Prison Catering

Caterer – Band 3

As a prison caterer, you will work with offenders to prepare, cook and serve food under the supervision of a kitchen supervisor. You will also help to select and train offenders for kitchen duties. Your responsibilities can involve keeping training records up to date, monitoring work, and helping to maintain safety and security of the prison.

Responsibilities include:

• preparing and cooking food using ingredients with minimal waste
• supporting offenders to work safely and efficiently
• co-ordinating supplies of food and ingredients
• catering for diets on grounds of religious beliefs and medical issues
• serving food from the kitchen or hotplate, and deliver food by trolley
• checking hygiene and contribute to the review of catering standards

What it’s like working as a prison caterer

“One of the things that appealed to me was knowing it was a long-term career opportunity, not just a job – which you don’t often get working in catering.” Read our blog post to see what else Dave likes about his job as a prison caterer.

Kitchen supervisor – Band 4

As a prison kitchen supervisor you will supervise and support the work of the prison caterers with offenders to prepare, cook and serve food. You will also contribute to the development of local practice, process and initiatives, and carry out offender interviews and inductions.

Responsibilities include:

• allocating daily staff resources to activities
• creating menus, incorporating any special requirements and provide meal descriptions for offenders
• checking receipt of deliveries, stores and stock control
• visiting residential areas to check on hygiene standards and food serving activity – offer guidance, carry out checks and support wing staff and servery workers
• providing food safety, health and hygiene training
• reporting equipment breakdown and recording maintenance requirements
• assisting the catering manager to produce meals for different events
• carrying out offender interviews and inductions, and supervising offenders within the area of work
• ensuring offender security is maintained including conducting offender rub down and pat down searches in accordance with policy
• maintaining the discipline of offenders working within the work area. This includes issuing of behaviour warnings, governor reports and minor reports

Important to note:

If you are applying for the catering and hospitality role, your duties will also include:

• delivering training to offenders in hospitality and catering to cover both the establishment’s needs and offenders’ aspirations to work towards gaining industry recognised accreditations
• participating in the selection process of offenders for the area of work and undertaking offender learning need assessments
• inducting offenders to the area of work and train them in aspects such as health and safety, Control of Substance Hazardous to Health (COSHH), machinery and tools usage
• maintaining and updating learner records including individual learning plans
• assessing and evaluating the skills of offenders including National Vocational Qualification levels 1 and 2 and other relevant industry recognised qualifications
• undertaking the registration, supervision, monitoring, assessment and accreditation of learners in accordance with awarding body requirement
• maintaining awarding body quality standards and contributing towards internal and external verification as required
• setting learning aims and learning goals, reviewing and providing feedback on offender progress
• providing support and advice on career opportunities for hospitality and catering

What it’s like working as a prison caterer

“One of the things that appealed to me was knowing it was a long-term career opportunity, not just a job – which you don’t often get working in catering.” Read our blog post to see what else Dave likes about his job as a prison caterer.

You will work a 37 hour week. Pay depends on where you work in England and Wales. Shift patterns are in place which will include:

• hours outside of 07:00 -19:00 Monday to Friday
• weekends
• bank holidays

You will therefore receive a 20% unsocial hours payment in addition to your basic pay, subject to working these hours. All roles can be open to part-time and job share arrangements subject to the business need/operational requirement, however you will still be required to undertake the full range of shifts. New recruits joining HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) will be brought in on the minimum of the band pay range.

See below for details of how much you can expect to earn.

A small number of posts will not require shift pattern working. In these cases, the 20% unsocial hours payment will not be made. Please see job advert for full details.

You will be entitled to a range of Civil Service benefits, including:

• a good pension scheme with generous employer contributions
• 25 days paid annual leave, rising to 30 days after 10 years’ service
• access to a cycle to work scheme and travel loans
• an opportunity to join the Blue Light Card Scheme and get a wide range of high street discounts
• access to apprenticeship qualifications as part of your personal development

We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, regardless of their background. We strive for a workforce that is representative of our society and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice.

Find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

To work in prison catering you need to:

• be at least 18 years old at the time of employment
• have the right to work in the UK
• speak fluent English or Welsh if specified.

Band 3 caterer – essential qualifications:

• level 2 certificate in food production within hospitality and catering or equivalent
• food hygiene certificate at Level 2
• Vocational Qualification at Level 3 or be willing to work towards gaining this qualification within an agreed timescale

In addition, you must be:

• familiar with all current health, safety and hygiene related regulations for working in a kitchen
• able to demonstrate competency within an industrial kitchen environment

Please note refresher training in food safety (HACCP) should be completed at three year intervals.

Band 4 kitchen supervisor – essential qualifications:

• level 2 certificate in food production within hospitality and catering or equivalent
• food hygiene certificate level 3 (intermediate level)
• working towards a relevant Vocational Qualification at Level 3 or already hold formal qualifications in catering e.g. City and Guilds 7061/7062 or NVQ Level 3

In addition, you must be:

• familiar with all current health, safety and hygiene related regulations for working in a kitchen environment

Please note refresher training in food safety (HACCP) should be completed at three year intervals.

As part of your online application, you will need to:

• tell us about your previous catering roles or college course
• provide details of your catering qualifications
• give real-life examples that show you can demonstrate the behaviours needed to be successful in the role
• detail your employment history, relevant experience, skills and key achievements

Top tips

Real-life examples/behavioural questions – We will ask you to give some real-life examples of how you would react in a particular situation. Remember to be specific and write about actions and activities you have done in the past. Use this handy guide to help you think about what to include, and how to shape your answers.

Anonymised CV – You will also need to provide an anonymised (also known as ‘name-blind’) CV which includes your employment history, relevant experience, skills and key achievements. It’s important you don’t include the following information which could identify you:

• name and title
• names of educational institutions
• age and gender
• email address
• postal address and telephone number
• nationality and immigration status

This will ensure we make decisions based on your knowledge and skills rather than your background, gender or ethnicity.

Are you an armed forces veteran looking for a new challenge?

The Making the Civil Service a Great Place to work for veterans initiative includes a guaranteed interview scheme to those who meet the minimum criteria to provide eligible former members of the Armed Forces with opportunities to secure rewarding jobs. Allowing Veterans to continue to serve their country, and to bring highly skilled individuals with a broad range of experience into the Civil Service in an environment, which recognises and values your previous service in the Armed Forces.

If you’ve got a question about our application process or want to know more about working as a prison caterer, please email our dedicated team.