Human Resources Manager

Job description

Job responsibilities

Strategic HR Leadership

• Lead the development and implementation of HR strategies that align with the Federations operational and clinical priorities.
• Provide expert HR advice to the Board, Operations Team, and Primary Care Networks on workforce planning, organisational development, and employee relations.
• Work with the Compliance Manager and Operations Manager to ensure HR systems, governance, and policies are up to date and adhered to.
• Identify and develop new HR initiatives that strengthen workforce resilience, staff retention, and wellbeing.
• Support PCNs in the management of complex employment issues; providing advice in line with employment case law and best employment practice and seeking expert advice in complex scenarios.
• Manage employment issues, in conjunction with line managers, including recruitment, appraisal, development and disciplinary concerns; providing HR advice and support in achieving business change programmes including formal consultations on changes to terms and conditions, staffing structures and TUPE transfers.
• Develop contracts of employment to reflect emerging business needs.

Management of HR Assistants

• Oversee HR Assistants in delivering recruitment, onboarding, induction, and administrative HR functions.
• Conduct regular staff briefings with the HR team to ensure consistent communication, alignment of tasks, and professional development.
• Monitor and quality-assure the work of HR Assistants, ensuring efficiency, accuracy, and compliance.
• Implement, maintain and develop an HR System for staff, ensuring that the systems full reporting and monitoring capacity is engaged for the benefit of the business.
• Develop and implement HR policies and procedures compliant with statute, employment law and best practice.
• Manage the HR team in the day-to-day operational activities of the department, as well as flexibility to support emerging business needs and the growth of the workforce.
• Ensure consistent implementation and adherence to all HR policies and processes.
• Line manage HR Assistants, providing day-to-day support, supervision, and development through daily team briefings and performance monitoring.
• Manage the HR department inbox, ensuring queries are responded to in a timely and professional manner.

Employee Relations & Advisory Role

• Act as the lead HR advisor for the Primary Care Networks and East Lancashire Alliance, ensuring robust advice on grievances, disciplinary processes, sickness absence, and performance management.
• Support managers and leaders with mediation and resolution of workplace issues, fostering a positive and inclusive culture.
• Continuously review approaches to improving the organisational culture of the Alliance;
• Develop a robust recruitment policy to ensure the organisation identifies staff in an open and transparent manner, appropriately qualified and with attitudes and behaviours consistent with the Alliances values;
• Oversee pre-employment checks to ensure that all staff are appropriately qualified and the organisation is compliant with all regulatory requirements, including those of the Care Quality Commission, and to ensure that all personnel records and data evidence regulatory compliance on an ongoing basis, including the undertaking of revalidation and mandatory training requirements
• Develop and lead on a comprehensive induction programme for all new staff
• Co-ordination of monthly payroll submissions to include all adjustments for overtime, maternity/paternity pay, sick pay or other deviations from standard salaries
• Conduct employee relations procedures, including investigations, grievances, disciplinary processes and sickness management, in line with policy and with support from external HR consultancy (Croner).
• Ensure employment law and HR best practices are consistently applied across the Federation.

Collaboration & Operations

• Work collaboratively with the Operations Team, contributing HR expertise to strategic and operational projects.
• Partner closely with the Compliance Manager to ensure HR and employment policies meet CQC, NHS, and legislative requirements.
• Support the Operations Manager in workforce planning, staffing models, and succession planning.
• Assist line managers in the development of person specifications, job descriptions and advertisements to attract high quality staff to roles that accurately reflect the business requirements.
• Develop and implement a performance appraisal programme that aligns staff objectives with the organisations strategic direction; coach and develop managers to appraise against these objectives, and develop action plans to meet objectives and personal development aims.
• Assessment of training needs and development of training programmes that meet employee requirements;
• Engage with developing system wide initiatives to provide greater efficiencies in the delivery of health and social care. This may involve:

o Representing the organisation at system-wide meetings addressing workforce issues

o Developing responses and initiatives to system-wide workforce issues, consulting with member PCNs to understand their workforce requirements, and identifying appropriate solutions

o Working with other stakeholders, including Health Education England, the CCG, the Training Hub and UCLAN, as well as other community provider

o Attending meetings, and working to increase the number and quality of training placements in primary care, the number of practices and other organisations involved in training, and coordinating the continuing workforce development training needs of the current workforce

o Networking with other agencies (both statutory and voluntary) and developing appropriate links to further the work of the practice and East Lancs Alliance

Policy & Compliance

• Develop, review, and implement HR policies, procedures, and handbooks to ensure alignment with best practice and legal compliance.
• Ensure consistent adherence to policies across all practices and networks.
• Maintain confidentiality and integrity in all HR processes, ensuring GDPR compliance in HR records management.

Training & Development

• Fully participate in training and development, meeting any, and all, requirements of any courses funded, or part-funded by the Alliance.
• Engage in a programme of ongoing support and feedback to maximise the benefit of the training and development plan.

Confidentiality

In the performance of the duties outlined in this job description, the post-holder may have access to confidential information relating to patients and their carers, staff and other healthcare workers. They may also have access to information relating to any part of the business organisation. All such information from any source is to be regarded as strictly confidential.

Information relating to staff, patients, carers, colleagues, other healthcare workers or the business of the Practice may only be divulged to authorized persons in accordance with Alliance policies and procedures, and the protection of personal and sensitive data.

Health & Safety

The post-holder will assist in promoting and maintaining their own and others health, safety and security as defined in the Alliances Health & Safety Policy to include:

Identifying the risk involved in work activities and undertaking such activities in a way that manages those risks.

Ensure all accidents are reported and investigated, follow up action taken as necessary.

Maintain training in line with local policies.

Equality and Diversity

The post-holder will support the equality, diversity and rights of patients, carers and colleagues to include:

Acting in a way that recognises the importance of peoples rights, interpreting them in a way that is consistent with current legislation.

Respecting the privacy, dignity, needs and beliefs of patients, carers and colleagues.

Behaving in a manner which is welcoming to and of the individual, is non-judgemental and respects their circumstances, feelings, priorities and rights.

Quality

The post-holder will strive to maintain quality and will:

Alert other team members to issues of quality and risk.

Assess own performance and take accountability for own actions, either directly or under supervision.

Contribute to the effectiveness of the team by reflecting on own and team activities and making suggestions on ways to improve and enhanced the teams performance.

Work effectively with individuals in other agencies to meet patients needs.

Effectively manage own time, workload and resources.

Communication

The post-holder should recognize the importance of effective communication within the team and will strive to:

Communicate effectively with other team members.

Communicate effectively with patients and carers.

Recognise peoples needs for alternative methods of communication and respond accordingly.

The list of duties is not exhaustive. It is likely that this Job Description will be subject to change as the role develops.

Person Specification

Other

Essential

• UK driving licence
• UK work permit (if required)
• DBS check (as appropriate to the role)
• Ability to travel between various East Lancs locations

Qualifications

Essential

• CIPD-qualified (Level 5 minimum, Level 7 desirable) or equivalent HR management experience.

Experience

Essential

• Demonstrable, substantial experience of working at a senior HR level dealing with a range of complex employment issues
• Experience of developing creative solutions to support the management of change
• Experience of developing staff engagement programmes leading to tangible improvements in organisational culture
• Experience of working with a wide-range of partner organisations to deliver system-wide solutions
• Proven experience of managing HR teams and providing HR advice at a senior level
• Strong knowledge of UK employment law, HR best practices, and NHS/primary care workforce challenges

Desirable

• Experience of HR management in a healthcare or public sector setting
• Experience of HR management within a growing business
• Experience of dealing with change management situations such as TUPE, including harmonisation of terms and conditions
• A knowledge and understanding of the key partners in primary care
• Experience in healthcare, NHS, or GP Federation environments
• Experience in organisational development and workforce planning
• Evidence of developing innovative HR projects to support staff retention and wellbeing

Motivation and Skills

Essential

• Highly organised and able to manage a broad portfolio of activities within agreed deadlines
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• An approach to work that strives for continuous improvement
• Strong IT skills with good knowledge of MS suite
• Work effectively independently and as a team member
• Ability to recognize own limitations and act upon them appropriately
• Pragmatic problem solver who can find root causes of issues and gain leadership support to address them
• Excellent communication, leadership, and interpersonal skills
• Ability to work strategically while managing operational priorities

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.

Employer details

Employer name

East Lancashire Alliance

Address

Burnley Business Centre

Empire Way

Burnley

BB12 6HH

Employer's website

https://eastlancashirealliance.co.uk/ (Opens in a new tab)