Cemetery Chargehand

Number of Vacancies:

1

Time Type:

Full time

Worker Type:

Regular

Proposed Interview Date:

Thursday, September 24, 2026

Hours of Work:

37

Hiring Manager:

Ann Hughes

Contact Number: 

01482 612147

Job Description Summary:

This is a Full Time Permanent Position.
For an informal discussion about the role, please contact Jennie Brant on 07729639101 or [email protected]
Bereavement Services is seeking to appoint a Cemetery Chargehand to oversee the effective delivery of cemetery services. This is a vital role in maintaining respectful, safe, and well-managed facilities for the community.
Applicants must hold a full UK driving licence and demonstrate significant experience or transferable skills in supervising, leading, and motivating a team. They should have proven ability in operating and maintaining plant and equipment, a sound knowledge of construction work practices, and health and safety.
Strong organisational and communication skills, together with the ability to respond flexibly to operational needs and meet deadlines, are essential.
A key aspect of the role will be ensuring compliance with health and safety legislation, applying extensive knowledge and experience to create a safe working environment for staff and visitors alike.
In addition to operational duties, the Cemetery Chargehand will be expected to investigate and resolve complaints in a professional and timely manner, ensuring that outcomes are communicated clearly and sensitively. The role also requires the management and monitoring of Service Level Agreements, ensuring that agreed standards are consistently achieved and that services are delivered efficiently and effectively.
This is an excellent opportunity for a skilled and committed individual to contribute to the smooth running of cemetery services, to support grieving families with dignity and compassion, and to make a meaningful difference to the wellbeing of the wider community.
ROLE AND PURPOSE
To supervise a team of Cemetery and Crematorium Support Officers on a day to day basis to ensure all tasks are completed to provide an efficient and professional Bereavement service to customers and stakeholders.
To train and support Cemetery and Crematorium Support staff to enable them to carry out their roles effectively.
Ensuring operations take place in a timely co-ordinated manner, adhering to service procedures and priorities. Following Health and Safety principles and ensuring safe systems of working practices are maintained at all times, also working in strict accordance with the Local Authority Cemeteries Order (LACO) 1977.Carrying out equipment, plant and machinery checks to ensure it is safe to use and undertaking associated supervisory and administrative tasks relating to Fleet and machinery.
Carrying out operational investigations in order to identify route cause or culpability and relaying information back to responding officers. Preparing management information including reports and burial / interment data.
Grave administration including grave checking and choosing new graves.
Overseeing and supervising the operations team ensuring it meets its Statutory requirements e.g. taking the lead role in the exhumation of human remains.
PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES:

1. Statutory Obligations – Act as a role model and to motivate the Cemetery Operations team. Amending working procedures and training staff accordingly and monitoring compliance when necessary.Taking the responsibility to ensure Health and Safety relating to cemetery operations i.e. carrying out vehicle checks, fuel audits, arranging regular maintenance of plant, machinery and fleet, checking documentation and entitlements and ensuring the requirements and principles are known and understood amongst the team.
2. Working to deliver operational service priorities, needs and values and ensuring staff work to provide an excellent responsive service that meets customers’ needs and expectations. Working with the Cemetery Operations Team Leader to take corrective action where necessary, or, altering working practice and implementing change as required, communicating this clearly and effectively with all affected. Assessing staffs needs in terms of PPE requirements and training and monitoring their development and personal safety. Support the Cemetery Operations Team Leader with effective vacancy management.
3. Grave administration - allocating new graves and memorial sites including the completion of all necessary paperwork and documentation, checking excavated graves for safety, readiness and per written instructions, investigating feedback and relaying appropriate information to the responding officer.
4. Take direction in working towards cemetery improvements including plans for new interment sites to ensure service priorities are met, including liaising with contractors and attending relevant meetings. Ensuring graves and interment sites are clearly recorded and service plans and maps prepared and updated appropriately to meet service needs.
5. To plan in advance and allocate sufficient staffing resources on a daily / weekly basis to meet all operational service demands, also ensuring the necessary vehicles, plant and equipment is in place to carry out the work in hand.
6. To liaise effectively with other sections of the Council to ensure operations take place in a timely, cost efficient and effective manner, making arrangements for works to take place and monitored to ensure it is carried out to the benefit of the service. This includes monitoring information to be used by the Cemetery Operations Team Leader and contributing towards the services’ SLA with Street Scene Services and reporting areas of issue for action.
7. Work in a co-ordinated manner with all sections of Bereavement Services to ensure Cemetery Operations meets the needs and expectations of the customers and stakeholders. Liaising effectively with Administrative staff to co-ordinate the removal of unauthorised memorabilia for excavation, prepare grave digging sheets, recording and relaying relevant information and updating precisely and correctly ledgers, other service documentation including maps and the computerised system.
8. Provide a supervisory presence at the exhumation of human remains. This may involve working at unsociable hours i.e. early morning.
9. Meeting with families to discuss and agree upon grave and interment locations and helping to maximise service income generation opportunities by selling items such as memorial trees / roses / benches or any other service saleable item. This includes programming and carrying out installation and preparation works so all items and areas meets the customer’s expectations.
10. Helping to maximise income generation by contributing to the sale of lease memorials through liaison with families and carefully ensuring service needs are met within existing budgets. Having an awareness of providing value for money via sourcing and ordering the best value equipment and materials.
11. Ensuring all incidents are reported and are comprehensively recorded on the corporate system. Any remedial actions found as necessary to be implemented and communicated as necessary.
12. The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and associated legislation places responsibilities for health and safety on Hull City Council, as your employer and you as an employee of the Council. In addition to the Councils overall duties, the postholder has personal responsibility for their own health, safety and wellbeing and that of other employees; additional and more specific responsibilities are identified in the Council’s Corporate Health and Safety policy.

NC2788.Cemetery Chargehand.docx

Compensation Grades:

GRADES 6.

Pay Ranges:

£29,540.00 - £32,061.00

Job Classifications:

3- Not Politically Restricted - Designated As Not Politically Sensitive (Politically Restricted Posts), Casual - (Travel Allowance Policy), No - (Childcare Disqualification Requirement), No - (Statutory Post)

Benefits of Working of Hull City Council:
- A competitive salary
- An excellent pension through the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)
- Initially 23 days annual leave depending on length of service. You will also get eight public holidays per year, and three additional days off, one in May/August and one during the Christmas/New year period
- Career development and learning experiences from a range of training courses and learning methods
- Supportive and forward-thinking culture
- Great career development opportunities

Please ensure that you complete and submit your application by midnight prior to the closing date. Please ensure that your application demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria against the person specification as listed in the job description. 

We are committed to increasing the diversity, equality, and inclusion within our workforce to represent the people we serve and build an environment in which everyone can feel like they belong. We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply. 

We adopt a ‘name blind’ approach to shortlisting. Recruiting managers will not have access to personal information, including your name and contact details, until a shortlisting decision has been made. Equality monitoring information is not accessible by recruiting managers at any stage.

We reserve the right to amend the dates associated with this advert, which may include closing the advert early where required.

The Council is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

Online searches, including social media, may be carried out as part of the recruitment process.