Band 7 Deputy People Business Partner - Bath

Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust; Bath; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust is seeking a Deputy People Business Partner to support a named Division within the People Business Partnering Team. The role combines strategic and operational HR, including employee relations casework, leadership of Senior People Advisors, and driving workforce improvements.

The position is hybrid with travel to AWP sites, and the aim is to progress from a 24-month fixed-term contract to a substantive permanent role subject to

Qualifications

• Degree plus CIPD level 7 qualification or equivalent.
• Significant experience in a senior HR role with employee relations.
• Current CIPD membership and ongoing CPD.

Responsibilities

• Lead on employee relations casework, ensuring a just, fair, and restorative approach to workforce issues.
• Oversee and line-manage Senior People Advisors, providing coaching and professional development opportunities.
• Drive improvements in key workforce performance indicators (e.g., vacancy rates, attendance, staff engagement, retention, and wellbeing) through data analysis and targeted action plans.
• Support the development of a high-performing, inclusive culture by delivering learning initiatives that embed best practice people management, civility, and respect.
• Contribute to and delivering workforce plans that align with the Trust's People Strategy, focusing on recruitment, retention, learning & development, and EDI initiatives.
• Partner with the People Directorate to implement effective solutions for transactional and strategic workforce challenges.

Skills

CIPD Level 7

CPD

Stakeholder management

Employee relations

Organisational change

Education

Degree + CIPD Level 7

Masters-level qualification

Job description

Job overview

Are you passionate about making a difference? Do you thrive on solving complex HR challenges and driving organisational success? Then this role may be for you.

At AWP Mental NHS Trust, we are dedicated to delivering exceptional Mental Health, Learning Disability, Autism, and Neurodiversity services while fostering a positive, inclusive, and values-driven culture. Our services plays a crucial role in supporting some of the most vulnerable individuals, and as part of our HR Business Partnering Team, you will be integral to shaping a fair, supportive, and engaged workforce for a named Division.

This role offers not only an opportunity to apply and develop your HR expertise but also a chance to contribute to a culture of learning, civility, respect, and restorative practice. Within AWP, we deal with complex casework, organisational change, and TUPE transfers, providing a rich environment for continuous professional growth and skill development.

Please note that this is a hybrid role with a frequent requirement to travel to AWP sites.

Although advertised as a 24-month fixed-term contract, it is hoped that the role will transition into a substantive permanent position at the end of the fixed-term period, subject to organisational requirements and approval.

Main duties of the job

As a Deputy People Business Partner, you will support both the Division and the wider People Business Partnering Team in delivering a proactive, high-quality HR service. You will be responsible for:

Leading on employee relations casework, ensuring a just, fair, and restorative approach to workforce issues.

Overseeing and line-managing Senior People Advisors, providing coaching and professional development opportunities.

Driving improvements in key workforce performance indicators (e.g., vacancy rates, attendance, staff engagement, retention, and wellbeing) through data analysis and targeted action plans.

Supporting the development of a high-performing, inclusive culture by delivering learning initiatives that embed best practice people management, civility, and respect.

Contributing to and delivering workforce plans that align with the Trust's People Strategy, focusing on recruitment, retention, learning & development, and EDI initiatives.

Partnering with the People Directorate to implement effective solutions for both transactional and strategic workforce challenges.

Leading HR projects as directed by the People Business Partner, taking ownership of specific initiatives that enhance the employee experience.

Working for our organisation

We are the lead provider of healthcare for people with serious mental illness, learning disabilities and autism across Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES), Swindon and Wiltshire, and Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

We aim to provide High Quality, Compassionate Care everywhere, every day. This means our services will be safe, clinically effective and provide a positive all round experience for our patients, families and carers. And we believe passionately in treating everyone with kindness, respect and empathy.

Key to this is providing a supportive and safe environment for our 4,000 staff where we all feel welcome and able to do the best we can for those we support. Our staff and teams work incredibly hard delivering services across more than 90 locations, covering 2,200miles, to more than 1.8million people.

At AWP we actively encourage applicants from all backgrounds; we are particularly keen to encourage applications from people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, those with disabilities and from the LGBTQ+ community. We want people to bring their unique blend of experiences, backgrounds, perspectives and knowledge to AWP, as diversity makes us stronger.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

The Deputy People Business Partner supports the People Business Partnering Team within their areas of responsibility (designated Divisions / Corporate Directorates) and across the People Directorate in the provision of a high quality strategic and operational workforce support service, supporting the delivery of the AWP People and Workforce Strategy and best practice people management. This includes:

Delivering an HR operational workload across a Division, which will include employee relations casework and project work.

Supporting the PBP in work to bring about sustainable improved results / trends against key performance indicators (KPIs), including vacancy rates, sickness absence, staff survey results, turnover, organisational change, culture, exit feedback etc. Producing reports, analysis and interpretation of this data as required.

Contributing to delivery of the workforce strategy by delivery of plans that support Divisional and Trust-wide business objectives and alignment with the People Strategy such as recruitment and retention, learning & development, equality, diversity and inclusion, and health and well-being.

Working closely with all members of the People Directorate to develop and implement effective and appropriate solutions for both transactional and strategic issues.

Supporting the PBP in developing the people management capabilities of managers, equipping them with knowledge and skills to handle people management responsibilities effectively, in line with just, learning and restorative principles and in line with Trust strategy and policies.

Taking the lead on specialist/project areas as directed by the PBP, taking full responsibility for developing and project managing that activity.

For full details please see the attached Job Description

Person specification

Experience and Knowledge, Skills and Abilities,

Essential criteria

• Degree plus CIPD qualification level 7, masters-level qualification, significant commensurate experience in a senior HR role, CIPD qualified, or significant experience in an employee relations role
• Evidence of ongoing Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
• Current CIPD membership
• Experience of managing multiple complex, highly sensitive, contentious employee issues such as grievance, disciplinary, change management up to and including preparing cases for appeal.
• Demonstrates experience of working with operational colleagues in a business partner model: Influencing and negotiating skills, Supporting delivery of HR strategy and local agenda, Collaborative working including with union representatives Understanding of the business Drive for results and quality
• Experience of progressing cases and delivering work against timescales
• Excellent organisational skills with the ability to manage a varied workload and conflicting deadlines through effectively prioritisation of self and the Senior People Advisor.
• Good understanding of EDI issues and commitment to delivering the Trust's objectives in a diverse work environment

We are proud to be fostering a diverse workforce that reflects our communities. A key commitment to this is improving staff representation from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, those from the LGBTQ+ communities, people with 'lived-experience' of mental health conditions and people living with disabilities,- we are a 'Disability Confident Employer' offering a guaranteed interview to Disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria. This includes people with a variety of disabilities and neurodivergent conditions (for example autism, ADHD, sensory, physical and learning disabilities).

We encourage applications from people who wish to work on a flexible basis, recognising that flexibility may mean a range of different working patterns and hours, we do our utmost to work with our staff to meet their needs and the needs of our service users.