Job summary
- Main area
- Employee Relations
- Grade
- NHS AfC: Band 8a
- Contract
- 6 months (Fixed Term)
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 294-CORP-7504225-JB
- Employer
- South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Tolworth Hospital
- Town
- Surbiton
- Salary
- £61,631 - £68,623 per annum inclusive of outer London HCAS
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 06/10/2025 23:59
Employer heading
People Consultant
NHS AfC: Band 8a
South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust has a rich history, well-established community links and an international reputation. We provide a full range of local mental health services to the Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton and Wandsworth London boroughs, as well as specialist forensic mental health services, including specialised services such as national deaf adults and CAMHS inpatients and OCD.
We are committed to providing high quality integrated health and social care for local people with mental health problems in South West London and more specialist mental health services for people throughout the UK. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as ‘good’ however we aim to be ‘outstanding’.
Our Values
We take pride in providing specialist care to our service users where our Trust values; being consistent, compassionate, collaborative, respectful and open is at the heart of everything we do. Our mission is "making life better together".
When you join us, you’ll be part of something special – an innovative and rapidly growing organisation that is helping to redefine the Mental Health, education and social care landscape in the UK.
As a Trust, we are happy to talk flexible working.
Job overview
We are looking for a highly experienced Employee Relations/HR caseworker, who will be able to lead on their own caseload of highly sensitive, complex cases. This role will suit an individual that is comfortable operating across with complex casework, following employment policy and had a good working knowledge of employment law requirements.
The post holder will develop and deliver a business focused employee relations plan that meets the needs of all Service Line and Corporate stakeholder groups. You will be an ER expert acting as a role model and promoting best practice in all ER interventions undertaken by the team. You will also be commissioned by People Delivery Partners to support with change management and TUPE.
Main duties of the job
The postholder will ensure they provide a high standards of advice, guidance and support to managers on the application of investigation and hearings processes in the Trust. You will work closely with HR Business Partners to ensure HR involvement achieving business objectives by efficient and effective management of ER casework. You will also work alongside our HR Direct First point of contact service, where complex cases will be escalated to you through a triage process.
This role is offered on a 6 month fixed term basis and is based at our Tolworth Hospital site complemented by remote working.
As part of the interview and assessment process, applicants can expect a presentation with an Q&A, followed by an interview.
Flexible working:
We are proud to offer agile and flexible working opportunities as part of our new ways of working, and we are happy to talk flexible working at the interview stage. In this role you will be able to work Monday to Friday within the time frames from 9.00am to 5.00pm, giving you the very best of good work life balance.
Working for our organisation
We are Proud to Belong at South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust.
We have expert services, a rich history and a clear commitment to providing the best quality care for those with mental ill-health. The Care Quality Commission already rates our services as ‘good’ - we aspire to be ‘outstanding’.
This is a great time to join us. We are transforming the way we care for our communities to support our mission of Making Life Better Together. We have built two brand new mental health facilities at Springfield University Hospital, which are amongst the best in the world. More developments are planned across our sites and services.
We are inclusive and diverse and strive to be actively anti racist. We want to attract people from all backgrounds and experiences to enrich the work we do together. We are proud to co-produce and involve our local communities in all that we do.
We offer flexible working, career development and a variety of benefits to enable a positive, welcoming environment in which our people and their careers can thrive.
About our locations:
Tolworth Hospital, Surbiton
To create the very best environment to care for our patients, this site’s layout will be transformed in 2026 to add a number of wards to the existing three. Tolworth has a canteen and is near shops, the A3, Tolworth station, and is a bus ride from Surbiton station, with fast connections to Clapham Junction and London Waterloo.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Provide expert advice and support to all members of the Trust, including Executive Team members, on employment law and the application of Trust wide policies and procedures.
Project manage and closely monitor the delivery of many investigations, engaging all relevant staff and ensuring the timescales are set and deadlines are achieved.
Ensure consistency of approach to ER matters across the team and that ER best practice is always maintained and within Trust policy, while providing pragmatic solutions that are responsive to the needs of the service.
Leading the development of Trust wide policies to reflect up to date case law and practice, liaising with the Trusts solicitors when needed.
To ensure that advice given, and case handling is delivered in a timely manner and within agreed SLA’s/KPI’s.
Ensure appropriate ER support is provided to managers when dealing with informal/formal matters under the relevant procedures. This will include general policy, procedure and best practice advice, support with investigations, and advice on the preparation of management cases, supporting chairs at hearings and confirming written outcomes.
Oversee the management of Employment Tribunal cases, and preparing cases for, settling such claims where appropriate and representing the Trust at Tribunal where this becomes necessary and supporting staff in preparation.
Proving advice and support to all staff on highly complex and. highly sensitive organisational changes including leadership of all TUPE related cases.
Ensure appropriate research is undertaken, within the NHS and wider HROD community so that a range of SWLSTG people management policies, procedures, guidance and toolkits are developed which are aligned and responsive to business needs, and are customer focused. To ensure they incorporate best practice and where necessary conform to legislative requirements.
To benchmark ER practice against other organisations so that best practice and modernisation can be applied to SWLSTG.
Collate qualitative and quantitative information and produce meaningful analysis of information to support decision making.
Ensure people management policies, procedures and guidance are regularly reviewed and updated. To ensure a suite of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) are in place for all ER processes and that these are regularly updated.
A full set of the responsibilities can be viewed in the job description and person specification.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- Level 7 standard of Education (e.g., Masters) and/or CIPD level 7 (Advanced Diploma) in Human Resource Management or related topic OR equivalent experience
- CMI level 7 or equivalent gained through an inhouse programme or equivalent experience.
Desirable criteria
- Legal qualification
Experience
Essential criteria
- Significant experience of managing ER in a complex multidisciplinary organisation including employment tribunals
- Experience of working in a unionised environment and negotiating with Trade Unions and dealing with representatives at a local and regional level
- Experience of managing and handling the complex people aspects of large-scale restructures and redundancies in the NHS.
- A track record of delivery in the areas of planning and delivering on employee relations initiatives.
- Demonstrable experience of managing contentious and complex/highly complex people issues effectively together with stakeholders.
- Demonstrable expertise and experience in the field of employee relations to include experience of dealing with complex medical ER issues, e.g., MHPS, redundancy, appeals against Job Planning Experience of dealing with complex ER cases, preparation of cases for ET’s (to include medical) and TUPE.
- Experience of Implementing an ER case management system
Desirable criteria
- Medical staffing – some experience of working in medical staffing and/or knowledge of managing matters that fall under Managing High Professional Standards would be advantageous.
- OD experience and expertise
- Coaching
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Significant knowledge and understanding of: • Proven NHS/public sector experience and knowledge • Contemporary employment policy and practice. • Fully conversant with employment law and best practice • People Promise, People Plan • NHS Long Term Workforce Plan
Skills
Essential criteria
- High level of interpersonal skills with the ability to build trust, confidence, credibility and integrity in the delivery of services. Ability to communicate verbally and in writing in a clear, concise and effective way to staff and managers at all levels, this will include preparation of reports for Trust wide committees.
- Ability to exercise sound judgement and creativity in identifying options and risks to make the right decisions around issues that have the potential to have a significantly adverse effect on the organisation.
- Possess the vision and skill to contribute to improvements in the employee relations team and bring in new ideas.
- Demonstrates emotional resilience and intelligence.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Suzanne Hunter
- Job title
- Associate Director of People
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Additional information
Suzanne Lopez-Barillas Head of HR Operation on [email protected] or 07909540846
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