Head of Employment Policy & Practice

Leading on employment policy and practice to assist the Service in meeting the strategic aims by having lead responsibility for developing policy, guidance and process for pay, people policies and terms and conditions of employment.

What You Will Be Working On

As lead, you'll work proactively and collaboratively with key stakeholder groups to ensure that policies and practices are updated to reflect statutory, legislative or Service driven changes. This involves developing and managing our 'Working Well Together' schedule of change and associated communications.

You will also provide advice, information and responses on employment and policy matters. This includes SARs, FOIs or other 3rd party requests in line with GDPR and other protocols.

The role also supports consultation with representative bodies and engagement with the workforce to ensure that views are considered and included in our decision making. Sharing the updates on our various communication platforms.

Working with the People Partnering team, payroll, compliments, and complaints and many more colleagues in the Service and external partners at the NFCC, other Services and external experts.

You will also be our functional lead for Business Continuity to ensure that our plans are maintained and can be applied if needed.

What Are We Looking For?

You'll be MCIPD qualified or similar with extensive HR knowledge and experience, supporting and delivering organisational change such as restructures, redundancy, TUPE transfers and changes to terms and conditions.

You'll have experience of developing new policies as well as reviewing existing policies and their supporting materials.

You must be able to show an exceptionally good knowledge and understanding of employment law and the ability to interpret legal advice and legislation, as well as being able to work with Trade Unions or Staff Groups., You will be required to submit a supporting statement of no more than 1000 words that demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria of the Person Specification. You may submit this either as a word document, pdf, or an mp3 (voice note) or mp4 (video), however the word count must not exceed 750 words no matter which format you choose to present your application.

You may attach separate documents (such as qualifications, or a CV) should you wish, though your additional document will only be referred to in shortlisting to confirm eligibility (e.g., your current role and any existing qualifications).

Assessment and selection:

The assessment and selection approach will be:

Stage 1

3rd June 2024 shortlisting of your supporting statement will be made against the essential criteria of the Person Specification.

Stage 2

An assessment centre which will include a panel interview and presentation topic (to be confirmed).

We expect the assessment centre will take place at Service HQ, Kelvedon Park in the week commencing the 10th June.

Our assessments will be made against positive indicators taken from the Code of Ethics and the NFCC Leadership Framework. You can find the NFCC Leadership Framework here: NFCC_Leadership_Framework_Final.pdf (nationalfirechiefs.org.uk)

And guidance around the Code of Ethics here: Core Code of Ethics England Guidance May 21 V0.pdf (ukfrs.com)

Stage 3

If you're a potentially appointable candidate, you'll have an opportunity to talk to our Director of People Services to discuss and understand the role in greater detail.

Should you wish to have an informal discussion with regards to the role, please contact Jac Taylor, Assistant Director of HR by email in the first instance: Jaclyn.Taylor@essex-fire.gov.uk)

Our Culture and Benefits

Here at Essex County Fire and Rescue Service we are committed to prioritising and promoting the wellbeing of our employees.

You can find out more about our benefits at https://www.essex-fire.gov.uk/recruitment/benefits

Disability Confident

We are an equal opportunities, Disability Confident, employer who welcomes applications from everyone and values diversity in our workplace. A commitment to promoting diversity and developing a work environment where all staff are treated with dignity and respect is central to our recruitment process and all applications will be considered solely on merit.

Should you wish to discuss support, or access further information, from one of these groups, please contact Equality.Diversity@essex-fire.gov.uk

Safeguarding

Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Fire and Rescue Authority is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults and expects all employees and volunteers to share this commitment.

It is our policy to require all applicants for employment to disclose if you are currently being investigated by any regulatory body or have any decisions or sanctions pending or in progress in respect of your suitability to work for the Service.

You agree to inform the Service within 24 hours if you are subsequently investigated by any agency or organisation in relation to concerns about your behaviour towards children, young people or vulnerable adults.

The information you provide will be treated as strictly confidential and will be considered only in relation to the appointment for which you are applying.

This role will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.

Disability Confident
About Disability Confident
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident.