Catering Assistant

Wwl; Wigan; On-site; GBP 23,000 - 28,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension & life cover

Annual leave 27-33 days

Training opportunities and eLearning

Job summary

WWL in Wigan is seeking a Catering Assistant to join the Retail Team at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary. This 30-hour-per-week post runs 6 hours a day between 7.00 am and 8.00 pm, with a rota including 5 weekends in 7.

You will support food preparation, service, stock presentation, and safety checks, with training provided. The role offers development within the NHS catering department and a competitive benefits package.

Qualifications

• Induction period and on-the-job training provided.
• COSHH training level II is required.
• No formal qualifications required.

Responsibilities

• Work to standard operational procedures.
• Prepare food and assist in kitchens and retail outlets.
• Ensure correct labeling and dates.
• Assist with food preparation as instructed.
• Record temperatures and audit forms.
• Maintain high personal hygiene and uniform code.
• Serve meals at ward level or in retail outlets.
• Provide colleague cover when required.
• Work as part of a busy team to tight timescales.

Skills

Basic literacy

Numeracy

Teamwork

Deadline-driven

Willingness to learn

Cleaning machinery experience

Education

CIEHO Level II Food Safety Qualification

Job description

Main area Catering Grade NHS AfC: Band 2 Contract Permanent Hours

• Part time
• Job share
• Flexible working

30 hours per week (Working 30 hours a week, 6 hours a day, between the hours of 7.00 am and 8.00 pm. The rota pattern will involve working 5 weekends out of 7.) Job ref 302-26-7939243E-A

Site Royal Albert Edward Infirmary Town Wigan Salary £25,272 per annum, pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 24/08/2026 23:59

People at the Heart. One Team. Your Career at WWL.

Job overview

The Catering Department are looking to recruit a Catering Assistant to join our Retail Team.

1 x 30 hour post, working 6 hours a day between the hours of 7.00 am and 8.00 pm. Working 5 weekend out of 7.

The successful candidate will need to provide colleague cover when required.

The rota pattern will be explained on interview.

This is an excellent opportunity to join the NHS and help to provide an excellent service to the patients, staff and visitors of Wigan Infirmary. There are many fantastic opportunities for development and progression within the Catering Department. The successful candidates should be enthusiastic and will enjoy being part of this dynamic team delivering a high-quality service.

Please note that this vacancy may close early if a sufficient number of applications are received. We encourage interested candidates to apply promptly to avoid disappointment.

Please note: Applicants who have previously been advised that they do not meet the requirements for this position should not reapply unless they have since taken clear steps to strengthen their application. Reapplications must include evidence demonstrating how the essential criteria are now met.

Main duties of the job

You will work as part of a busy team working to tight timescales.

You will be required to undertake a wide range of duties including food preparation, cleaning and meal service duties within the kitchens, and retail outlets.

The role of the Retail Catering Assistant is to carry out all duties to a required standard for the provision of the retail services within the Hospital.

Ensuring retail stock is well presented, with daily monitoring of product expiry dates & appropriate stock rotation, identifying products for replenishment & reporting any price/product changes.

Assisting with simple food preparation duties as instructed & allocated by the Catering Manager, other department managers or supervisors.

Completion of audit forms associated with food safety; financial policy & procedures will be required.

Working for our organisation

Choose Well – Choose WWL

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are the proud providers of acute hospital and community services to the people of the Wigan Borough and surrounding areas. At WWL, we value our staff believing that ‘happy staff, makes for happy patients’. We have a recognised track record in staff engagement and living our values.

WWL are committed to placing the patient at the heart of everything we do, and in the provision of safe, effective care that acknowledges and ensures dignity. With this in mind we are seeking to recruit people who share our values and beliefs.

Good basic salary plus an attractive package of benefits which include:

• Excellent Pension & Life Assurance Package (over 20% employer contribution)
• Excellent annual leave entitlements 27 to 33 days per annum dependent upon service
• Paid occupational maternity, paternity, and adoption leave dependent upon service.
• Training opportunities and eLearning resources.
• Health and wellbeing support.
• Career Progression opportunitieswithin Estates & Facilities and the NHS.
• Access to salary sacrifice schemes for items such as lease vehicles and buy a bike schemes.
• NHS Discount schemes to access hundreds of discounts and savings from everything to High Street Stores to restaurants, family holidays and more.
• Long Service Awards.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

• Work to standard operational procedures.
• Preparation of food, this could be within high-risk chilled areas, to specified recipes
• Ensuring labelling of products is correct e.g. product name dates.
• After training could be required to produce cooked foods e.g. soups, gravy, fried, bacon etc.
• Performance of duties in accordance with approved methods, frequencies and standards, adhering to strict food safety standards.
• Meeting deadlines for production of meals as part of a team.
• May be required to take patient menu choices at ward level, offer alternatives where required.
• Required to serve meals at ward level to patients, or in retail outlets to staff & visitors, occasional delivery of buffets & functions outside the Department.
• Use of equipment, machinery and cleaning materials once trained, ability to spot defects with fabric or machinery and report to Supervisor.
• Significant cleaning duties are associated with this post including cleaning of pans, cutlery, crockery, machinery, cooking equipment and floors walls and work surfaces.
• Recording temperatures and other key audit requirements onto the appropriate monitoring forms, reporting to Supervisors where particularly temperatures may be outside required limits.
• Have high standards of personal Hygiene and follow the Departmental uniform code of practice.

Person specification

Qualifications

• No formal qualifications are required: an induction period, on the job instruction & additional training will be given on Food handling and cleaning. This will include COSHH training/ minor cooking skills and attendance at a CIEHO Food Safety level II course as a requirement.
• CIEHO Level II Food Safety Qualification.

Experience

• Previous experience not required.
• Previous Catering Experience.
• Previous Cooking Experience.

Skills

• Basic literacy and numeracy required.
• Ability to record information onto forms, ability to work as a team.
• An understanding of working to deadlines.
• Willingness to learn new skills during training.
• Previous use of cleaning machinery, Dishwashing or machinery or other Catering equipment.

Knowledge

• Understanding of how important food safety is.
• An awareness of the hospital and what activities occur.
• Knowledge of the Hospital site, or Catering Department.

Additional

• Working unsociable hours, mobility to meet requirements of the service. to provide cover for colleagues, Could be expected to work in cold rooms , hot and noisy environments, The criteria below is mandatory and is to be included for all roles which involve regular interaction with the public. Speak English to an appropriate standard relevant to their role, ie; with confidence and accuracy using correct sentence structures and vocabulary without t to provide the cover for colleagues , Could be expected to work in cold rooms , hot and noisy
• Flexibility to provide cover for colleagues.
• Could be expected to work in cold rooms, hot & noisy environments.
• Speak English to an appropriate standard relevant to their role, i.e. with confidence and accuracy, using correct sentence structures and vocabulary, and without hesitation.

We endeavour to inform all applicants of the outcome of their application by email or SMS text message.

Guidance on Completing Your Application

Applications are assessed against the person specification. We strongly encourage you to use the supporting information section to demonstrate how you meet the essential and desirable criteria, providing clear examples where possible.

On-Call

Please note that some roles may require participation in an on-call rota, particularly those that are operational in nature.

WWL is part of the Greater Manchester Continuous Service Commitment. We recognise continuous or ‘unbroken’ service from any Greater Manchester Local Authority, NHS organisation, Transport for Greater Manchester, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service or the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. This ensures access to our service-related benefits.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Name Mike Estwick Job title Assistant Catering Manager Email address [e-mail] Telephone number 01942 822742 Additional information [e-mail]