Estate Services Caretaker (Gr D / E)

Royal Borough of Kingston; Kingston upon Thames; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A local council in Kingston upon Thames seeks a caretaker to maintain housing estates, ensuring cleanliness and safety. The role involves community engagement, collaboration with team members, and a commitment to health and safety protocols. Ideal candidates should have a background in caretaking and a current UK driving license. The position offers 36 hours a week with an immediate start.

Qualifications

• Experience in cleaning or caretaking, ideally in social housing or a commercial setting.
• Knowledge of health and safety protocols related to caretaking.
• Ability to use smartphones and basic IT databases.

Responsibilities

• Ensure the cleanliness and safety of communal areas in housing estates.
• Respond to feedback from residents and engage with the community effectively.
• Work collaboratively to achieve performance targets and service objectives.

Skills

Teamwork

Communication

Adaptability

Basic maintenance

Driving

Job description

Job Category: Facilities & Environmental Services

Location: Royal Borough of Kingston

Hours Per Week: 36.00

Start Date: Immediate Start

Start Time: 07:30

End Time 15: 45

Salary: £14.39

Role Purpose

The Council is focused on delivering the best possible outcomes for its communities. To do this the Council needs employees who thrive in an agile and networked organisation and who can support continuous improvement within a constructive organisational culture.

The role reports directly to the CRE Caretaker Team Leader

and forms part of a team that is responsible for ensuring that the council’s housing estates are tidy, litter free, clean, safe and assisting in keeping the communal areas in a good state of repair. The CRE Caretaker Team is a multidisciplinary team looking after 2 of the councils housing estates (Cambridge Road Estate and Cambridge gardens) located in Kingston. The range of services the team will deliver is: Block Cleaning, Deep Cleaning, Bulk / Graffiti Removal, Minor Communal Repairs and responding to other estate issues.

Key activities

Performance

• Works with manager and colleagues to define outcomes, set targets and monitor performance, within a culture of continual improvement.
• Supports operational plans to ensure that the resources within the teams are used to best effect and impact.

Customers and Partners

• Builds strong internal and external working partnerships to enable the service to be delivered in an outcome-focused and efficient way.
• Supports Kingston’s commitment to community cohesion and valuing diversity and social inclusion.
• You communicate effectively with others, including residents and colleagues, and successfully engage with residents to receive and respond to their feedback.

Digital / New Ways of Working

• Uses new technologies, particularly smartphones and handheld devices, to adopt modern, agile working practices, improve customer service and eliminate paper-based processes wherever possible.
• You act with integrity, take personal responsibility while working flexibly and independently, following procedures and adhering to health and safety requirements.

Delivery

• Identify risks and emerging issues and escalation to others to ensure swift resolution.
• You are a high performing individual who works collaboratively with others to achieve targets and service objectives and make the team the very best it can be.
• Ensure safe working practices are adhered to and follow standards and procedures to ensure compliance with all council, regulator, and statutory requirements, including the Control Of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) and relevant health and safety standards.
• Take responsibility for the assets used to carry out your role including cleaning equipment, fleet vehicles, stores, and supplies, to ensure that they are secure, effectively maintained and used appropriately to deliver an efficient service.

Equality and Diversity

• Embeds equity, equality, fairness and diversity into all aspects of team working and service delivery.

The person

• Question and challenge ways of working, with an understanding of the bigger picture in terms of the corporate context and external environment.
• Demonstrate agility and adaptability in mindset and ways of working.
• Work successfully with key stakeholders within and outside of the Council.
• Demonstrate commitment to own personal and professional development to meet the changing demands of the role.
• Demonstrate innovation and creativity.
• Actively engage in positive cross organisational communications and team working.
• Communicate clearly, confidently and appropriately with colleagues using the best methods of communication for the task.
• You understand the importance of health and safety in relation to the caretaking of social housing and housing estates.
• You have knowledge and experience of cleaning or caretaking, ideally in a social housing / commercial setting.
• Operates effectively in an environment that requires work outdoors in all weathers, includes potential exposure to hazardous substances, manual handling of heavy objects.
• Able to use a smartphone / basic IT databases.
• Ability to carry out a range of basic maintenance tasks.
• You have experience of deep cleaning and use of specialist cleaning equipment and machinery. – Desirable.
• Ability to drive a motor vehicle as and when required.
• Hold a current full UK driving license.