Last month, Portsmouth’s iconic Spinnaker Tower was lit-up blue in a powerful display of solidarity with young people leaving the care system, as part of National Care Leavers Month.

The illumination, organised by Fair Ways, took place at 5:15 PM and marks Portsmouth’s contribution to a growing national movement celebrating and supporting care-experienced young people.

National Care Leavers Month is a dedicated time to recognise the resilience, achievements, and aspirations of individuals transitioning out of care, while highlighting the unique challenges they continue to face during adulthood. The campaign calls on communities, organisations, and public figures to champion care leavers and demonstrate that they are valued, supported, and never alone.

A small group of local care leavers joined the evening as the tower lit up, symbolising hope, visibility, and community pride. The evening started with Spinnaker Tower being illuminated blue, followed by a tour of the landmark and dinner.

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Fair Ways is proud to announce a major milestone for Portsmouth; Portsmouth has officially become the UK’s first Fostering Friendly City.

In just over six months, companies across Portsmouth have shown their commitment by joining the Fair Ways Fostering Friendly Employer Charter to support foster carers in the workplace.

Together with over 100 local businesses, we’ve built a community that truly understands and values the vital role foster carers play.

A Proud Moment for Portsmouth
Becoming the UK’s first Fostering Friendly City is a major achievement for everyone involved. It reflects Portsmouth’s strong sense of community, compassion, and collaboration, values that sit at the heart of Fair Ways.

“This is a proud moment for Portsmouth,” said Gareth Webb, Managing Director of Fair Ways. “Becoming the UK’s first Fostering Friendly City shows what can be achieved when businesses and the community come together to support children and those who care for them. Foster carers make an enormous contribution to society, and we’re thrilled that Portsmouth is leading the way in recognising and supporting them.”

Together with over 100 Fostering Friendly Employers, Portsmouth is now setting a national example, showing how cities can stand with carers and create workplaces that are flexible, understanding, and supportive.

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As a leading provider of Supported Living homes, we are actively seeking an experienced Deputy Manager for our home in Southampton. Join us and lead a team that empowers young adults to navigate the path towards independence and success.

Our Post-16 supported living provision consists of a collection of small family homes and can accommodate a number of residents at a time. Each young person has their own private room and shared access to communal areas. Our aim is to provide stability, consistency and acceptance, with the emphasis on young adults being responsible for themselves.

As a Deputy Manager for Fair Ways Supported Living, you will be involved exciting and rewarding things like:

• Day to Day Operations: To be responsible for the day to day running of the home including oversight of our young people and their wellbeing, ensuring that staff are supported and confident in their roles , managing training, Health & Safety, quality assurance and improvement and strategy ensuring all areas are compliant with regulations, policies & procedures.
• Leadership and Supervision: Leading a team of dedicated professionals who share a common goal of caring for and supporting each resident. Together, we create a nurturing environment where young people can flourish. You will provide line management to a number of direct reports offering reflective supervisions, guidance and support as part of effective professional development.
• Keeping young people safe: Leading in the monitoring of good practice within the home and ensuring safe working practices within Child Protection procedures and where appropriate manage the presenting safeguarding issues in accordance with Fair Ways Policies and Procedures to keep children and vulnerable adults safe from harm for the duration of their accommodation.
• Being a Trauma Informed professional: Using our industry recognised RiiSE training to deliver trauma informed responses through the individualised use of therapeutic and, where appropriate, physical intervention to ensure our young people are supported appropriately during times of crisis.
• Occupancy Management: Working with the service manager to maintain occupancy levels and effectively manage staffing requirements for the home. This will be done through the effective screening of referral's, oversight of the placement of young people and managing the impact of this.
• Multi Agency Working: Supporting the Registered Manager in ensuring a high-quality service is delivered and maintained through effective deputising at multi-agency meetings, leading on oversight of young people’s pathways and that they are in accordance with relevant Ofsted standards and regulations assuring that all those we support receive the highest levels of care and desired outcomes.
• Budget Management: Holding responsibility for the financial stability of the home through effective budget planning and financial management, working in partnership with the accounts team, internal reporting systems and involvement in regular review meetings ensuring that any financial risk is managed appropriately and that there is sound oversight of this at all times.

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We are looking for a Social Worker to support the growth and development of our Registered Family Centre in Southampton. The Family Centre is made up of 5 self-contained flats each with their own bathroom and kitchen facilities and a separate bungalow which can accommodate an additional 2 families. Families will be referred to the Family Centre if there have been concerns identified around the safety of the children within their existing family unit. Once with us, the families will be continuously encouraged, assessed and guided through a 12 week stay where they are monitored 24/7 to encourage sustainable positive parenting changes. 

As a Social Worker with Fair Ways you will deliver the highest standards of care and support to our children, families and vulnerable adults through:

• Assessing and Observing - To take a lead role in parenting assessments through formal and informal observations of the residents with their child ensuring a high-quality service is delivered and maintained.
• Keeping Children, families and vulnerable adults Safe - Managing any presenting safeguarding issues in accordance with Fair Ways Policies and Procedures to keep children, families and vulnerable adults safe from harm for the duration of their assessment.
• Supervision and training - To line manage a small number of direct reports offering reflective supervisions, guidance and undertaking monitoring of any required training and development in line with our professional development and progression plans.
• Being a clear and confident communicator - To attend and contribute to multi-agency meetings, court hearings and other forums to represent the Residential Family Centre and support the Assessors.
• Building strong professional relationships - To proactively maintain safe supervision levels and respectful relationships with parents and children through effective support, guidance and care ensuring the maintenance of safe practice.
• Accurate and detailed report writing - To maintain full oversight of the assessment process for families for the full 12 weeks, writing the parenting assessment reports for courts. Maintaining effective, regular communication with outside agencies regarding parenting capacity.
• Being a Trauma Informed professional - To oversee and model trauma informed responses through the individualised use of therapeutic and (in some services) physical intervention to ensure families are supported appropriately during times of crisis and to demonstrate an understanding of the parents’ early life experiences.
• Supporting and developing new initiatives - To support the management team to develop the community-based assessment and outreach packages for family transitions into the community.
• Committing to your personal and professional development - To manage personal and continuous professional development through self-assessment, supervision and training.

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With Halloween behind us and the pumpkins packed away, it’s officially time to turn our attention to all things festive!

At Fair Ways, the start of November means one thing – it’s time to get into the Christmas spirit and start preparing for Christmas Jumper Day! And this year, we’re inviting everyone to join in the fun while making a real difference to our local communities.

We’re thrilled to work with our incredible ambassador, Lauren Steadman, and the team at SIZU to launch the official Fair Ways Christmas Jumper.

Available now through SIZU’s website, every jumper sold helps raise money for local charities, supporting the people and communities Fair Ways is proud to be part of.

Designed for comfort and Christmas cheer, the Fair Ways jumper is the perfect way to show your festive spirit at work, at home, or on Christmas Jumper Day – all while helping to spread warmth, kindness, and community spirit.

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Fair Ways is delighted to announce that Lauren Steadman, Paralympic gold medallist, triathlete, and motivational speaker, has joined us as our first Fair Ways Ambassador.

Lauren is a true inspiration – a world-class athlete who has overcome challenges with strength and determination, using her platform to promote inclusion, resilience, and positive wellbeing. Her values perfectly reflect those of Fair Ways, where we work every day to help children, young people, and adults in care, realise their own potential.

As Ambassador, Lauren will support Fair Ways in raising awareness of the incredible work our teams do across Education, Family Services, Residential, and community services. She will also engage directly with young people within Fair Ways, sharing her story and helping inspire confidence, self-belief, and hope.

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Fair Ways is delighted to welcome Stef Nienaltowski as our new Special Projects Consultant, bringing his wealth of experience and local knowledge to strengthen the impact of our work across Portsmouth and the wider region.

Stef is well known throughout Portsmouth, having served as Chief Executive Officer of Shaping Portsmouth for seven years. During his tenure, he was recognised for his leadership in building strong partnerships between businesses, community organisations, and the public sector. His reputation as a connector and community champion makes him ideally placed to support Fair Ways’ vision for growth and collaboration.

One of Stef’s first areas of focus will be Fair Ways Phoenix Project. This will be an innovative community art project in Portsmouth designed to draw attention to the works of amazing people, with Portsmouth links, who achieved great things despite being care experienced in their early lives. The project will positively contribute to the cultural fabric of the city.  

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We are looking for a Social Worker to support the growth and development of our Registered Family Centre in Southampton. The Family Centre is made up of 5 self-contained flats each with their own bathroom and kitchen facilities and a separate bungalow which can accommodate an additional 2 families. Families will be referred to the Family Centre if there have been concerns identified around the safety of the children within their existing family unit. Once with us, the families will be continuously encouraged, assessed and guided through a 12 week stay where they are monitored 24/7 to encourage sustainable positive parenting changes. 

As a Social Worker with Fair Ways you will deliver the highest standards of care and support to our children, families and vulnerable adults through:

• Assessing and Observing - To take a lead role in parenting assessments through formal and informal observations of the residents with their child ensuring a high-quality service is delivered and maintained.
• Keeping Children, families and vulnerable adults safe - Managing any presenting safeguarding issues in accordance with Fair Ways Policies and Procedures to keep children, families and vulnerable adults safe from harm for the duration of their assessment.
• Supervision and training - To line manage a small number of direct reports offering reflective supervisions, guidance and undertaking monitoring of any required training and development in line with our professional development and progression plans.
• Being a clear and confident communicator - To attend and contribute to multi-agency meetings, court hearings and other forums to represent the Residential Family Centre and support the Assessors.
• Building strong professional relationships - To proactively maintain safe supervision levels and respectful relationships with parents and children through effective support, guidance and care ensuring the maintenance of safe practice.
• Accurate and detailed report writing - To maintain full oversight of the assessment process for families for the full 12 weeks, writing the parenting assessment reports for courts. Maintaining effective, regular communication with outside agencies regarding parenting capacity.
• Being a Trauma Informed professional - To oversee and model trauma informed responses through the individualised use of therapeutic and (in some services) physical intervention to ensure families are supported appropriately during times of crisis and to demonstrate an understanding of the parents’ early life experiences.
• Supporting and developing new initiatives - To support the management team to develop the community-based assessment and outreach packages for family transitions into the community.
• Committing to your personal and professional development - To manage personal and continuous professional development through self-assessment, supervision and training.

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Working as part of our Quality, Safety and Governance Team you will play your part in providing operationally independent oversight of the quality and safety of Fair Ways services, to recognise best practice and identify opportunities to raise standards so that the organisation continually improves and bring about lasting change.

In this role you will be involved exciting and rewarding things like:
Governance and Compliance: Support operational and executive boards in fulfilling their legal, statutory, and regulatory obligations by providing oversight and quality assurance of safeguarding and general service quality practices.

• Audits and Action Plans: Lead and contribute to audits and site visits, identifying risks, areas for improvement, and good practices. Develop, monitor, and manage action plans to ensure continuous improvement across services.
• Guidance and Support: Provide targeted support to services to ensure they meet regulatory and legal requirements, follow best practice, and work towards delivering the highest quality provision.
• Reporting: Provide regular reports to management and executive forums, offering oversight of service quality, compliance, and thematic reviews.
• Learning and Development: Promote a culture of learning within the Fair Ways by coordinating and monitoring after-action reviews, scenario planning, and the dissemination of best practices.

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This role will be a hybrid position, working from home, our central support office in Portsmouth (Wednesday team day) and visiting our range of services within the Solent and additional locations, including services in Wales & Somerset. Successful candidates will be required to provide an enhanced Disclosure (DBS). This disclosure cost will be met by Fair Ways. Fair Ways are unable to provide VISA sponsorship for this role and all applicants will need to be able to provide evidence of right to work in the UK.

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As part of your journey with Fair Ways, you will take part in RiiSE training.


RiiSE stands for Relationship-Inspired Ideas for Support Environments, and it is our trauma-informed approach to working with the children, young people, and families we support.

This training covers important, but sometimes difficult and emotional content. We talk about topics such as childhood trauma, attachment, and the impact of adverse childhood experiences. Understandably, some people reflect on the individual they are caring for having these experiences and possibly their own personal experiences of these subjects. We want to acknowledge that these subjects can be challenging, and it is natural to feel strong emotions as we explore them.

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