High Down Catering Manager in London

The job holder will be responsible for the Food Services for the establishment, including activities within all food areas and staff mess. This is a non‑operational role with line‑management responsibilities and is non‑rotational.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for ensuring the provision of meals for prisoners and for the quality and quantity of meals served.
• Responsible for monitoring a safe working environment – e.g. requesting repairs to kitchen equipment, on‑going testing and reporting operating faults on a computer‑aided facilities management system.
• Responsible for the achievement of Service Levels Indicators within the unit, verifying and signing off documentation as appropriate.
• Responsible for compliance with all Food Safety Management systems and Hygiene Assessments within the kitchen and associated areas, and for undertaking Risk Assessments and responding to hazards as and when appropriate.
• Responsible for costing the menu requirements and managing the catering budget, including the provision of cultural, health nutrition and special dietary needs.
• Act as point of contact for all external/internal stakeholders visiting the kitchen, including the Independent Monitoring Body (IMB) and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP).
• Responsible for estimating, ordering and managing resources (generally food and ingredients) to deliver the catering requirements of the establishment, and ensuring effective utilisation of those resources to maximise the reduction of waste.
• Responsible for maintaining security standards in the kitchen area in line with the Local Security Strategy (LSS) and National Security Framework (NSF).
• Responsible for the prisoner workforce in the kitchens – ensuring that they are appropriately inducted, trained, supervised, paid and that all required documentation relating to prisoners is completed.
• Responsible for implementing national policy and/or contributing towards the development of local policy, procedures and practice for catering, and for ensuring consistency across the unit in the application of policies and procedures affecting prisoners and staff.
• Responsible for collecting, collating, analysing and acting on data concerning the catering function, including feedback on the choice and quality of food provided and weekly individual menu choices from the residential area.
• Responsible for training wing food handlers on hygiene standards.
• Responsible for carrying out kitchen inspections, audit preparation and documentation for audit purposes.
• Manage devolved budgets in accordance with the financial procedures outlined in the budget delegation.
• Responsible for the management of all staff within their area, including staff performance, development, annual appraisal and sickness absence management.
• Ensure all HMPPS standards and Service Delivery Indicators (SDIs) are implemented and managed within the relevant work area.
• Ensure all national and local policies and procedures (e.g. NSF, LSS, Finance Manual) are implemented and compliant.
• Attend, as directed, any relevant boards or meetings and actively contribute, either as chair or team member.
• Provide leadership and direction to supervisors and staff within the defined work area through briefings, relationship building and effective communication.
• Produce relevant reports as required and ensure all correspondence is replied to within agreed timescales.
• Liaise and form good relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Contribute to the preparation of the prison contingency and emergency plans and ensure implementation when required.
• Manage resources to deliver the activities within the defined work area and contribute to the mid‑to‑long term business planning process.
• Ensure the defined work area and associated activities comply with Health and Safety legislation, undertook all risk assessments, and make staff aware of their personal responsibility towards Health and Safety compliance.

Qualifications

• Must hold qualifications and competences of F&S Supervisor – Catering.
• Must hold a Food Hygiene Level 4 Diploma or equivalent Level 4 award in HACCP.
• Must be familiar with applying all current health, safety and hygiene related regulations that apply in a working kitchen environment, and must demonstrate previous competency at supervising or managing staff within a kitchen environment.
• Must complete refresher training in Food Safety (HACCP) at 3‑year intervals.
• Level of security checks required: DBS Standard.
• Must be able to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence through the medium of English or (where specified in Wales) Welsh.

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and are not intended to be exhaustive. The job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary. Significant adjustments may require re‑examination under the Job Evaluation Scheme and shall be discussed in the first instance with the job holder.