Catering Improvement Officer

Priority Candidates will be considered in the first instance

Salary: Grade 6, £29,540 - £32,597 per annum.

37 hours per week

Temporary until April 2028

We're on a journey to build a workforce reflective of our Borough.

We are committed to fostering diverse teams where everybody can bring their authentic selves to work and feel that they belong. If you want to work for a Council where everybody is encouraged to meet their full potential and make a difference in our neighbourhoods, we would love to hear from you!

Your role:

You will be responsible for ensuring staff are correctly trained and supervised and set review periods to achieve an effective monitoring period.

You will have excellent customer care skills with a good understanding of customer care principles. Deliver and ensure food production processes, established by the Food & Procurement Manager are embedded within the kitchens.

You will deliver and implement a quality assurance system that underpins effective and efficient catering, cleaning and caretaking services liaising with Schools, contractors, parents/carers, and other professionals.

You will be responsible for updating and reviewing the implemented quality assurance system to ensure that it meets the business demand and needs at all times and that best practice is enforced throughout.

About you:

You will need:

• Extensive knowledge and extensive experience of all appropriate school food and allergen legislation.
• To have knowledge and experience of basic health & safety principles.
• Exceptional talent to lead and motivate, to work well within part of a team environment. Ability to work without supervision and work alone
• Experience in preparing and cooking food to a high standard.
• To be able to show good leadership skills.
• Have demonstrated experience in problem solving skills.
• To have knowledge and understanding of how to increase income.

About us:

Wigan Council has been voted ‘Overall Council of the Year’ at the APSE (Association for Public Service Excellence) Awards. We are signed up to the Greater Manchester Continuous Service Commitment ensuring that your service will be continuous or 'unbroken' between the supporting organisations.

The Progress with Unity plan is a place movement for change for the next decade, bringing a new era for Wigan Borough. It draws on the strengths of our individual organisations, recognising that together we can achieve much more for our communities by delivering on our 2 place missions; create fair opportunities for all children, families, residents and businesses and make our towns and neighbourhoods flourish for those who live and work in them.

Local Kitchen, Transport and Road Safety (LTRS) deliver a varied portfolio of service outputs primarily based around children and vulnerable adults. Local Kitchen provide school dinners to over 60 primary, secondary and special schools. The Integrated Transport Unit (ITU) move up to 1000 children per day using contractors and Council Passenger Assistants (PA). ITU also oversee bus pass submissions, provide independent travel training and deliver road safety presentations. LTRS adult services manage a fleet of buses, using Council drivers and PAs, transporting people to day support centres and community interest companies. Finally, LTRS manage the boroughs School Crossing Patrol service.

Here at Wigan, we are proud to support flexible working patterns, when the service can accommodate this. We also take a blended approach to where we work, depending on the work we do. This may include working from home, the office, or the community. We like to thank our employees for their hard work and commitment by giving them the opportunity to access a range of exclusive rewards and benefits click here to find out more about working for #TeamWigan.

To be appointed to this role you must be able to prove your right to work in the UK. Please visit the link below to check you qualify to apply. Please note, at present we are not a licenced sponsor. Prove your right to work to an employer: Overview - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Prove your right to work to an employer

For further information, please contact Gill Cain at Gillian.Cain@Wigan.gov.uk

Priority Candidates Interview date: Thursday 30th April 2026

Interview date: Friday 1^st May 2026

This position is subject to Enhanced Disclosure Procedures plus child and adult barred list check

The employer is committed to safeguarding

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