Contract Support Team Lead in Preston

At Places for People, we hire People, not numbers! Experience and track record are important, but we're more interested in hiring someone that embodies our People Promises. That's someone that does the right thing, is enthusiastic and motivated to grow, believes in Community spirit, is respectful and enjoys their work. As the UK's leading Social Enterprise, we're dedicated to creating inclusive and thriving Communities for both our Customers and Employees.

As a Contract Support Team Lead, you will be assisting with the delivery of the responsive repairs programme and overseeing and supporting a team providing enhanced admin and performance support to both internal colleagues and contractors. Experience within social housing is essential, including raising and monitoring works through a housing management system and working with Schedule of Rates. A key responsibility will be ensuring the efficient and effective raising and approval of works, whilst reviewing completion documentation to support robust financial management and compliance with internal SLAs. Oversight of invoice management processes will be required to ensure contractors are paid promptly, while maintaining a strong focus on achieving value for money for Places for People.

Strong communication and stakeholder management skills are important, with the ability to confidently engage with contractors regarding quality standards, customer service queries, and performance concerns, providing evidence and support to management where necessary. The role also requires the ability to analyse data and produce reports that support colleagues in the effective management and delivery of contractor works. An awareness of legislative and health and safety requirements is essential, ensuring regular updates are provided and compliance obligations are met across the service.

The ideal candidate will have excellent communication skills both written and verbal and be comfortable liaising with stakeholders at different levels of an organisation. Being able to utilise IT packages and systems such as Excel and Housing Management Systems is required. Experience of using SOR codes and liaising with contractors is also necessary.

At Places for People, we prioritise our dedication to safer recruitment. Therefore, a basic DBS check is mandatory for this position.

Experience & Skills:

• Excellent communication skills
• Previous Admin Experience
• IT Literate in particular Teams, Excel and Outlook
• An understanding of property maintenance including the use of SOR's
• Social Housing knowledge
• The willingness to work towards qualification

We are a large diverse and ambitious business, which will give you all the challenge you could wish for. We know that there's always more we can do to make you smile, that's why we offer a comprehensive benefits package with each role, yours will include:

• Competitive salary, with a salary review yearly
• Pension with matched contributions up to 7%
• Excellent holiday package – up to 35 days annual leave with the option to buy or sell leave
• Cashback plan for healthcare costs – up to £500 saving per year
• A bonus scheme for all colleagues at 2%
• Training and development
• Extra perks including huge discounts and offers from shops, cinemas and much more

As part of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we offer a guaranteed interview to candidates who are disabled, neurodiverse, or have served in the Armed Forces, provided you meet the essential criteria for the role. We are committed to creating an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application or interview experience, please let us know. We're happy to work with you to ensure you have the opportunity to perform at your best.

We understand the importance of a supportive and inclusive work culture so please talk to us at interview about flexibility you may need. We can't promise to give you exactly what you want, but we promise not to judge you for asking. For this role we are open to discussing the possibility of reduced hours, flexible start and finish times or compressed hours.

At Places for People, safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. We are committed to creating safe communities for our customers and colleagues by protecting children, young people, and adults at risk from harm, abuse, and neglect. We follow robust safeguarding policies and procedures, ensuring all employees, volunteers, and contractors uphold the highest standards of safeguarding and accountability.

Our recruitment process includes pre-employment checks, including Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks where applicable, to promote a safe and secure working environment. By joining Places for People, you are expected to contribute to our safeguarding culture, following our policies and reporting concerns to protect those in our communities.

We are proud to support the Armed Forces Covenant. Places for People will guarantee an interview for any candidate who is serving or has formerly served in the Armed Forces, as a reservist, armed forces veteran (including the wounded, injured and sick), cadet instructor and military spouse/partner and who meets the essential criteria for the vacancy.

We are proud to be a member of the Disability Confident scheme certified as Level 2 Disability Confident Employer. This helps us to successfully employ and retain people with disabilities and health conditions. Disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for a vacancy will be guaranteed an interview.

Neurodiverse individuals have highly valuable skills, and we recognise that a traditional interview process sometimes works against them and doesn’t allow them to self-advocate. Neurodiverse applicants who meet the criteria for a vacancy will be guaranteed an interview.