Gas and Water Safety Manager – Look Ahead Care and Support, Islington

We’re looking for a compassionate and resilient Gas and Water Safety Manager to join our Property Services team located at Head Office in Islington.

£55,000.00 per annum, working 35 hours per week.  

12 month Fixed Term Contract

Want to feel like you have an exciting future? You’ll feel at home here. 

Making you feel at home here means helping you thrive in every way. That’s why we offer a wide range of benefits, award-winning Learning & Development and a culture that welcomes all. These aren’t token gestures - we’ve thought long and hard about how best to support our team. After all, our people are doing something amazing: helping to transform lives everyday.

• Annual leave increasing up to 30 days with length of service
• A generous pension – we will contribute up to 8% and life assurance cover up to 3x Pensionable Salary (T&Cs apply)
• Exclusive discounts and cashback via Reward Gateway® and opportunity to buy a Blue Light Card
• Fully paid induction programme and further training
• ILM courses and Apprenticeship Programmes
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme for 24-7 confidential support
• Online wellbeing resources
• Quarterly Staff Awards to reward & recognise our amazing staff’s commitment and contribution
• Free DBS 

All applicants must be legally eligible to work in the UK by the start of employment as Look Ahead are not able to offer sponsorship. 

The Gas and Water Safety Manager is responsible for ensuring that Look Ahead Care and Support meets all statutory and regulatory requirements relating to gas safety and water hygiene across its housing portfolio. The role is responsible for ensuring that gas and water safety compliance activities are delivered in a manner that safeguards residents, supports tenancy sustainment, and minimises disruption to vulnerable households.

The role acts as the organisation’s Responsible Person for Gas Safety and will ensure that appropriate systems, processes and operational coordination are in place to maintain full compliance with the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, HSE guidance, and relevant water hygiene legislation and best practice.

The role leads on resident engagement, risk management, and access coordination for statutory checks, working closely with housing management and support colleagues to ensure that gas and water safety requirements are delivered in a way that safeguards residents, supports tenancy sustainment, and addresses behavioural or environmental risks which may compromise safety within supported housing schemes.

The postholder will work closely with supported housing service teams, residents, contractors and compliance colleagues to coordinate access to properties, manage risk where access is not initially possible, and ensure that residents understand the importance of safety inspections.

The role also plays an important function in working with housing and support colleagues in supporting vulnerable residents to engage with compliance activities, particularly where mental health, behavioural, or safeguarding concerns may otherwise prevent access.

What you’ll do:  

Statutory Gas Safety Compliance

• Act as Look Ahead’s Responsible Person for Gas Safety, ensuring compliance with the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 across the organisation’s housing portfolio.
• Ensure that annual gas safety inspections are completed for all relevant properties and communal systems within statutory timeframes and that Look Ahead’s target KPI’s are met.
• Maintain accurate compliance records and ensure that all gas safety certification is recorded within the organisation’s compliance management systems.
• Work with contractors to deliver high quality and compliant inspection and servicing programmes.
• Monitor contractor performance, ensuring works are completed safely, efficiently and with appropriate sensitivity to residents living in supported accommodation

Water Hygiene and Water Safety

• Oversee the organisation’s water hygiene and Legionella management programme, ensuring compliance with HSE Approved Code of Practice (ACOP L8).
• Coordinate water safety risk assessments, monitoring regimes, and remedial works.
• Ensure water safety inspections and monitoring activities are completed across all relevant schemes.
• Work with service teams to ensure water safety risks are appropriately managed within supported housing settings.

Resident Engagement and Access Management

• Coordinate with supported housing staff to ensure that vulnerable residents are supported to allow access for statutory safety inspections.
• Develop and implement approaches that help residents understand the importance of gas and water safety checks.
• Work directly with residents where access has been refused or missed, providing reassurance and clear explanations regarding safety obligations.
• Support services to manage complex access issues involving residents with mental health needs, trauma histories, or behavioural challenges.
• Maintain regular communication with tenants in dispersed accommodation where staff are not based on site, ensuring they understand access requirements and safety responsibilities.
• Issue reminder communications, appointment notifications and follow-up contact to residents where inspections are due.

Risk Management and Vulnerability-Led Compliance

• Manage cases where access cannot initially be obtained, implementing a risk-based approach to ensure resident safety is maintained.
• Work with operational teams to identify and resolve barriers to access linked to vulnerability, safeguarding concerns or tenancy risk.
• Coordinate escalation procedures where required, including risk mitigation measures such as temporary gas capping where necessary.
• Monitor and actively work to minimise the number of properties where gas supply has been capped due to access challenges.
• Liaise with energy suppliers on behalf of residents where gas has been capped, agreeing how to deal with debt and re-establish supply,
• Support services to safely reinstate gas supply once statutory inspections have been completed.

Partnership Working with Supported Housing Services

• Work closely with operational service teams to ensure compliance activity is integrated into supported housing delivery.
• Provide guidance and advice to frontline staff on managing resident engagement with safety inspections.
• Attend service meetings where required to resolve ongoing compliance or access issues.
• Support services to manage risk within schemes where access challenges create safety concerns.

Contractor Management

• Manage and monitor contractors delivering gas servicing and water hygiene works.
• Ensure contractors understand the complexities of working within supported housing environments.
• Ensure contractors operate in a manner that is respectful, trauma-informed and sensitive to the needs of vulnerable residents.
• Monitor quality, performance and compliance with contractual obligations.

Compliance Monitoring and Reporting

• Maintain oversight of compliance performance across the organisation’s housing portfolio.
• Produce regular KPI reports for the Head of Compliance and Building Safety and senior management.
• Identify trends, risks and areas of improvement within compliance delivery.
• Contribute to organisational compliance assurance frameworks and regulatory reporting.
• Attend weekly compliance meetings with housing and support staff to review compliance data and agree necessary actions.

Policy and Procedure

• Support the development and review of gas safety and water hygiene policies and procedures.
• Ensure policies reflect best practice and regulatory expectations.
• Promote continuous improvement in compliance processes across the organisation.

This is not an exhaustive list of all the duties and responsibilities that may be required from time to time and is subject to change in accordance with the needs of Look Ahead  

About you:  

• Ability to work effectively with vulnerable residents and supported housing services.
• Strong organisational and compliance management skills.
• Ability to resolve complex access and engagement challenges.
• Strong communication skills when working with residents, staff and contractors.
• Excellent record keeping and compliance monitoring skills.

What you’ll bring: 

 Essential: 

• Relevant gas safety or building services qualification (desirable).
• Knowledge or training relating to water hygiene management.
• Health and safety qualification (e.g. NEBOSH, IOSH) desirable.

Desirable: 

• Extensive knowledge of Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.
• Experience managing gas safety compliance within a housing organisation.
• Knowledge of water hygiene and Legionella management requirements (ACOP L8).
• Experience working within supported housing or social housing environments.
• Experience coordinating access to properties for statutory inspections.
• Experience managing contractors delivering compliance services.

About us: 

Look Ahead is a leading, not-for-profit care and support provider in London and the South East. Our vision is to build better lives through social care and housing in local communities. As an organisation we deliver over 100 services, providing support to thousands of customers each year. Our mission is to co-design and deliver services that offer innovative social care solutions and support people to thrive. We work across mental health, homelessness and complex needs, young people and care leavers and learning disabilities so there are plenty of opportunities to grow and progress your career with us. 

We have a strong social purpose and we live and work by our values: 

• We focus on Excellence and innovation. 

• We are Caring and Compassionate. 

• We are Inclusive and Trusted. 

• We work in Partnership and are One-Team. 

Look Ahead is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and adults at risk, and expects all employees, workers and volunteers to share this commitment. 

 If your application for this role is unsuccessful, but we feel that you would be suitable for another role, we may contact you to discuss alternative opportunities. If this occurs you would not need to submit another application for the alternative role. 

 We reserve the right to close this advert early if we are able to appoint to the vacancy before the advertised closed date. 

 We are committed to diversity and inclusion at work and are accredited with Silver in the Inclusive Employers Standard 2021. We are a proud member of the Employers Domestic Abuse Covenant and encourage applications from a diverse range of applicants of all backgrounds.