through CHOICE Rewards

• Who We Are – Lifeways
• Every day at Lifeways, our team members make a difference — and on our new careers website, you can read their real stories. You’ll meet people who have built rewarding careers with us, and people whose lives have been transformed through the support we provide.
• These aren’t just stories — they’re proof of the impact we make together. Because at Lifeways, you’re not just anyone. You’re part of something bigger — a team that changes lives.
• Lifeways is one of the UK’s leading providers of specialist support for people with learning disabilities, autism, brain injuries, mental health conditions, and complex care needs.
• We’ve recently completed one of the biggest digital transformations in our sector — and we’re just getting started. From Property to PBS, our ambition is bold: to become the Care Provider of Choice, powered by innovation, stability and the belief that great care starts with great people.

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