Do you have NHS experience and looking for your next role in Employee Relations?
Join our People Team and support or flexible worker HR team to drive and deliver an exceptional service, utilising your prior NHS knowledge.
Role summary:
Reporting into the Head of Pay & People Services, the purpose of this role is to provide leadership and operational management of the Flexible Worker Human Resources team (Employee Relations and Employee Services), ensuring the delivery of a high-quality, professional, and efficient HR service to NHS Professionals’ flexible workforce and client NHS Trusts.
The role will focus on effective people management, strong client relationships, and driving the performance and development of the function.
Location: Any location considered - you can be based from one of our corporate office locations in Leeds or Hemel Hempstead, or one of our approved co-working spaces across the UK. This role also has the flexibility to work remotely and to attend ad hoc in person meetings.
Full time; 37.5 hour per week. Monday - Friday.
As a qualified HR and ER subject matter expert, you will guide the team on complex casework and best practice, ensuring the consistent and fair application of policies. You will foster effective stakeholder engagement and build team capability, enabling excellent service delivery to Flexible Workforce Members and client NHS Trusts while supporting NHS Professionals’ wider strategic objectives.
This is an operational role that requires someone with shared service leadership skills, including use of new technologies such as the creation of AI agents, systems improvement (particularly the use of case and contact management systems) and business process ownership.
Skills/Responsibilities:
Team Leadership & Development
- Lead, manage, and develop the Bank Member HR team, ensuring balanced allocation of workloads, timely delivery of objectives, and consistently high-quality outcomes in line with agreed SLAs.
- Experience of working in the NHS
- Act as the team’s ER subject matter expert, providing guidance on complex cases and modelling best practice to build technical confidence across the team.
- Coach, mentor, and guide team members to build capability, support career progression, and embed professional best practice.
- Lead the performance cycle, including performance development reviews (PDRs), regular 1:1s, and tailored development plans.
- Foster a positive, high-performing team culture that drives engagement, collaboration, and accountability.
- Set clear KPIs and ensure Senior HR Advisors are equipped and supported to manage and develop their own direct reports effectively.
- Develop knowledge and expertise across the team of NHS policies and practices in HR/Workforce and Quality/Clinical Governance
Client & Stakeholder Relationships
- Act as the escalation point for client NHS Trusts on flexible workforce ER issues, ensuring timely resolution, effective communication, and collaboration
- Build and sustain strong, trust-based partnerships with Trust stakeholders, promoting confidence in NHS Professionals’ HR service
- Work closely with regional Client Services teams to understand Trust requirements and deliver responsive, solution-focused ER support in line with standardised service level agreements
- Collaborate with Clinical Governance colleagues to ensure alignment of practices and present a unified approach to clients.
- Provide thematic analysis of ER cases to identify themes and trends, using insights to proactively support Trusts in managing Flexible Workers and creating the conditions for them to thrive at work.
- Partner with the People Manager – Customer Success to review wider case trends and implement self-service tools and automation, reducing case volumes and improving efficiency.
Operational Management
- Oversee day-to-day management of HR cases for bank members, including absence, grievance, disciplinary, and conduct issues.
- Ensure consistent, fair, and policy-compliant case outcomes that align with best practice and NHS Professionals’ values.
- Monitor team performance, caseloads, and service delivery standards, ensuring operational efficiency.
- Analyse casework data and produce reports to identify trends, risks, and opportunities for service improvement.
- Draft and present team performance data, casework trends, and insights at senior leadership meetings and workforce committees, providing evidence-based input to shape strategic priorities and decision-making.
- Work collaboratively with Clinical Governance colleagues, providing mutual support on complex cases and regulatory issues, and assisting with disciplinary processes where appropriate.
- Work closely with the Senior Employee Relations Manager and Senior Employee Relations Advisor on policy interpretation and development and to support litigation cases.
- Escalate high-risk cases to the Senior Employee Relations Manager and Senior Employee Relations Advisor for input and oversight.
Policy, Compliance & Continuous Improvement
- Ensure consistent application of employment law, NHS Professionals’ HR policies, and equality, diversity and inclusion commitments across bank workforce cases.
- Ensure that risk is appropriately managed and that assurance mechanisms are in place to oversee professional, legal and compliance standards
- Drive the implementation of restorative practice in all policies and processes
- Identify opportunities to improve HR processes, systems, and ways of working, ensuring best practice and efficiency
- Contribute to the review and development of HR policies relevant to bank workforce issues
- Continuously improve systems and processes, using new technologies where possible to enable automation and self-service
- Work with IT and Business Process colleagues to capture business process change requirements and move through the continuous improvement pipeline