Senior People Advisor

NHS; United Kingdom; Hybrid; GBP 38,000 - 47,000; Full time

Job summary

A public healthcare provider in the UK is seeking a Senior People Advisor to deliver expert HR support within the Forensic & Offender Healthcare Directorate. The role involves advising on recruitment, employee relations, and change management while ensuring compliance with HR policies. The ideal candidate will have strong HR operational experience and knowledge of employment law. This position offers flexibility in working hours and is focused on enhancing staff engagement and wellbeing.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

Comprehensive benefits package

Qualifications

• Demonstrable experience in an operational HR environment.
• Good knowledge of employment law and ability to interpret and apply it.
• Ability to communicate HR protocols effectively.

Responsibilities

• Deliver professional HR advice on recruitment, retention, and employee relations.
• Support managers with absence management and grievance processes.
• Promote staff wellbeing and equality initiatives.

Skills

HR operational experience

Employment law knowledge

Interpersonal skills

Problem-solving ability

Education

CIPD Level 7 or equivalent

Job description

Job Summary

The Senior People Advisor will provide expert HR support to prison healthcare services within the Forensic & Offender Healthcare Directorate. Acting as the first point of contact for managers and staff, the role ensures consistent application of HR policies and contributes to workforce planning, employee relations, and staff engagement to help achieve the Trust's strategic objectives.

Main Duties of the Job

• Deliver professional HR advice on recruitment, retention, employee relations, and change management.
• Support managers with absence management, disciplinary and grievance processes.
• Use ESR and Healthroster systems for workforce planning and compliance.
• Advise on contractual issues and interpretation of terms and conditions.
• Participate in recruitment activities and act as HR representative on selection panels.
• Deliver training and presentations on HR policies and procedures.
• Promote staff wellbeing and equality initiatives.

About Us

Oxleas offers a wide range of NHS healthcare services to people in community and secure environment settings. Our services include community health care such as district nursing and speech and language therapy, care for people with learning disabilities and mental health care such as psychiatry, nursing and therapies. Our multidisciplinary teams look after people of all ages and we work in close partnership with other parts of the NHS, local councils and the voluntary sector and through our new provider collaboratives. Our 4,300 members of staff work in many different settings including hospitals, clinics, prisons, secure hospitals, children's centres, schools and people's homes.

We have over 125 sites in a variety of locations in the South of England. In London we operate within the Boroughs of Bexley, Bromley Greenwich and into Kent. We manage hospital sites including Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup and Memorial Hospital, Woolwich, as well as the Bracton Centre, our medium secure unit for people with mental health needs. We are the largest NHS provider of prison health services providing healthcare to prisons within Devon, Dorset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, Kent and South London. We are proud of the care we provide and our people.

Our purpose is to improve lives by providing the best possible care to our patients and their families. This is strengthened by our new values:

• We're Kind
• We're Fair
• We Listen
• We Care

Job Details

Date posted: 08 December 2025

Pay scheme: Agenda for change

Band: Band 6

Salary: £38,682 to £46,580 a year pa inc

Contract: Fixed term

Duration: 12 months

Working pattern: Full-time, Part-time, Flexible working, Home or remote working, Compressed hours

Reference number: 277-7659386-CORP

Job locations: To be Determined - within South West Region
Bristol or Surrounding
BS7 8PS

Responsibilities

Overview of the Post

To ensure the delivery of professional, high-quality expertise and advice on all HR matters to the BGSW and Devon and Dorset Prison clusters within the Forensic & Offender Healthcare Directorate.

To support the HR Business Partner for South West Prisons in providing timely advice and support to staff and managers on the full remit of the People Services, which will include recruitment and retention, employee relations, change management, workforce planning, learning and development, organisational development and equality.

To ensure there is consistency of approach with the support and advice provided across the People Teams and development of strong working relationships with the central People Teams, to promote best practice in human resource management.

To be the first point of contact for the managers and staff in the BSGW and Devon and Dorset Prison Clusters for general HR advice and guidance.

To be a proactive individual who is able to use their own initiative effectively and demonstrate a positive and logical approach to problem solving.

To ensure the Prison Services in the BSGW and Devon and Dorset clusters feel part of the Trust and operate in a consistent way with the Trusts values and objectives.

To work collaboratively with your counterpart in the SW Region, to ensure a consistent service is provided across the BSGW, Devon and Dorset Prison clusters and to provide assistance and/or cross-cover as required.

The postholder is encouraged to initiate and discuss new ideas to improve the HR service and to develop these with the HR Business Partner for South West Prisons.

To undertake any ad hoc projects as identified by the HR Business Partner for South West Prisons or the Head of HR for Forensic and Offender Healthcare Services.

To deputise for the HR Business Partner for South West Prisons, as required.

Employee Relations

• With the guidance of the HR Business Partner for South West Prisons to advise and support managers on appropriate action to take on absence issues, in line with Trust policies and procedures, specifically,
• Identifying from ESR reports where staff have triggered in line with the sickness absence policy.
• Communicating with Managers and advising on process, setting up advisory meetings and hearings and supporting line managers at these.
• Liaising with Occupational Health where necessary.
• Work with managers on short-term and long-term sickness absence, to reduce and maintain absence levels in line with organisational targets, with a focus on preventative absence management and wellbeing support.
• Providing support, advice and training to help managers to develop their confidence and competence when dealing with conduct and capability concerns within their teams.
• Provide employment relations advice on disciplinary and grievance processes and work alongside Investigating Officers to ensure investigations are carried out in a fair and timely manner.
• Promote informal resolution mechanisms to address concerns.
• Keep up to date with current employment legislation and best practice.

Workforce Information

• To utilise workforce information to support workforce planning, identifying trends and areas of concern and supporting the HR Business Partner for South West Prisons to develop and implement strategies to tackle problem areas
• To support the implementation and use of the Electronic Staff Record and Healthroster systems and ensure teams are compliant with the use and application of these systems.
• To use the Trusts computerised HR information systems to input and retrieve information as required and use this information to support service delivery.

Contractual and Policy Advice

• To offer advice to managers and staff on the interpretation and application of terms and conditions of service and contractual issues, policies and best practice, ensuring accurate and consistent interpretation and application, where there may be a range of options.
• To advise Managers on the use of fixed term, honorary, and temporary contracts, as appropriate.
• To support the HR Business Partner for South West Prisons in ensuring Trust policies and terms and conditions are updated in line with changing employment regulations and implemented across the service teams.
• To provide advice to managers on rostering practices, recruitment and temporary staffing appointments, to promote compliance with policies and consistency of application.
• To participate, as required, in the design and delivery of training and development events for managers and staff on People policies and procedures.

Recruitment and Retention

• Support the HR Business Partner for South West Prisons in the development of recruitment and retention initiatives, that are tailored to the services and the region.
• Identify new ways of working and work with the local community to promote the opportunities available within the local services and promote Oxleas as an employer of choice.
• To advise managers about the design of job roles, team structures and the Agenda for Change job evaluation process.
• To participate as the HR representative on selection panels, as and when required, ensuring best practice and equal opportunities are applied.

Communication

• Provide complex information, in a user-friendly format, to a variety of stakeholders both internal and external to the trust, where there may be barriers to understanding.
• Able to confidently present information and provide training to large groups of people.

Staff Engagement

• To support the local implementation of the Trusts health and wellbeing agenda.
• To support the HR Business Partner for South West Prisons in the development of action plans to address staff survey results.
• To support the services to develop a culture that promotes, embeds and values equality and diversity through its systems, behaviours and service delivery.

Corporate Contribution

• To contribute to the implementation of the Trusts People Strategy and Workforce Plans, ensuring that the requirements of the business units are effectively represented and addressed.
• To represent the Trust on other local forums as required, to help shape policy development and share best practice.
• To provide cover to other services as required by the Head of HR for Forensic and Offender Healthcare Services, to ensure that overall Trust priorities can be met.

General

• Suggest improvements to working practices, policies and procedures across the People Directorate.
• Actively participate in own PDR and other development opportunities within the remit of this role.
• Work on own initiative seeking guidance from management when required.

Person Specification Senior People Advisor Criteria Essential

• CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) Level 7 or equivalent experience (or due to fully complete this year)
• Demonstrable experience in an operational HR environment
• Good knowledge of employment law and ability to interpret and apply it
• Able to deal with difficult situations in a sensitive manner; long term sickness, redeployment, redundancy, grievances, disciplinary
• Ability to build credibility with managers and staff through the use of effective interpersonal skills
• Ability to communicate HR protocols and procedures to managers in a manner that enhances the HR function
• Demonstrable experience in an operational HR environment

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit UK Visas and Immigration website. From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants.

Employer Details

Employer name: Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust

Address: To be Determined - within South West Region; Bristol or Surrounding; BS7 8PS

Employer's website: http://oxleas.nhs.uk/