Assistant Shop Manager - Keswick

NHS; Keswick; On-site; GBP 20,000 - 25,000; Full time

Job summary

A charitable retail organization is seeking an Assistant Shop Manager in Keswick. You will support the Shop Manager in ensuring the efficient running and profitability of the shop while managing volunteers and maintaining high standards of customer service. The ideal candidate will have retail experience and a passion for charity work, thriving on challenges and having strong leadership skills. This role offers a unique opportunity to contribute to vital community services while developing your career in retail.

Qualifications

• Experience dealing with the public face to face and over the phone.
• Able to work independently and as part of a team.
• Knowledge of Health and Safety.

Responsibilities

• Support the Shop Manager in ensuring profitability.
• Manage and coordinate shop volunteers.
• Maintain high standards of display and cleanliness.

Skills

Customer service

Retail management

Window dressing

Merchandising

Education

GCSE (or equivalent) grade A to C in English and Maths

Job description

Go back Hospice at Home Carlisle and North Lakeland

Assistant Shop Manager - Keswick

The closing date is 04 January 2026

Our Assistant Shop Managers are trusted to be resourceful, to provide caring, compassionate service to customers and colleagues in a professional and respectful manner and thrive on challenge, seeking opportunities for continuous improvement with a progressive attitude to change, a focus on creating new ideas and increasing profits to enhance quality of life for adults, their families and carers in our area, through skilled and compassionate care and support at home and in their community.

Are you a proactive, driven, enthusiastic influencer with skills based in retail and fashion?

Are you a positive, dynamic individual, keen to champion our organisational vision to positively inspire a future in which everyone within our community facing life limiting illnesses, regardless of cause, receives the best possible palliative and end of life care and their families and carers receive the support they need?

Are you seeking an opportunity to grow and develop your leadership and retail skills in an organisation that works towards the common goal of providing essential local care for local people and be the face of our organisation in the retail community?

Main duties of the job

• Proactively source donated goods and assist with sorting, valuing, and disposing of unsuitable items.
• Maintain high standards of display, presentation, and cleanliness in the shop and storage areas.
• Support and coordinate shop volunteers, including managing rotas and providing cover during the manager’s absence.
• Ensure excellent customer care and accurate completion of administrative tasks when required.
• Handle financial procedures: operate tills, cash up, reconcile takings, and bank daily revenue in line with Hospice at Home policies.
• Address maintenance issues promptly and promote the shop locally to increase turnover.
• Minimise stock loss and undertake other reasonable duties as needed, including covering holidays and sickness.

About us

Hospice at Home’s core service is its skilled team of Registered Nurses and Healthcare Assistants who provide exceptional care and support in peoples last year of life and end of life.

We also provide additional services such as Lymphoedema, Bereavement and Family Support, Befriending, Occupational Therapy and Complementary Therapy.

We provide individualised care and support to improve quality of life and our end of life care helps facilitate a peaceful and dignified death in the home and support to those who are bereaved.

Our clinical service area covers a mixture of urban and rural communities, a region of approximately 1,500 square miles throughout North and East Cumbria.

Although we receive some funding from the NHS, we need to raise over 85% of our running costs in order to ensure that this vital help is available when needed and remains free of charge to patients and their families. Our retail sector plays a huge part in raising these vital funds.

Job responsibilities

1. JOB DETAILS

• Job title: Assistant Shop Manager
• Organisation: Hospice at Home Carlisle and North Lakeland
• Managerially Accountable to: Shop Manager
• Location: Hospice at Home Retail Shops

2. JOB SUMMARY

To support the Shop Manager in ensuring the profitability and efficient running of the Hospice at Home Shops and sort donations in the Storage Unit. To promote Hospice at Home in all aspects of work in a professional and efficient manner.

3. ROLE OF ORGANISATION

To provide a comprehensive Hospice at Home service to enhance the experience of patients with cancer from diagnosis through treatments to palliative and end of life care and other progressive life threatening conditions. The service also supports relatives and carers providing care predominately in the home or within the local community.

Hospice at Home is a charitable organisation working alongside and in collaboration with other specialist palliative care providers, local primary care services and Adult Social Care as well as acute settings and residential care.

We offer day and night nursing care and support, respite provision, specialist services of Lymphoedema and Occupational Therapy, Bereavement and Family Support, Complementary Therapy and a Befriending Service.

Care is provided by Registered Nurses, Nursing Associates, Assistant Practitioners. Health Care Assistants, Volunteers, Counsellors and Allied Health Care Professionals supported by administrative staff.

4. ORGANISATIONAL CHART

• Chief Executive
• Senior Shop Manager

5. KEY WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

• Internal: Staff and Volunteers
• External: Donors, General Public, Organisations and Clubs, Stakeholders (Including Business Partners). Suppliers of goods and services

The above list is not exhaustive and there will be other external bodies that the post holder will have links to either as a one off or on‑going basis.

6. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE POST

• To be proactive in generating donated goods from the public.
• To support the manager in sorting and valuing donated goods to generate maximum revenue and disposal of unsuitable items by appropriate means. This would take place both in the shops and designated storage areas.
• To maintain a high standard of display, presentation and cleanliness throughout the shop.
• To assist with the management of the volunteer rota, ensuring adequate staffing for the efficient day‑to‑day running of the shop, including additional cover in the manager’s absence.
• To support the manager in maintaining the highest standards of customer care.
• To ensure completion of all relevant administration in an accurate and timely fashion in the absence of the shop manager.
• To be responsible for financial procedures, including the operation of the cash register, cashing up and reconciling the day's takings at the end of the day in accordance with Hospice at Home cash handling procedures as required and in the absence of the manager.
• To be responsible for ensuring that the gross daily takings are banked on the appropriate day as required and in the absence of the manager.
• To ensure all maintenance matters are dealt with promptly in the absence of the manager.
• To encourage growth in the shop’s turnover by promoting local awareness of Hospice at Home and the shop.
• To minimise loss of stock.
• To undertake any other reasonable duties as requested from time to time.
• To cover holidays and sickness where necessary.

This job description will be reviewed with the post holder annually.

7. WORK SETTING AND REVIEW

• To work unsupervised on a daily basis, manage and prioritise own workload. Work is supervised rather than managed. Reporting to line manager on a regular basis.
• On occasion and if required, be able to travel and work in any of the Hospice at Home retail shops.

8. INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Adhere to Hospice at Home policies and procedures and relevant legislation.
• Attend mandatory training as identified by Hospice at Home.
• Act as an ambassador for Hospice at Home.
• Participate in monthly management supervision.
• Participate in the appraisal process.
• Seek out training and development opportunities.

9. CONFIDENTIALITY

The post holder must maintain the confidentiality of information about patients, staff and business in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and Caldicott principles.

10. HEALTH AND SAFETY

Employees must be aware of the responsibilities placed upon them under the Health & Safety at Work Act (1974), to ensure that the agreed safety procedures are carried out to maintain a safe environment for employees, volunteers and customers.

All relevant and required reports are maintained and kept up to date.

11. RISK MANAGEMENT

All staff have a responsibility to report all clinical and non‑clinical accidents, incidents or near‑misses promptly and when requested to co‑operate with any investigations undertaken.

12. EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY

All employees of Hospice at Home have a responsibility to:

• Act in ways that support equality and valued diversity.
• Treat everyone with whom they come into contact with dignity and respect.
• Act in ways that are in accordance with Hospice at Home Equality and Diversity policy and Dignity in the Workplace policy.

13. SAFEGUARDING

All employees have a duty for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults at risk. Staff must be familiar with the Safeguarding Policy and the process for raising concerns about the welfare of anyone with whom they have contact. Staff must also ensure they receive the appropriate level of safeguarding children and adult training depending on their role within the organisation.

Staff are expected to access supervision and support from their line managers and/or the locality based safeguarding team when managing complex cases where applicable to their role.

14. INFORMATION GOVERNANCE

The post holder must keep up to date with the requirements of information governance; undertake mandatory training and follow Hospice at Home policies and procedures to ensure that information is dealt with legally, securely, efficiently, and effectively. It is important that the post holder processes personal identifiable information only in accordance with General Data Protection Regulation 2018.

The post holder must check with the Caldicott Guardian or Information Governance Lead before creating new systems to process personal identifiable information to ensure that this is carried out within the scope of the General Data Protection Regulation 2018.

It is likely that the post holder will be in contact at some time with a form of information system, and therefore is responsible for implementing and maintaining data quality. The post holder, when making entries into records, must ensure that these are legible and attributable and that the record keeping is contemporaneous.

It is essential that information recorded within records either on paper, in an electronic format or both paper and electronic, is accurate, complete and relevant.

Person Specification

Qualifications

• GCSE (or equivalent) grade A to C in English and Maths

Experience

• Experience of dealing with the public face to face and over the phone and via email
• Able to work independently and as part of a team
• Window Dressing experience
• Merchandising experience

Knowledge, Skills and Other

• An understanding and knowledge of Health and Safety
• An understanding and knowledge of manual handling
• Ability to communicate effectively with staff, volunteers and customers in person, over the telephone and in writing via email or letter
• Numerate and IT literate
• Ability to supervise and motivate a team of volunteers
• Able to deal with complaints and resolve difficult situations
• Knowledge and understanding of social media platforms and able to provide appropriate content
• Understanding of the Charitys aims, vision and mission
• Reliability
• Flexible, enthusiastic approach to work
• Able to work alone or as part of a team
• Able to work flexibly across the week and holiday periods
• Must be able to drive, have own transport and travel between all sites
• Required to attend training and regular meetings in Dalston
• Familiarity with & interest in, charity shops and the voluntary sector
• An understanding of First Aid
• A keen interest in Fashion and current trends
• Able to set tasks, teach and supervise others
• Able to complete tasks to the highest standard
• Understands and interested in recycle, reuse and repurpose
• Be adaptable

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Employer name

Hospice at Home Carlisle and North Lakeland