Post title: Referral Manager
Setting: Kedleston Support Office
Location: Stockport office with regional travel
Line manager: Strategic Partnerships Director
Contract: Full-time
Kedleston Group is seeking to appoint an enthusiastic Referral Manager who will be based at our offices in Stockport.
Kedleston Group Ltd is an independent provider of SEMH day and residential schools as well as children’s homes across England. We look for people who have the creativity and enthusiasm needed to deliver the best outcomes for the children and young people we support. Our schools and homes support children and young people living with social, emotional and mental health problems (SEMH) and specific learning difficulties, which affects their learning and ability to do everyday things. Our dedicated autism (ASC) schools work with young people who are high functioning and have associated needs such as mental health problems, attention deficit hyperactive disorder and learning difficulties. We offer staff a comprehensive induction programme and ongoing training to ensure everyone is provided with the best possible start to their employment. Kedleston welcome and nurture staff through the organisation's training provision and seek staff and leaders who are motivated and focused in their delivery of the best education and care support. We have vacancies across England for management, teaching, care, support, administration and ancillary roles within this rapidly developing organisation.
Main Roles and Responsibilities:
- To create new Local Authority relationships for the Company, targeting the key LA`s who will refer / place into the new school.
- To manage existing Local Authority relationships for the Company and become a ‘first port of call’ for the placement of children and young people into the school.
- To work with the Group Marketing Manager and Head Teachers to proactively market their school to ensure there is consistently high demand from Local Authorities for the services we provide.
- To support the Group’s understanding what services they need to deliver in order to satisfy the ever changing requirements of our customers.
- To instill a culture of best practice across the Group when it comes to working with Local Authorities and see that everyone is working to achieve the best outcomes for our customers
- To work with the Strategic Partnerships Director, Group Central Referral Manager and Schools to develop strategic business growth plans to drive new business.
Additionally, the Referral Manager’s focus will be to address and develop the following:
Lead sales/marketing to Local Authorities
- To be proactive in contacting and meeting placing officers/managers (and others that have input into the placement of children) and influence them to place into the Group.
- To effectively manage LA accounts to drive referral activity across the organization and to increase their existing spend.
- The successful applicant will be required to produce a clear marketing / business development strategy for schools and homes across the Group with input from the Strategic Partnerships Director / Group Marketing Manager.
- In conjunction with the Head Teachers, nurture positive relationships with Local Authority personnel so our school is always in mind when they are making placement decisions.
- In promoting our Company to Local Authorities, ensure they have a general understanding of the Group’s philosophy, vision and mission and ‘buy into’ the services we provide.
- Continually diversify the Group’s referral base with Local Authorities so we become less reliant on the ‘older’ Local Authorities who place children and young people into the Group.
- Visit our schools/homes on a reasonably regular basis to understand the services being delivered and have the ability to articulate this to Local Authorities.
- Ensure the Company and each school promotes a positive image through quality marketing/promotional materials which will be distributed to Local Authorities. Also, ensure we are connected in the ‘cyber world’ and the Group’s schools/homes are positively promoted.
- Act as an ambassador and a key point of contact for our customers always promoting the good image of the Company.
- To contribute to the organisations Marketing Strategy and work with the organisations Marketing Manager to generate marketing information.
- To contribute to tendering processes which ultimately drive new business.
- Create, negotiate and close commercial deals where required.
- To contribute to the reporting of occupancy activity across.
- Actively engage and use Pipedrive, (our customer database and referral management process).
- To keep up-to-date about developments and changes in Special Education and the Care of Children and Young People to influence our service delivery and model of care.
Commercial Accountability
- To play a strong role in ensuring the Company delivers its commercial objectives (primarily in relation to budgeted pupil numbers) for each financial year as laid down by the Group Finance Director.
- To engender a sense of responsibility with each Head Teacher so they play their role in delivering same.
- In conjunction with each of the schools/homes, create and manage a Referral System so we continually have a strong referral base which in time will lead to having a choice in what children we take into our services.
Stimulate collaborative working relationships
- Help key personnel in our school develop strong relationships with their counterparts in Local Authorities so we deliver the best possible outcomes for the children we work with.
- In the case of each of our schools, ensure you understand fully the specialist interventions we put in place to help children learn & develop and help colleagues shape these services to ensure we are meeting children’s needs
- Take on board the needs of Local Authorities for their individual children to ensure where possible we can tailor our services to meet specific needs and help colleagues in our school understand these requirements.
- Understand the school’s admission criteria/policy so we ensure each new placement is successful from the outset.
- Work to ensure the Group is part of the LA`s Local Offer.
- Attend LA events, conferences and engage with local parent support groups where appropriate.
- Actively work with parents / families to respond appropriately to parents enquiries about the organisation.
In return for your hard work and commitment to the role Kedleston will offer:
- Competitive salary
- Company Pension Scheme
- The opportunity to join a supportive and well established team
- The support to progress in your career
- Ongoing opportunities for continued professional development and training
- A friendly, passionate and committed team of colleagues
- Employee perks:
- cycle to work scheme
- discounts on shopping and cinema tickets
- birthday treats
- employee of the month award
We would love to hear from you if you feel that you have a positive attitude, a good sense of humour, meet the requirements for the role and share our passion and commitment to developing confident and capable young people by meeting their educational, health and social care needs in structured, nurturing school and home provisions.
Kedleston Group Limited is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of its children and young people. This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check. We are an equal opportunities employer welcoming applications from all sections of the community.
We look forward to receiving your application.
Note for recruitment agencies: We prefer to hire people directly, but we do have a preferred supplier list for when we need a helping hand. We'll be in touch directly if we need you!