Human Resources Business Partner

West Sussex County Council; Chichester; Hybrid; GBP 50,000 - 53,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Local government pension scheme

30 days annual leave (plus buy extra)

Flexible working options

Parental leave

Volunteering opportunities

Coaching and mentoring

Job summary

West Sussex County Council is seeking an improvement‑focussed HR business partner to support stakeholders across an allocated area from County Hall, Chichester. The role offers hybrid working and a salary of £49,817 to £53,051 per annum, with a fixed term/secondment until 31 March 2028.

You will deliver customer‑focused HR advice, lead organisational change and manage employee relations while reporting on key HR metrics to influence the business decisions and workforce strategy.

Qualifications

• Provide comprehensive advice, interpretation and guidance on employment matters and HR policies, practices and processes.
• Proven record of driving successful organisational change, including TUPE transfers.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to engage customers, senior managers and executives professionally.
• Anticipate problems, plan solutions and influence capacity, flexibility and engagement across services.

Responsibilities

• Provide a professional, accurate and customer focused HR service under limited guidance.
• Deliver comprehensive HR advice on policies and practice to stakeholders across your area.
• Lead a variety of organisational change within the HR context.
• Report and analyse key HR metrics to influence the business.
• Manage a large employee relations case load.

Skills

HR policy guidance

Employment law

Change management

Stakeholder engagement

Interpersonal skills

TUPE experience

Job description

Are you an improvement focussed HR business partner with a collaborative approach?

Are you purpose led and enjoy working with stakeholders?

Salary: £49,817 to £53,051per annum
Working Pattern: Full time - 37 hours per week (Part time hours considered)
Contract type: Fixed term/Secondment opportunities until 31/03/2028
Location: County Hall - Chichester, with hybrid working options available.

Internal candidates wishing to apply for this role will be considered for a secondment position. Please can you therefore discuss and agree this with your manager before applying for this position.

You will be working with the Senior HR Business Partners in the delivery of People Plans. You will become a trusted partner to stakeholders across your allocated area on:

• Comprehensive customer focused advice on HR, policies and practice
• Leading a variety of organisational change in the HR context
• Managing a large employee relations case load
• Reporting and analysing key HR metrics to influence the business

The role will require you to provide a professional, accurate and customer focused HR service under limited guidance.

About You

To be successful in this role:

• You will have the ability to provide comprehensive advice, interpretation and guidance on employment matters and HR policies, practices and processes. This will be to the business and may involve senior colleagues or specialist teams as appropriate.
• You will have a proven record of driving successful organisational change, including TUPE transfers.
• You will have excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to deal credibly with our customers, senior managers and executives whilst being challenging, professional and commercially focused.
• You will have the ability to anticipate problems, plan solutions and make sound pragmatic problem-solving decisions, which will have a significant impact for a service or the organisation, particularly in relation to capacity, capability, flexibility and engagement.
• You will ideally have experience of working within a unionised environment.

Please read the Job Description attached for information on the Key Skills and Qualifications and Experience we are looking for.

Rewards

As well as adding real value to our service users and our communities, as an employer we recognise our employees are central in being able to achieve this. To recognise this, we want to help support your development and provide a great place to work ensuring you can fulfil your full potential, have access to a range of benefits including:

• an excellent local government pension scheme
• generous holiday entitlement of 30 days (plus opportunity to buy additional leave)
• a range of flexible working options, depending on your job role
• maternity, paternity, dependency and adoption leave
• volunteering opportunities
• training and development opportunities, including coaching and mentoring

For a full list, please visit our Rewards and Benefits page.

Further Information

The reference number for this role is CRS01054.

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to 3 years referencing and a health check.

Equity, inclusion and accessibility is very important to West Sussex County Council. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, as this helps us build a diverse and talented workforce, that reflects the communities we serve. We ensure our approach to recruitment is flexible and supportive to enable all applicants to be at their best and to ensure they have the best possible chance of success.

We operate a guaranteed interview scheme for applicants that have a disability, are a veteran or is a care leaver. More information can be found on our application help page.