Overview

Team Leader – Sutton – 9 Month FTC – Sutton

Permanent

£30,082

Are you an experienced people manager who thrives in a fast-paced, purpose-driven environment?

We’re looking for a confident and compassionate Team Manager to lead a team delivering life-changing health and wellbeing support to adult drug and alcohol users. This is a 9-month fixed-term contract running from March to December 2026, offering the chance to make an immediate impact during a key period for the service.

You’ll oversee tailored interventions using harm reduction and abstinence-based approaches, while supporting low-level mental health needs. This is a hands-on leadership role where quality, performance, and people matter.

What you’ll be doing

  • Leading, motivating, and developing a team of practitioners
  • Allocating caseloads and managing a small number of complex cases
  • Ensuring interventions meet required quality, audit, and inspection standards
  • Driving performance against KPIs and contractual targets
  • Overseeing rotas, resources, and day-to-day service delivery
  • Supporting accurate data collection, reporting, and submission deadlines
  • Deputising for the Service Manager when required
  • Building strong relationships with commissioners, partners, and stakeholders

You’ll be a great fit if you

  • Are an experienced people manager with a collaborative leadership style
  • Can balance operational delivery with coaching and development
  • Are confident managing performance, quality, and risk
  • Thrive in a role with responsibility, autonomy, and trust
  • Lead by example, including prioritising staff wellbeing and self-care

This fixed-term role gives you the opportunity to lead an established team, maintain high-quality service delivery, and support positive outcomes for service users, all while being part of a supportive and collaborative environment.

Please see the attached Job Description for full details

All prison-based roles are subject to enhanced DBS checks and HMPPS security vetting. These checks can take up to 5 months to complete. Any offer of employment will be conditional upon the successful completion of both checks.

Please note if you have lived overseas within the last 5 years then checks may take longer.

About Us

We are The Forward Trust, the social enterprise with charitable status that empowers people to break the often interlinked cycles of crime and addiction to move forward with their lives. For more than 25 years we have been working with people to build positive and productive lives, whatever their past. We believe that anyone is capable of lasting change. Our services have supported thousands of people to make positive changes and build productive lives with a job, family, friends and a sense of community.

We are committed to our cause and the work we carry out as a charity. Equally the wellbeing and the employees who work for us are also important. Joining us an employee, we will offer you the following benefits – 

  • Flexible working
  • Training and development opportunities
    • Simply Health Cashback Scheme (optional)
    • Season Ticket Loan Scheme 
    • Cycle to work scheme
    • Crisis Loan Scheme
    • Electric Car Scheme
    • 3 x Wellbeing Days (pro rata’d for part time employees)
    • Access to Blue Light Card
    • 25 days (rising to 30 with length of service) Annual Leave plus Bank Holidays 
    • Contributory Pension Scheme – Employer matched contributions of up to 6% in the first two years’ service and up to 9% thereafter 
    • Death in Service Payment (2x annual salary) 
    • Critical Illness Insurance (subject to qualifying criteria)
    Diversity at Forward Trust
    The Forward Trust commits to providing opportunities to everyone. We want to ensure we have a diverse team with a range of lived and professional experiences. This includes those with ‘Lived Experience’ of addiction, offending, or homelessness.

    When we recruit, we welcome applications from everyone. This is inclusive of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion and/or belief, marriage and civil partnerships, pregnancy and maternity and socio-economic background. Where operationally possible, we will consider flexible working requests and make reasonable adjustments for all roles.

    To find out more about Forward’s commitment to being an inclusive employer and our current EDI strategy click here.  

    Employee Screening and Eligibility to Work
    Dependent on role you may be required to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Service Check, details of which will be shared with you at interview.

    If successful in your application, you will be required to provide eligibility to work evidence in line with the ‘Eligibility to Work in the UK’ requirements.

    Our Commitment to Safeguarding
    We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people, and adults at risk. Forward Trust follow safer recruitment practices and support a culture of openness and accountability.

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    IMPORTANT: Before applying for this role, please make sure you have the right to work in the country where the role is based. Unless it clearly stipulates within in the job advert above that the hiring company is looking to or able to sponsor applicants it is deemed that the hiring employer will only consider applications from those able to comply with and work in the country where the role is based.