Deputy HR Business Partner/HR Advisor

Job overview

We’re looking for an experienced HR professional to provide high‑quality advice and support across a range of people management matters. Working closely with the HR Business Partner, you’ll play a key role in shaping effective people practices, supporting senior leaders, and driving improvements across your designated areas.

You’ll coach managers to strengthen their leadership skills, guide them through complex employee relations issues, and contribute to Trust‑wide workforce projects. Building strong relationships, promoting our values, and delivering a professional, solutions‑focused HR service will be central to your success in this role.

This is a hybrid role working across the East of England.  The base will be confirmed at interview.

Main duties of the job

• Provide high‑quality HR advice across designated areas, ensuring strong people management, workforce planning, and employee relations.
• Work with the HR Business Partner to support effective people practices and contribute to Trust‑wide HR projects aligned to the workforce strategy and annual plan.
• Support and guide managers through challenging and sensitive issues, including redundancy, redeployment, disciplinary matters, performance concerns, and absence management.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Main Duties & Responsibilities

HR Practice and Advice

• 1    With support from the HR Business Partner, work with managers and management teams in designated areas to improve the standard of HR practice ensuring that best practice is developed in terms of workforce management, development and employee relations for all staff including medical workforce. To work with the Workforce Information team and HR Business Partner to ensure that effective information is provided to specified areas, senior management team and other management groups on HR performance measures e.g. turnover, appraisal, vacancies, and sickness. To provide advice in the light of this information and to work with managers in designated areas to improve performance and support the development of effective leadership, including clinical leadership. To advise in a professional capacity upon employment law, Trust policies and procedures and Agenda for Change and Medical and Dental terms and conditions of employment. In addition, advise upon all aspects of employment including work performance, maternity, ill health, re-deployment and job evaluation review issues. 4     To deputise for the HR Business Partner at relevant meetings as and when required. 5    To keep up to date with current HR Practice by attending seminars, workshops, conferences and exploring the published material on HR best practice and case law.

Employee Relations

To liaise and work with Trade Union representatives and work to enhance positive employee relations within designated areas.

To advise and support managers in a wide range of employment relations issues including managing conduct, performance, and sickness, the recruitment and selection of staff, equality and diversity, maternity regulations, harassment and bullying, grievance and dispute issues effectively.

To provide clear, consistent and practical advice that is in line with up-to-date and relevant employment law and trust policies and procedures. This covers all staff groups including the medical workforce. It will involve advising panels at hearings and appeals.

To advise and support managers upon employment law, Trust policies and procedures, Agenda for Change and medical and Dental workforce terms and conditions of employment. In addition, act as an Agenda for Change job evaluation practitioner and provide advice on banding review issues.

To be the lead HR support at Disciplinary, Grievance, Sickness Absence hearings as well as supporting Appeal Hearings as and when required.Co-ordinate litigation cases relevant to the locality function and Trust.

To carry out specific work in liaison with the Workforce Information team, to maximise the effective use of the Electronic Staff record (ESR) as well as utilisation of Business Intelligence software.

To ensure that appropriate HR systems for all relevant activity e.g. leavers, changes of conditions, maternity, retirement, exit questionnaires etc. are developed, maintained and updated so that all appropriate Employee Relations activity and information is captured in an accurate, timely, and efficient manner in accordance with data protection, employment legislation and Trust policies.

To carry out delegated work to improve and develop ESR and other HR systems so that relevant and up-to-date information is stored efficiently, accurately and confidentially in line with the General Data Protection Regulations.

Responsibility for ensuring that HR Information systems, i.e. case work, CAJE are kept up to date with sufficient and appropriate information. Suggest new and practical ways of working in order to improve productivity and customer experience.

Organisational development, Service Improvement and Change

To work with the HR Business Partner and managers in designated areas and across the trust to improve the organisational development, efficiency and performance of the Trust, enabling on-going improvements to be delivered in the quality, service and cost effectiveness of trust services.

To link into the LEAD team to develop specific OD interventions as required.

To work collaboratively with HR Business Partner and corporate and clinical colleagues across the Trust to improve services and increase efficiency. The HR role in these projects is to identify the people impacts of any changes and to support the Line manager in their delivery.

To advise, coach and facilitate managers to manage change effectively and in line with the Trust Change Management Policy.

To ensure that posts are fairly evaluated and remunerated in line with the national NHS Agenda for Change (AfC) job evaluation scheme. To advise managers on remuneration issues and to act as a trained matcher / analyst / evaluator on AfC panels.

To ensure the organisation’s compliance with equal opportunity, diversity and inclusion legislation and that this is in line with the Trust’s values.

Workforce Planning

Working with the line manager, to assist the HR Business Partner and Workforce Information Team to ensure key workforce issues are fully considered and that effective long term plans are drawn up locally to develop the workforce to achieve the Trust’s objectives.

To assist the HR Business Partner in ensuring that workforce plans are developed which properly reflect the agreed and budgeted changes to services and that necessary actions are implemented to ensure the on-going supply of staff with the skills to carry out the work required.

To assist the HR Business Partner to implement, monitor and revise workforce plans as required.

Recruitment and Selection

To assist the HR Service Support team and managers in designated areas, in the provision of an effective recruitment and selection service for all staff in accordance with Trust policy and legal requirements and to help develop policies, procedures and practices which attract, retain and develop good staff.

To work with the HR Business Partner and the line manager to create and deliver appropriate recruitment and retention campaigns

Management Development

To support delivery and promotion of management development programmes within specific areas and across the whole Trust.

HR Policies

With input from the HR Business Partner, to write and review HR policies as delegated, working with staff side representatives and managers to ensure they are practical and easily understood and meet employment law and best practice requirements, leading on the consultation, ratification and implementation process as necessary.

Supervision

• 2   Daily supervision of the HR Advisor, including work allocation, checking and supporting development.