Facilities Manager

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust; Ilford; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A healthcare organization is seeking a Soft Facilities Manager to oversee food, cleaning, and housekeeping services across multiple properties. The role requires extensive experience with contract management and strong interpersonal skills. Additionally, it involves financial oversight of a £6m contract and collaboration with various external entities. Join us to support a dynamic and inclusive environment in management roles offering professional growth.

Benefits

Comprehensive induction program

High Cost Area Supplement

Wellbeing support programs

Qualifications

• Significant experience managing food services, cleaning and housekeeping.
• Ability to meet clinical staff and patient interactions diplomatically.
• Experience with KPI management in service contracts.

Responsibilities

• Manage all soft services across 133 properties.
• Ensure value for money in a £6m contract with providers.
• Collaborate with local authorities and external bodies.

Skills

Managing soft services contracts

Financial management

Relationship management

Problem-solving

Education

Relevant qualification in facilities management

Tools

Financial software

Job description

This job is brought to you by Jobs/Redefined, the UK's leading over-50s age inclusive jobs board.

Joining #TeamNELFT means you'll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We're CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for three consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video

Job overview

The post of Soft Facilities Manager comprises of the management of the provision of food services, cleaning and housekeeping across the Trust portfolio of 133 properties in North East London, Essex and Kent.

The postholder shall have significant experience in managing main soft services contractors, the use of KPI's and a helpful manner when dealing with clinical staff and patients in wards and associated clinical services. The appointment reports to the Director of Estates.

Main duties of the job

Managing all soft services, that include cleaning, catering, housekeeping, waste management, liaison with Infection Control Nurses, Trust PFI management and the full range of contracted soft FM services throughout NELFT.

The soft services contract are in excess of £6m per annum and require particular scrutiny and management to ensure value for money is being obtained by NELFT.

The postholder shall be skilled and diplomatic in their relationship with client staff and be helpful in resolving problems and consistently working to improve the soft FM services within NELFT.

Working for our organisation

Starting with NELFT

NELFT place a great deal of importance on new starters being properly welcomed and inducted into the Trust. All new starters will join the Trust on the first Monday of each month and will undertake a comprehensive induction of up to two weeks which will include mandatory training, systems training and the allocation of equipment. As part of the process new starters will have the opportunity to also meet the executive team, senior managers and attend a number of drop in sessions focussing in engagement, health and wellbeing and key processes. The induction will be held at our head office in Rainham, Essex.

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).

High Cost Area Supplement

This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 15% of the basic salary (with a minimum of £4,714 to a maximum of £5,941 p.a pro rata for part time).

Sponsorship

Applications for Skilled Worker sponsorship are welcome for those that meet the Visa and Immigrations eligibility criteria. For further information please visit the gov.uk website searching for Skilled Worker.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The management and financial control of a £6m pa soft services contract with a major industry contractor, ensuring value for money and meticulous checking of services provided are correctly invoiced.

To provide soft FM services management throughout the property portfolio of NELFT.

To fully participate in the Estates Directorate and assist with the formation and collation of Estates data and KPI's required by NHSE and the Trust.

To be an active member of the Estates Management Team and contribute to the performance of the Estates Directorate in all areas of soft facilities management.

To act as the Trust's external representative with external bodies, including Local Authorities, Statutory Waste Authorities, NHSE, Integrated Care Boards representing NELFT.

To manage subordinate staff, set work plans and foster effective workforce management in the Estates Directorate.

Any other duties commensurate with the requirements of the soft facilities management services.

Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer closely to this when completing your application.

We welcome your application even if you do not meet all the criteria listed in the person specification. Any development needs to help you succeed in the role, can be discussed at the interview stage.

Supporting Our Communities

At NELFT, we are committed to supporting and investing in our local communities. As part of this, we are prioritising applications from individuals who live within the areas we serve. This helps us build a workforce that truly reflects the diverse populations we care for, improves our ability to provide culturally informed services, and strengthens local employment opportunities. By recruiting locally, we aim to foster a more inclusive, accessible, and sustainable health and care system.

References

Please ensure that the references are from your most recent employer and one of these must be your direct Line Manager or Supervisor. You must provide professional email addresses for all referees as we will contact them as soon as an offer has been made. Please note we do not request references prior to interviews. Additionally, ensure that any gaps in your employment history are clearly indicated. All applications made through NHS Jobs account will be processed by TRAC System. Please note that some emails may go to your spam/junk mailbox so make sure you check this regularly.

Use of AI

Applications for this role should be written by the applicant. If artificial intelligence (AI) programmes are used, then the application may be rejected due to this document being an important part of the assessment process. This does not prevent applicants seeking appropriate support with applications should they need to for the purposes of any declared disability.

If you like the sound of working with NELFT, don't waste a moment and apply now!

Person specification

Application form and interview

Essential criteria

• Qualifications/Achievements/Experience

Application form and interview

Desirable criteria

• Qualification/experience

Application form and interview

Essential criteria

• Qualfications

Benefits

We believe in bringing your authentic and best self to work, in order to deliver the best care to our patients. We are committed to supporting our employees holistically. Here is a snapshot of what is on offer at NELFT:

• A long-standing and award-winning approach to equality and diversity with supportive networks for ethnic minority staff, staff with disabilities or long term/chronic conditions and LGBT staff.
• A commitment to supporting colleagues to achieve a work life balance, through flexible working opportunities and our effortsto support our working parents and carers. This has resulted in us being recognised as a 'Top 10 Family Friendly Employer' from the Working Families Charity.
• Proactive health and wellbeing support, including access to our employee assistance programme, staff psychological support, individual wellbeing conversations and a network of health and wellbeing ambassadors.
• Detailed information about our wellbeing and benefits offer can be found in this link.

As a flexible working friendly organisation, we want to be sure that you can work in a way that is best for us and for our patients, and for you. Speak to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that's a job share, part time hours or another flexible pattern.

Supporting our Armed Forces

We recognise the valuable contribution that the Armed Forces community make to our organisation. We have signed the Armed Forces Covenant and achieved Gold Award under the Armed Forces Employer Recognition Scheme. We have supportive policies, guaranteed interview schemes for veterans. reservists and military spouses and give additional leave to our Reservists so that they can attend their annual camp.

Equal opportunities employer

We are committed to equal opportunities and diversity and positively encourage applications from all sections of the community regardless of any protected characteristic.

We are a Disability Confident employer and have made the pledge to commit to employing more people with disabilities. If you require this application in another format i.e. Braille or audio tape please contact the recruitment team on 0300 300 1530 or email [e-mail].

Correspondence with us

You are advised to regularly check your emails (including any junk mail/spam folders) for correspondence related to this post.

As part of our recruitment process, we may be required to share information you provide on the application form with NHS Counter Fraud Authority (NHSCFA) and/or other organisations for the purpose of the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of fraud or any other unlawful activity affecting the NHS. We also use third party providers to check and verify your qualifications who may be contacting you on our behalf to verify the same.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Applicant requirements

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.

Documents to download

• Job Description (PDF, 396.8KB)
• Person Specification (PDF, 162.7KB)
• NELFT Application - Hints and Tips (PDF, 38.4KB)