Estate services Cleaning Operative

About the Borough

Found in zone 6 with good transport links in and out of London, Kingston is a vibrant and diverse university town which creates the rich sense of community shared across the borough and its Residents. Kingston boasts an idyllic riverside location, good shopping and great restaurants, as well as a mix of modern and historic town centre. Kingston has lots of open parklands and cycle routes that help connect the district town centres into an enjoyable place to live and work.

We are passionate about working closely with our residents and vulnerable groups to help them maintain their independence and create a balance between support and independent living.

About the Service and Team

Our team of dedicated Cleaning Operatives plays a vital role in delivering a high-quality cleaning and maintenance service to residents living across RBK Council blocks and selected residential flats. We are committed to ensuring that communal areas are clean, safe, and well-presented, contributing to a positive living environment for all residents who contribute through their service charge.

The purpose of the team is to provide a reliable, consistent, and professional cleaning service across a diverse housing portfolio. This includes maintaining shared spaces such as stairwells, corridors, lifts, entrances, and external areas to a high standard. Our work directly supports resident satisfaction and helps uphold the reputation and standards of the housing service.

We pride ourselves on being a hardworking, supportive, and community-focused team. Attention to detail, accountability, and respect for residents are at the heart of everything we do. We aim to deliver a visible, responsive service that residents can trust and rely on.

The team operates with a strong culture of teamwork, continuous improvement, and pride in service delivery. We actively encourage feedback, value consistency, and strive to enhance the overall resident experience. Our direction is focused on maintaining high standards, improving efficiency, and ensuring that service charge payers receive value for money through a dependable and professional cleaning service.

Joining our team means being part of a service that makes a real difference to people’s everyday lives, helping to create clean, welcoming, and safe communal living environments.

About the Role and Our Ideal Candidate

The Council is committed to delivering the best possible outcomes for its communities. To achieve this, we are looking for individuals who thrive in an agile, collaborative environment and who are motivated to contribute to continuous improvement within a positive and constructive organisational culture.

Reporting directly to the Estate Cleaning Supervisor, the Cleaning Operative is responsible for maintaining council estates and communal areas to a high standard. This includes ensuring that housing blocks and shared spaces are clean, tidy, safe, and free from litter, helping to create a welcoming environment for residents.

You will be part of the Estates Cleaning Team, delivering essential services across RBK Council blocks and selected flats. Your work will directly support residents who pay a service charge by ensuring communal areas are well-maintained and meet expected standards.

Key Responsibilities

Service Delivery

• Carry out cleaning duties across communal areas including stairwells, landings, entrances, balconies, and bin rooms
• Undertake litter picking across estates to maintain a clean environment
• Complete bin room washing and support minor communal repairs where required
• Respond promptly to other estate-related issues and report repairs as necessary
• Conduct and record monthly health and safety inspections
  
  

Performance

• Work with your manager and colleagues to set targets and monitor performance within a culture of continuous improvement
• Support the delivery of operational plans to ensure resources are used effectively
  
  

Customer and Community Focus

• Engage positively with residents, responding to feedback and queries in a professional manner
• Build effective working relationships with colleagues and partners to support service delivery
• Contribute to community cohesion and promote diversity and inclusion
  
  

Digital and Agile Working

• Use smartphones and handheld devices to record tasks, report issues, and support modern, paperless ways of working
• Work flexibly and independently, taking personal responsibility while following procedures
  
  

Health, Safety and Compliance

• Follow all safe working practices and adhere to relevant policies and procedures
• Comply with all regulatory and statutory requirements, including COSHH and health and safety standards
• Identify risks or issues and escalate appropriately to ensure timely resolution
  
  

Assets and Resources

• Take responsibility for equipment, tools, vehicles, and materials used in your role
• Ensure all resources are maintained, stored securely, and used efficiently
  
  

Teamwork and Delivery

• Work collaboratively with colleagues to achieve team targets and service objectives
• Contribute to a high-performing team culture focused on delivering excellent results
  
  

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

• Promote and embed equality, fairness, and respect in all aspects of your work
• Support an inclusive environment for residents and colleagues alike
  
  

This is a hands-on, rewarding role where your work has a direct and visible impact on residents’ daily lives, helping to maintain clean, safe, and well-managed communities.

Our Offer to You

As an organisation that values and nurtures talent, we’re committed to helping you fulfil your potential and will offer you a supportive, friendly and collaborative environment to grow and develop your career and skills. We’re constantly striving to improve our ways of working so putting your ideas across however big or small; will be fully encouraged and supported by your colleagues and our dynamic and experienced management team.

Employees have access to a wide range of benefits to enable staff to achieve a work life balance, some of which include:

• A generous annual leave entitlement of 25-32 days, plus bank holidays (pro-rata if part-time working hours apply) depending on service and grade.
• Enhanced Maternity, Paternity, shared parental, adoption and dependents leave
• Three volunteering days per year in Kingston
• Hybrid working (dependent on the role)
• Flexible and agile working arrangements using Google Chromebooks
• Learning and development portal offering a range of courses
• Discounts on a range of local shops, restaurants, gyms and leisure centres
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• Bicycle loan facilities and cycle to work scheme
• Electric vehicle leasing scheme
• Confidential health & wellbeing and counselling support

Application Process

Apply online outlining what skills, abilities and experience you can bring which makes you an ideal candidate for this role. Please refer to the requirements outlined in the job profile when completing your application and check your CV details have been uploaded correctly in the relevant sections.

We understand and recognise the benefits of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace and are embracing AI where appropriate, to boost our productivity and streamline how we deliver our Council services efficiently; to provide the best possible outcomes for our residents and communities.
However, we reserve the right to reject applications where it is apparent that AI-generated content has been used in isolation and without personalised responses. At Kingston we value authenticity and are looking for individuals who can clearly demonstrate their own skills, experience and motivation for the role that they are applying for and embrace and demonstrate our STAR values.
Here at Kingston we have core values of Transparency and this is to be demonstrated during the application process and completion of the supporting statement and will be further tested at interview and selection stage for those who progress forward.

The closing date is given as a guide. We reserve the right to close this vacancy once a sufficient number of applications has been received, it is strongly advised that you complete and submit your application as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.

As part of our award winning Diversity Programme we anonymise all applications received to reduce conscious and unconscious bias enabling every application to be reviewed on the knowledge, skills and experience shown in your application. We encourage our interview panels to be as diverse as possible (age, cultural, neurodiverse etc.) to reduce bias where possible. We are fully committed to removing barriers and enhancing the diversity of our workforce.

Additional Information

We are proud to be a diverse and welcoming Borough and we strive to create a workforce which reflects the community we serve, and instil a sense of belonging in our staff. We celebrate and respect differences and appreciate the value of having a diverse workforce, therefore we welcome applications from under represented groups.

To support our workers and their families we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement forums and inclusive staff networks who help drive our diversity agenda.

We are also proud to be a disability confident employer and guarantee to interview all disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria for a role. As an accredited London Living Wage Employer all our employees are guaranteed the London Living Wage regardless of their length or type of contract.

The UK has a points-based immigration system affecting EU and Non-EU workers and sponsorship requirements. We advise checking the GOV.UK website for right to work guidance. Sponsorship availability varies and is subject to eligibility requirements and budget limitations. As a result, we cannot guarantee sponsorship for all roles and will evaluate sponsorship requests on a case-by-case basis.