working for us
The Society's offices are in Borough, London SE1 and currently the vast majority of our employees work from this location. We employ around 40 employees in four departments, directorate, finance, maintenance and development, and housing services. Some of our co-operative support officers work from home and some work from local estate offices belonging to some of our client housing co-operatives.. For more information about CDS Co-operatives and its role and mission please click here.
We are an equal opportunities employer and applications are welcomed from all people regardless of their gender, race, colour, ethnic or national origin, marital status, responsibility for dependants, sexual orientation, disability, age, gender reassignment, social status, and political or religious beliefs. Click here for a copy of our equality and diversity policy and our recruitment policy.
We do not currently have our application pack available online, if you are interested in any of the positions please contact us by e-mail or phone with your postal address and the job reference and we will send you a full application pack. Please do not submit speculative CVs. If we have a vacancy it will be listed on this site. All of our maintenance work is sub-contracted out. We do not currently employ any maintenance workers directly.
the employee benefits that we offer include:
flexible working: the Society's standard working week for full time employees is 35 hours (35-40 hours for heads of department), Monday to Friday. However, nearly all of our employees work under our flexi time system which gives the ability to structure start and finish times to suit particular personal circumstances. It also provides a limited ability for employees to accrue credit hours to allow for time off for personal appointments etc.
annual leave: employees have an entitlement of between 21 to 30 days annual leave. Employees start on 21 days leave and this increases to 25 days after four years service and then by one day per year until the maximum of 30 days is reached. The Society recognises previous continuous unbroken employment with a local authority, housing co-operative or registered social landlord in the calculation of leave entitlement. There are also statutory bank holidays plus three concessionary days that are taken by all employees at the same time, usually around late December. All leave entitlements including statutory holidays are pro rata for part time employees.
sick pay: an employee's entitlement to sick pay increases with their length of service reaching a maximum of six months full pay followed by six months half pay after 5 full years of service.
defined benefits pension scheme: the Society offers the Social Housing Pension Scheme administered by The Pensions Trust. The current benefit structure is a 1/60th Career Averaged Revalued Earnings (CARE) structure. The scheme is a contributory one with employees paying 7.5% of salary and the Society paying 7.4% of salary towards future benefit provision and 7.5% towards past pension deficit.
car user allowance: essential car users with a minimum quarterly mileage can claim a monthly lump sum plus the cost of joining the AA/RAC or equivalent service. In addition further payments are made in respect of authorised mileage incurred by employees in carrying out their duties.
season ticket loan: an interest free loan is available to employees for the purchase of an annual season ticket for travel repayable over 12 months.
salary structure: the Society has a clearly defined salary structure that allows for salary progression partially through length of service and partially through acquiring defined additional skills associated with an employee's post within the organisation. In addition there is financial recognition for employees who gain defined qualifications that are not required as an essential pre-requisite of the post. Employees who are required to work unsocial hours (after 6.30pm or at the weekends) receive an unsocial hours supplement.
cost of living salary increase: the Society's pay structure uses the local authority spinal column and this means cost of living increases are nationally negotiated and are usually paid on 1 April each year. The Society, however, pays an enhanced London Weighting Allowance. Salary figures given on this web site are inclusive of the enhanced London Weighting Allowance.
career progression: the Society is committed to supporting its employees in the development of their careers. Whilst permanent vacancies are advertised both internally and externally, we provide a range of temporary opportunities to existing employees to develop their skills in different areas with the aim of ensuring that they may properly compete against external candidates for permanent vacancies that arise. The Society also has a positive attitude to training and supports employees undertaking relevant training through the payment of course fees, study leave and day release.
maternity/paternity leave: the Society's arrangements for payment of maternity and paternity leave are more generous than the statutory minimum available.
trade union: the Society has a full recognition agreement with Unison. There is a joint consultative committee for the purposes of negotiations between the employees and management.