About the job

Job summary

We are Britain’s national equality regulator and a United Nations accredited ‘A status’ national human rights institution.

We uphold people’s rights without fear or favour. We use the full force of our legal powers to defend people from unfair or unequal treatment and to challenge breaches of the law. We advise on developing laws and provide guidance, training and support to enable compliance.

We bring people together to create change. We work with employers, governments and a wide range of organisations, to promote understanding of equality and human rights and we support them to make improvements in practice.

Our strategy for 2022-25 gives us a strong platform to show that we will use our powers to protect and promote equality and human rights, and that we have identified the main challenges in society where we can make a difference in our role as a regulator.

Job description

This role sits within the Corporate Law, Information and Governance Team, which is responsible, through its Board and Committee secretariat function, for providing support to our Board of Commissioners and its Committees. It also develops policies, procedures and guidance to ensure an effective relationship between the Board, Committees and staff, provides advice on the Commission’s governance framework and ensures good governance across the organisation.

This is a high-profile role situated at the heart of the organisation, providing the post holder with regular exposure to Commissioners and staff across the breadth of the EHRC. Working as part of a small, fast paced and supportive team, the role is one of two Senior Associates reporting to the Board Secretary and assisting them in providing a high-quality professional secretariat service to the Board and its Committees.

You will: 

• Provide secretariat support to three EHRC Committees, including: planning meetings and events, agenda planning, commissioning papers, meeting logistics, minute taking and tracking meeting actions.
• Provide support to the Board secretary to manage and run EHRC Board meetings.
• Support the delivery of governance systems, processes and improvement plans.
• Work on and provide support for internal projects as required.
• Coordinate meetings and provide administrative support across the wider team.
• Adopt and promote a flexible approach to work, undertaking other areas of responsibility as required ensuring the overall business priorities of the Commission are delivered.

Person specification

The role requires intellectual depth, tact, diplomacy and resilience. You will need to build strong relationships with senior leaders and hold your own in a senior leadership environment.

You will need to have the confidence of your key business partners, the Commissioners, Committee Chairs, Leadership Team, Senior Principals, as well as inspiring your team and supporting them to thrive.

Experience, Knowledge and Skills required include:

Essential

• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to minute formal meetings and distil and record clearly key points from complex discussion, and attribute actions appropriately.
• Excellent people skills with the ability to form constructive working relationships with people from a wide range of backgrounds and to work collaboratively with staff from across the breadth of the Commission.
• Excellent co-ordination and organisation skills, and the ability to plan your own workload and manage competing demands and commitments whilst maintaining quality and timeliness.
• Experience of planning meetings and events, including: advance agenda planning; commissioning and securing papers; meeting logistics; minute taking and tracking meeting actions.
• Good IT skills, including the ability to confidently use Microsoft Office packages including MS Word, Excel and Outlook.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £34,219, Equality and Human Rights Commission contributes £9,239 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

How to apply

Please complete the online application before midnight on the closing date. We will be continuously reviewing applications and scheduling interviews on a rolling basis until we find the right candidate. We encourage interested individuals to apply at their earliest convenience to ensure consideration. No applications will be accepted after the closing time. We use an online application system called Applied to receive and process job applications. Applied is fully compliant with data protection legislation and rated highly in terms of accessibility (usable for the majority of candidates with or without disabilities). However, alternative accessible versions of the application form are available upon request – please contact us by email at peoplehelpdesk@equalityhumanrights.com if required.

At application, we will ask you 4-5 questions. Your answers will enable us to assess your suitability for the role and will help us decide whether to invite you to the next stage of the process. Please note however - if there is a high volume of applicants, an initial sift may take place on the essential skills of written and oral communication and people skills. If this takes place this means the recruiting panel will only screen the outlined core skill questions and you may not receive feedback on your full application.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.