Housekeeper - Children's Residential Home

West Sussex County Council; Worthing; On-site; GBP 13,000 - 14,000; Part time

Job summary

A local government council in Worthing is seeking a dedicated Housekeeper for its children's residential home. This part-time role emphasizes maintaining hygiene and cleanliness in a supportive environment for children with various needs. Candidates should demonstrate excellent communication skills, a commitment to high standards of cleanliness, and knowledge of health regulations. This is a permanent position with a competitive salary and local government benefits.

Benefits

Excellent local government pension scheme

Generous holiday entitlement

Retail discounts through a benefits platform

Commuting discounts

Health and wellbeing benefits

Training and development opportunities

Qualifications

• Effective communication with children, staff, and visitors.
• Skill in performing a variety of cleaning tasks effectively.
• Understanding and applying Health and Safety regulations.
• Using IT for managing logs and communication.
• Ability to work as part of a team focused on children’s needs.

Responsibilities

• Ensure cleanliness and hygiene of the children's home.
• Respond to the needs of the home as directed by the duty manager.
• Maintain communal areas, rooms, and other facilities.

Skills

Ability to communicate in English

High standard of cleaning tasks

Knowledge of Health and Safety Regulations

Ability to use IT

Flexibility in duties

Familiarity with cleaning equipment (Desirable)

Job description

About Us

Bright Star is an OFSTED rated Good Children's home that provides full time care and short breaks for Children 7-18 years old who have a wide range of needs including physical disabilities, autism and/or challenging behaviour.

About the Role

Salary: £13,196 - £13,403 pro rata plus weekend enhancement pay, annual leave, benefits, excellent local government pension and more (equivalent to £24,413 - £24,796 full‑time per year)
Working Pattern: Part Time, 20 hours per week with approximately one weekend a month (candidates preferred working hours can be discussed at interview)
Contract: Permanent
Location: Worthing

We are looking for a proactive and reliable Housekeeper to join our committed team in our children's residential home. This important role supports the upkeep of a clean, well-organised, and caring environment that meets the daily needs of the children in our care.

Key responsibilities include ensuring the general cleanliness and hygiene of the home such as vacuuming, window cleaning, emptying bins, and maintaining residential rooms, bathrooms, kitchens, offices, and communal areas. You will be expected to respond to the changing needs of the home as directed by the duty manager. This requires a good level of communication and people skills.

The successful candidate must be familiar with and adhere to relevant regulations including Health and Safety and Safeguarding standards. You will need to be aware of individual children's needs and preferences within the home as well.

This is a practical role where your work truly makes a difference! If you're organised and committed to high standards of cleanliness in a caring environment, we'd love to hear from you.

About You

Some of the key skills and experience required are:

• Ability to communicate in English with children, staff and visitors to the home and to write reports as required.
• Ability to undertake a wide range of cleaning tasks to a high standard and within agreed timescales.
• Ability to follow defined instructions in particular to understand and apply Health and Safety and safeguarding regulations and procedures.
• Ability to use IT to write emails, access information about the home, complete electronic logs etc.
• Ability to work flexibly to allocated duties and as part of a team within the home to put the child first.
• Knowledge of Health and Safety Regulations.
• Knowledge of using a range of cleaning equipment (Desirable)

Rewards and Benefits

As an employer we recognise that it is our employees that are central to everything we do. We aim to create a supportive and dynamic working environment where employees can achieve their full potential, achieve a healthy work-life balance and are rewarded for the work they do.

In addition to working within a great team and a brilliant opportunity you will receive:

• an excellent local government pension scheme
• generous holiday entitlement of 25 to 28 days, depending on length of service
• access to a wide selection of retail discounts and savings such as groceries, shopping, travel and more through our West Sussex Choices benefits platform.
• a range of commuting and business travel discount and initiatives
• maternity, paternity, dependency and adoption leave
• health and wellbeing benefits including access to our Employee Assistance Programme
• financial wellbeing support including access to educational tools and webinars, loans or debt consolidation options and savings scheme
• training and development opportunities, including coaching and mentoring

For a full list of the benefits offered to you as a West Sussex County Council employee you can find them on our Rewards and Benefits page.

Further Information

The reference number for this role is CAFHE06072.

To apply, upload your CV and cover letter, explaining the skills and experience you can bring to the role, ensuring that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults.

This post is subject to an enhanced DBS check, 5 years referencing and an occupational health check. A fully employment history will be requested and covered for this role.

Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or are a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.

Note for Recruitment Agencies: We prefer to hire people directly, but we do have a supplier list for when we need a helping hand. We'll be in touch directly if we need you!