Senior Divisional Facilities Manager - Caretech Childrens Services, Education in Morecambe

About CareTech and Cambian

CareTech Group provide specialist Education / residential care across the UK. We support some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. Our Schools exist to provide safe, stable and nurturing environments where children and people can recover, develop and thrive. For the children in our care, the quality of the physical environment is not a ‘nice to have’ – it is fundamental. Our estates must be compliant, safe and resilient, but also warm, homely and dignified. Put simply: we should feel comfortable placing our own children in these environments.

Role purpose

The Senior Divisional Facilities Manager will lead the estates function for the Children’s residential division (44 Sites). The postholder is accountable for statutory compliance, health and safety (premises), property condition, service continuity and the overall quality of the estate across a multi-site portfolio. The role provides divisional leadership to Regional Facilities Managers (RFMs 3Nr. & Maintenance Operatives 46. Nr) and works in close partnership with Principals, Regional Operations Managers and senior leadership (including Managing Directors) to ensure that standards are consistently achieved and sustained.

Reporting lines

• Responsible to: Director of Facilities / Group Estates Leadership (as applicable), Group Executive Director – Childrens services.
• Direct reports: Regional Facilities Managers (RFMs) and any divisional estates support roles.
• Key interfaces: Home Managers, Regional Operations Managers, Quality/Compliance, Finance, Procurement, Contractors/Suppliers.
• On-Call: Participates in an on-call rota (e.g., one week in every fifteen) to support critical incidents and business continuity.

Key accountabilities

• Statutory compliance, health and safety, and risk: Act as the senior premises professional for the division, ensuring all sites are safe, compliant and fit for purpose. Own the divisional compliance position across statutory requirements (e.g., fire safety actions, water hygiene/legionella controls, asbestos management, gas and electrical safety, lifting equipment where applicable) and ensure robust evidence trails. Commission, review and drive closure of audits, inspections and risk assessments; ensure actions are prioritised by risk and closed to a defined quality standard. Provide decisive incident-response leadership (e.g., floods, alarm activations, heating failures), implementing immediate controls and directing permanent remediation.
• Quality of environment and customer experience: Drive consistent, high-quality standards for repair, decoration, cleanliness and presentation so homes are safe and genuinely homely. Work with Operations to understand the lived experience of children and staff, ensuring estates solutions support safeguarding, privacy and dignity. Introduce and enforce divisional standards/specifications that reduce repeat failures and raise overall quality.
• CAFM system leadership and reactive maintenance control: Take divisional ownership of the CAFM system (including job logging governance, triage, prioritisation and closure quality). Ensure RFMs and teams are using the system correctly: accurate categories, appropriate priorities, strong descriptions, and evidence on completion. Implement controls to prevent aged backlogs and repeat call-outs; ensure jobs are closed properly with clear resolution notes and supporting evidence where required. Use CAFM data to drive performance: reactive ageing, first-time fix rates, repeat defects, contractor performance and compliance KPIs.
• Planned works, projects and capital programme (CapEx): Build, maintain and deliver a rolling programme of planned works and property improvement, aligned to risk reduction and service needs. Develop clear scopes and high-level specifications; obtain competitive quotations/tenders in line with procurement policy. Control project delivery end-to-end: scope, programme, cost, quality, commissioning, handover, defects and warranties. Contribute to strategic asset planning and annual CapEx budgeting, prioritising based on risk, compliance, condition and operational impact.
• Commercial management and budget control: Own divisional R&M and CapEx budget governance, forecasting and cost-to-complete reporting. Maintain strong variation control and challenge scope creep; ensure value for money and whole-life cost thinking. Work closely with Finance and Procurement to ensure correct coding, approvals and a clean audit trail. Provide clear, board-ready reporting to senior leadership (including Managing Directors) on compliance, performance, key risks, projects and spend. Represent the estates function professionally with regulators, inspectors, external agencies and visitors where premises matters arise.
• People leadership, capability and performance: Line-manage RFMs and relevant estates staff: objectives, supervision, coaching and development. Build a divisional capability plan (skills matrix, training plan, competency checks) covering technical triage, compliance awareness and leadership behaviours. Measure and manage staff KPIs (quality of close-outs, responsiveness, compliance closure rates, stakeholder feedback, budget discipline). Promote a culture of accountability, learning and continuous improvement; manage underperformance fairly and promptly.

Performance measures (examples)

The role will be measured on a balanced scorecard. Typical divisional KPIs include:

• Statutory compliance: PPM completion rate; overdue statutory items; audit action closure (by risk rating).
• Fire safety: FRA action closure times; fire door and compartmentation remediation progress (where applicable).