Apprentice Gardener

The Role 

Lancaster City Council are looking to appoint an energetic and motivated Gardener Apprentice within Environment & Place, to contribute to making our district well maintained. The individual will need to be hard working, take pride within their work and have a passion for making improvements.

The apprenticeship involves assisting as part of a team to provide high quality environmental maintenance services including, amenity grass cutting, hard landscaping, management of sports fields, tree / shrub pruning, litter management, graffiti removal, leaf clearance, dyke management, street furniture, weed growth, and planting, cultivating of the districts bedding areas.

Upon successful completion of the apprenticeship, which will be around 24 months, you will be appointed to the permanent post of Gardener, which is currently Grade 6, SCP 4- 7, that is £23,151- £24,294 per annum.

In this role, you will undertake an Apprenticeship, working towards a nationally recognised Level 2 or Level 3 qualification in Horticulture depending on your current skills and abilities. You’ll have all the support you need to learn new skills whilst working with us and will spend 20% of your time in the role (around one day per week) on your studies. Upon completing your Apprenticeship you’ll move straight into a full-time, permanent role with the council.

The work is physically demanding and will involve bending, kneeling, lifting and carrying. It is essential that you are able to lift weights of up to 20kg.

You will be able to demonstrate flexibility and commitment in your apprenticeship in delivering high quality customer service.

A full current UK driving licence or willingness to, at your own expense obtain a full driving licence by the completion of the apprenticeship.

This is a permanent post and the hours of work are 37 hours per week. Your normal working week will be on a shift rota basis, working 5 days out of 7, including evenings, weekends and bank holidays in line with business needs. This post will be based at White Lund Depot.   

The successful applicant will be subject to a basic clearance with the Disclosure and Barring Service. 

About You

You will identify with our organisational values of Pride, Ownership, Working Together and Ambition.

Our Benefits

Lancaster is a great place to work, as well as being part of something special you will also benefit from:

• Generous annual leave allowance
• Local Government Pension Scheme
• A range of employee benefits including discounted gym membership, cycle to work scheme, the opportunity to purchase extra time off, as well as discounts on days out, activities and retail.

Lancaster City Council has unanimously declared a climate emergency and will therefore work towards reducing carbon emissions to net-zero by 2030. As part of this role, you will be expected to participate and work towards reducing both carbon emissions and the impacts of climate change.

We are an Investor in People, Forces Friendly employer, and an Armed Forces Covenant committed organisation. We welcome applications from defence reserves and other members of our armed forces community. We are an inclusive employer and welcome applications from all parts of our community.

At Lancaster City Council we aim to have a diverse workforce that is representative of the district that we serve, and provide a working environment where each employee feels able to bring their whole self to work. We welcome applications from all sections of our community and provide several supportive and inclusive workplace networks and safe spaces for employees to feel connected. Our workplace wellbeing strategy drives our commitment to staff wellbeing initiatives and ensuring that our organisation is a great place to work for all.

We are a disability confident committed employer.

Please note that due to the volume of applications we receive we are unable to update all applicants individually. If you do not receive a response from us within 2 weeks of the closing date then your application will have unfortunately been unsuccessful in progressing to interview.

Interview date: TBC