Workshop Planning Manager

Prospective officers and staff must be held to a higher standard of behaviour and accountability than members of the public and that therefore their right to privacy can be fettered in certain circumstances. This is to ensure that members of the police are fully aware and accountable for the unique powers entrusted to them and the standards of professional behaviour they swear to uphold.

Role Purpose

The Workshop Planning Manager plays a critical role in ensuring the fleet is correctly maintained by scheduling servicing and repairs efficiently to prevent vehicle failures and ensure operational readiness. The post-holder will ensure workshop capacity is effectively managed preventing overload while aligning resource availability with demand.

This role requires a strong understanding of repair and servicing times enabling the post-holder to diary work appropriately against available resources. The Planning Manager will work closely with stakeholders logistics and fleet management teams to minimise vehicle downtime and ensure seamless coordination of fleet servicing and repairs. Effective communication and a strong customer-focused approach are essential to ensure departments and divisions receive accurate timely updates.

This is a key post requiring proactive planning strategic oversight of maintenance scheduling and data-led decision-making to enhance workshop efficiency and compliance.

We are looking for an experienced Workshop Planning Manager to support the effective maintenance and operational readiness of a busy fleet. You will manage servicing and repair schedules balance workshop capacity and minimise vehicle downtime through proactive planning and stakeholder coordination. This is a key role requiring strong organisational skills technical knowledge of vehicle maintenance/repair times confidence working with data and excellent communication to provide timely updates and deliver a customer-focused service

Key Responsibilities

• Plan fleet maintenance effectively preventing overdue servicing or compliance failures.
• Schedule work into the workshop based on available resources to ensure workload is balanced and achievable.
• Prevent overloading of the workshop ensuring only work that can be completed is booked in.
• Apply technical knowledge of repair and servicing times to allocate work accurately.
• Work closely with logistics teams to ensure vehicles are moved promptly and efficiently for servicing and repairs.
• Monitor service schedules and remind stakeholders when vehicles are due ensuring policy compliance.
• Minimise the time vehicles are off-road by coordinating bookings to maximise efficiency.
• Communicate clearly and precisely with departments ensuring they understand maintenance booking timelines and potential delays.
• Provide timely updates on work progress as required managing expectations professionally.
• Maintain a customer-focused approach balancing vehicle user requirements with operational efficiency.
• Liaise with workshop staff to ensure planned work can be completed on time and to the required standard.
• Plan and coordinate SMR activity ensuring seamless handover between internal and external work when required.
• Work closely with the Workshop Controller to ensure in-house SMR is scheduled appropriately.
• Arrange additional work for downtime periods in the workshop as informed by the Workshop Controller.
• Share responsibility for people management of workshop staff.
• Use fleet data to monitor maintenance schedules identifying trends and areas for improvement.
• Review workshop and fleet performance metrics adjusting planning strategies to improve efficiency.
• Ensure compliance with maintenance requirements identifying and addressing potential failures before they occur.
• Maintain accurate and auditable records of all planned maintenance and repair activities.
• Provide resilience across workshop management functions by covering as required the responsibilities of the External Works Manager Vehicle Commissioning Manager and Workshop Controller.
• Undertake additional duties commensurate with the grade and nature of the role in support of team and organisational objectives.

Essential Skills:

• Experience in fleet maintenance planning scheduling or workshop coordination.
• Strong understanding of vehicle servicing requirements including compliance and safety standards.
• Experience in workshop resource planning ensuring demand aligns with capacity.
• Technical knowledge of vehicle servicing and repair times enabling accurate job scheduling.
• Ability to analyse and use data to drive maintenance planning decisions.
• Experience in customer service and stakeholder engagement.
• Knowledge of health and safety requirements within a workshop/fleet environment.
• Strong attention to detail to prevent errors that could impact fleet performance.
• Experience and capability across people management from daily tasking to performance management.
• Strong time management and prioritisation skills.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Strong organisational and planning skills balancing workload with operational need.
• Problem-solving and decision-making ability to resolve scheduling conflicts and delays.
• Data analysis and reporting capability to identify trends and drive improvements.
• Strong customer service focus.

Desirable Skills:

• Experience working in a blue light fleet environment or high-demand operational fleet setting.
• Familiarity with fleet management systems and scheduling software.
• Knowledge of automotive industry developments including electric vehicles and ULEZ-compliant fleets.
• Understanding of procurement processes related to fleet maintenance.
• IT proficiency including use of fleet/workshop scheduling systems.
• Negotiation and influencing skills to coordinate effectively across stakeholders.
• Budget awareness and understanding of costs associated with maintenance planning.

Benefit Statement:

By choosing to join West Midlands Police you will receive an enhanced benefits package including:

• Fair remuneration with progression opportunities and access to a very competitive pension scheme.

• Enhanced annual leave in addition to public holiday entitlements.

• Discounts across travel parking daily costs of living and leisure activities.

• A comprehensive wellbeing package including 24/7 support free eye tests and flu jabs

• Comprehensive benefits including pension Blue Light Card and employee assistance programme.

Vetting:Successful applicants will be required to pass Recruitment Vetting and Counter Terrorism Clearancescrutiny prior to commencing their role this will include a full background & financial disclosure as part of the vetting process.

Medical: Successful applicants will be subject to a medical assessment which may include a drug or hearing test.

Interview: TBC

Hours/Location: Logistics Centre 07:00am - 15:30pm Monday to Friday

Contact:For further information email

West Midlands Police is a Disability Confident Leader - the highest level an organisation can achieve under the scheme run by the Department of Work and Pensions. As part of our commitment we operate a Disability Confident Interview Scheme - all candidates who declare a disability and meet the essential criteria for the role will be offered an interview.

It is important to notethat there may be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all disabled people who meet the essential criteria for the job. For example:in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume seasonal and high-peak times the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled these circumstances the employer could select the candidates whobestmeet the essential criteria for the job as they would do for non-disabled applicants.

Diversity and Inclusion Vision: Maximise the potential of people from all backgrounds through a culture of fairness and inclusion to deliver the best service for our communities