Catering assistant - HMP Brixton

Mitie Cleaning & Hygiene Services; Greater London; On-site; GBP 27,000 - 33,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension and life insurance

Salary Finance benefits

Flexible lifestyle benefits

Mitie Stars recognition

Job summary

Mitie is seeking a Catering / Chef Supervisor to oversee catering operations at HMP Brixton, ensuring safe, compliant, and high-quality delivery of food services.

This role involves working with a prisoner workforce, delivering training, promoting rehabilitation through skills development, and ensuring all catering services meet safety and quality requirements.

Qualifications

• Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate and willingness to obtain level 3.
• Experience working in a catering or kitchen environment.
• Ability to pass Prison Service vetting.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with prisoners, supporting and guiding them in developing basic cooking skills and food preparation techniques.
• Provide a safe, structured, and supportive learning environment that encourages engagement and rehabilitation.
• Demonstrate best practice in food hygiene and safe kitchen working to help prisoners build transferable skills.
• Ensure all catering activities are carried out in line with Health & Safety, food hygiene, and prison regulations.
• Assist in delivering basic catering training aligned to NVQ Level 1 standards.

Skills

Strong communication

Patient and supportive approach

Teamwork

Education

Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate

Willingness to obtain Level 3

Job description

Better places, thriving communities.

Join Mitie – the future of high performing places.

Location: HMP Brixton

Salary: £30,000

Contract: Full-time (39 hours per week)

Hours: Rotating shift pattern between 8am-5pm

At Mitie, our people are our greatest strength, and our promise is to create a place to work where you can thrive and be your best every day. We're looking for a Catering / Chef Supervisor to oversee catering operations within HMP Brixton, ensuring the safe, compliant, and high-quality delivery of food services.

This role is key to maintaining catering standards while supporting and supervising a prisoner workforce. You will play an important part in delivering training, promoting rehabilitation through skills development, and ensuring all catering services meet operational, safety, and quality requirements.

Role Responsibilities

• Work closely with prisoners, supporting and guiding them in developing basic cooking skills and food preparation techniques.
• Provide a safe, structured, and supportive learning environment that encourages engagement and rehabilitation.
• Demonstrate best practice in food hygiene and safe kitchen working to help prisoners build transferable skills.
• Ensure all catering activities are carried out in line with Health & Safety, food hygiene, and prison regulations.
• Assist in delivering basic catering training aligned to NVQ Level 1 standards.

Required Qualifications

• Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate and willingness to obtain level 3
• Experience working in a catering or kitchen environment
• Ability to pass Prison Service vetting

What We're Looking For

• Strong communication skills with the ability to engage positively with individuals from different backgrounds
• Patient, supportive, and encouraging approach to teaching new skills
• Good understanding of basic food hygiene and kitchen safety practices
• Ability to work as part of a team within a structured environment
• Reliable, organised, and proactive mindset
• Commitment to supporting rehabilitation and helping others develop practical life skills

Desirable

• Experience in a supervisory or training role.
• Exposure to working within a secure or custodial environment.
• Experience delivering accredited training or vocational qualifications.

What's in it for you?

• Opportunity to make a meaningful impact through skills development and rehabilitation.
• A stable and structured working environment with clear processes and standards.
• Pension and life insurance benefits.
• A supportive culture focused on development and continuous improvement.

Our market-leading offering provides you with benefits that suit your lifestyle.

We have a virtual GP on hand for you and members of your household. So you can get expert advice by video or phone without having to leave your home. We offer financial wellbeing assistance through our Salary Finance scheme. For example, you could access 50% of your earned pay before payday for a small fee. Salary Finance also offers competitive loans.

When you join us, we’ll give you a link to our flexible lifestyle benefits platform, Choices. You might choose to purchase up to five extra days’ holiday each year. You might buy critical illness insurance, seek dental treatment or buy technology products at an affordable cost. There are many choices!

We give you access to high street discounts from thousands of well-known retailers, gyms and more through our MiDeals platform. And we have a cycle-to-work scheme. Life cover of up to four times your salary is available. We also offer enhanced pension contributions, a save-as-you-earn scheme, and a Mitie Matching Share Plan (you could even be awarded free shares in Mitie).

We award our employees with Mitie Stars as recognition for their hard work. There are cash prizes up for grabs each month and at the end of the year there’s a chance to scoop a top prize of £10,000!

Our success is a direct result of the experience and quality of our people. Progressing your career is therefore a top priority for us. We offer a diverse variety of training and development avenues via a wide selection of learning resources to suit you.

We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to all. If you have a disability or long-term condition (for example dyslexia, anxiety, autism, a mobility condition or hearing loss) and need us to make any reasonable adjustments, changes or do anything differently during the recruitment process, please let us know by emailing Christian Kalugin at [e-mail].

Since 1987, Mitie’s 84,000 employees have been maintaining companies globally. We are the UK’s leading facilities management and professional services company, and our clients range from household names in banking, critical government sites as well as hospitals and schools.

Together our diversity makes us stronger.

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