Assistant Head of Legal Services

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust; Crawley; On-site; GBP 49,000 - 57,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

NHS pension scheme

27 days holiday

Professional development

Salary sacrifice for cars/bikes

Occupational health & counselling

NHS discounts

Job summary

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust is seeking an Assistant Head of Legal Services to lead complex coronial matters and healthcare negligence claims. Based in Crawley with flexible across Trust locations, you will report to the Head of Legal Services and manage a team within Legal Services.

You will provide high‑level legal guidance, supervise inquests, liaise with NHS Resolution and external counsel, and support organisational governance.

Qualifications

• A legal qualification/degree and/or substantial relevant claims management or Inquest experience.
• Extensive knowledge of legal provisions, structures and policies.
• Experience of managing clinical and/or non-clinical negligence claims within a healthcare environment.

Responsibilities

• Independently manage a portfolio of complex Coroners' Inquests and provide specialist advice to colleagues.
• Attend and advocate at Inquests, including examining witnesses and making submissions.
• Work with NHS Resolution protocols and liaise with external stakeholders.
• Obtain and review records and evidence for claims and Inquests.
• Provide specialist training and support to clinical and non-clinical colleagues.
• Support Head of Legal Services with management of the Legal Services function.

Skills

Legal experience

Coroners' Inquests

Claims management

Stakeholder management

Policy advice

Education

Legal qualification/degree

Inquest experience

Job description

Employer South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Crawley HQ Town Crawley Salary £49,387 - £56,515 per annum Salary period Yearly Closing 16/10/2026 23:59

Assistant Head of Legal Services

NHS AfC: Band 7

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) has a vision to ‘support our staff to provide a caring, high quality and efficient urgent and emergency care service to our communities’. We are rated ‘Good’ for care by the Care Quality Commission and while the other areas under their most recent report require improvement, our aim is to continually improve and to reach outstanding across all areas of the Trust.

Our 4,000+ workforce provide services to 4.9m people across Kent, Surrey, Sussex and North East Hampshire. We handle over 1 million calls to 999 and 1 million calls to NHS 111 every year. More information regarding our services and locations can be found on our website.

Job overview

Organisation: South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

Directorate: Corporate Governance

Department: Legal Services

Role: Assistant Head of Legal Services

Reports to: Head of Legal Services

Hours: 37.5 hours per week

Base: Trust Headquarters, Crawley, with flexibility to work across Trust locations as required

Assignment Length: 3-months (with potential for extension, dependant on business needs)

Start Date: ASAP

Working Arrangement: 37.5 hrs a week

Main duties of the job

We are seeking an experienced legal professional to support the Trust's Legal Services function, with particular responsibility for the management of a portfolio of complex Coroners' Inquests and clinical/non-clinical claims.

The post holder will work closely with the Head of Legal Services, senior managers and clinical leads, providing expert legal guidance, advice and support across the organisation This is a senior and autonomous role requiring someone who is comfortable managing complex and sensitive legal matters, advising senior stakeholders and representing the Trust within the coronial process.

Working for our organisation

• Option to join NHS pension scheme
• A minimum 27 days' holiday each year, increasing after 5 years’ service.
• Personal and professional development and training opportunities.
• Salary Sacrifice schemes for cars or push bikes.
• Access to occupational health and counselling services.
• Access to NHS discounts, offering NHS employees a range of money-saving deals.

Other than in exceptional circumstances, the starting salary for staff new to the NHS will be the bottom point of the band to which they have been appointed.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

The successful candidate will be expected to:

• Independently manage a portfolio of complex Coroners' Inquests. Provide specialist advice on coronial matters to colleagues at all levels of the organisation. Plan and prepare for sensitive legal hearings.
• Attend and advocate at Inquests, including examining and cross-examining witnesses and making legal submissions.
• Work in accordance with relevant NHS Resolution schemes, protocols and legal requirements.
• Liaise with key external legal stakeholders including NHS Resolution, panel solicitors, Counsel and HM Coroner.
• Obtain and review records, witness statements and other evidence required for claims and Inquests.
• Support organisational learning arising from claims and Inquests.
• Provide specialist advice and training to clinical and non-clinical colleagues.
• Support the Head of Legal Services with the wider management of the Legal Services function and line management of legal administrative staff.
• A legal qualification/degree and/or substantial relevant claims management or Inquest experience.
• Extensive knowledge and experience of legal provisions, structures and policies.
• Demonstrable experience of managing clinical and/or non-clinical negligence claims within a healthcare environment.
• Strong knowledge of coronial law and process.
• Understanding of NHS Resolution and the claims/investigation process.
• Experience of independently managing complex legal caseloads.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• The ability to communicate complex, sensitive and potentially contentious information confidently.
• Strong analytical and decision-making capability.
• Excellent organisation and the ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines.
• Strong stakeholder-management skills, including the ability to advise and influence senior colleagues.
• Experience of working with NHS Resolution and panel solicitor firms.
• Knowledge of corporate and clinical governance within the NHS.

Qualifications

• A legal qualification/degree and/or substantial relevant claims management or Inquest experience.
• Demonstrable experience of managing clinical and/or non-clinical negligence claims within a healthcare environment.

Knowledge

• Understanding of NHS Resolution and the claims/investigation process.

Please note that the salary range noted on the vacancy is in line with agenda for change (AFC) pay scales. All successful applicants would be placed automatically at the bottom of the banding, unless proven, relevant NHS or equivalent experience can be demonstrated.

Following the revision of current national legislation (Vaccine as a Condition of Deployment), the Trust has reviewed our requirements relating to staff uptake of the SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19) vaccination.

Going forward, for patient facing positions, we strongly recommend that new starters will be appropriately vaccinated unless medically exempt in order to offer greater protection against exposure to the virus for front line staff.

In line with this recommendation, if you are successful in your application for a front line post, we will seek information from you in relation to your vaccine status, including exemption status, as applicable.

Please note, all positions come with a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check relevant to the post. This will either be a basic, standard, or enhanced check depending on the role. The level of check will be outlined in the conditional offer letter sent to successful applicants.

The Trust is passionately committed to being an inclusive employer - a place where we can all be ourselves and succeed. As an employer we offer a range of family friendly, inclusive employment policies, flexible working arrangements, staff engagement networks, facilities and services to support staff from different backgrounds.

We actively support equality of opportunity for all our staff and welcome applications from individuals regardless of age, any disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief. The Trust is making progress towards its aim of becoming more reflective of the diversity of our community in our workforce and guarantees an interview to candidates with disability who meet the essential criteria specified. We particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and disabled applicants and those from other under-represented groups.

The Equality Act 2010 protects disabled people - including those with long term health conditions, learning disabilities and hidden disabilities such as dyslexia. If you tell us that you have a disability we can make reasonable adjustments to ensure that any selection processes - including the interview - are fair and equitable.

We are a committed to offering opportunities to individuals with disabilities and offer on-going support, should you be successful, with any adjustments you may need when performing your role.

Please note that under our Trust policies, we're unable to employ anyone under the age of 18 years old.

The majority of our roles will include some travel between sites for business purposes. If the vacancy you’re applying for includes work related travel, you will be required to ensure you hold and have covered the cost of suitable car insurance to support this.

We understand that AI tools can be useful for generating ideas or structuring your application. However, any content submitted must reflect your own experiences, skills, and understanding. Applications that are generated wholly or in large part by AI, without personalisation or accuracy, may be excluded from consideration. We value honesty, authenticity, and integrity in the recruitment process and expect all applicants to uphold these principles.

If you are a current SECAmb employee, by applying for this position, if successful you will move to the terms and conditions associated with the post. Any unsocial hours payments will be paid under the Section 2 agreement of agenda for change. Section 2 unsocial hours will need to be claimed via your monthly timesheet. More information regarding section 2 can be found in the Agenda for Change handbook and on our dedicatedSection 2 page on The Zon e

Employer certification / accreditation badges

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

The postholder will have access to vulnerable people in the course of their normal duties and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.