About the job

Job summary

From energy to security, health to human rights, we help the Government deliver life changing law for citizens.

The Government Legal Department is the largest provider of legal services across government, working on high profile matters that are frequently scrutinised in Parliament and the media. Our work includes:

• Developing and drafting legislation
• Providing legal advice on policies
• Securing our economic and trade relationships
• Ensuring value from commercial contracts worth billions of pounds
• Providing the Civil Service’s employment law advice

We are at the heart of delivering the Government’s priorities and our success depends on our people.

GLD is a non-ministerial government department, sponsored by the Attorney General. We are headed by the Treasury Solicitor, our Permanent Secretary and employ nearly 3000 people, including over 2000 legal professionals. Our offices include London, Leeds, Bristol, Croydon and Manchester as well as overseas. We provide specialist legal services including Litigation, Employment and Commercial Law as well as advising most Government Departments on the policies and services they deliver.

GLD also depends on a range of vital corporate services. These are essential to the smooth and efficient running of the Department and provide the foundation to enable GLD to deliver outstanding legal services. Our corporate functions include Strategy, HR, Finance, Digital, Data and Technology, Communications, Security, Commercial and Project delivery. 

Our vision is to be an outstanding legal organisation and a brilliant place to work where everyone can thrive and fulfil their potential. This is an exciting time for GLD, with cutting edge legal work on global issues and a transformation agenda which is ensuring the Department exemplifies the Modern Civil Service.  

To find out more about what we do visit the Government Legal Department’s webpage or have a look at this short film which showcases the breadth of work government lawyers and legal trainees are involved in.

Job description

About the Strategy, Culture and People Division

This role sits within the Strategy, People and Culture (SPC) Division in GLD. There are five principal teams within the Division: Human Resources (HR), Project Delivery & Transformation, Communications, Business Management and Strategy & Governance.

Forming part of our Chief Operating Officer Group, the Strategy, People & Culture Division advises, supports and enables GLD lawyers to help the government to govern well within the rule of law. Our purpose is to support GLD’s people strategies and enable the department to be the best employer for our people.

GLD’s HR team’s ambition is to build on our commitment, professionalism and expertise so that we can provide first class, customer focused HR services. We want to support all GLD staff, promoting a diverse and inclusive culture, and developing inspiring and confident leaders and managers. By doing this we will provide a strong foundation underpinning the delivery of legal services to the government.

The HR Function provides a full range of services to GLD including HR business partnering, learning and development, resourcing and transactional processing, including payroll, along with teams focusing on Policy, Pay and Employee Relations and Workforce Strategy. This means our people have opportunities to develop their capability across a broad range of HR work and contributes to a highly engaged team where we are passionate about supporting each other to succeed.

Our purpose is to support GLD’s people strategies and enable the department to be the best employer for our people. We work with colleagues across GLD to:

• Attract, develop and retain a talented and motivated workforce
• Nurture talent and build career paths
• Develop inspiring, confident and empowering leaders and managers
• Support employees’ health and wellbeing
• Promote a diverse and inclusive culture We do this through:
• Our expertise and professionalism
• Providing business focused advice on workforce and employee issues
• An effective HR Service striving to get the basics right and offering first class, responsive and consistent customer service
• Working in partnership with our customers
• Developing and delivering a range of resourcing policies and processes
• Establishing cost effective and flexible reward structures Effective systems, policies and processes

The Role

We are looking for a Senior HR advisor to join our Employee Services team.

The Employee Services Team are the first point of contact for GLD employees for HR issues and queries, covering the whole employee lifecycle. They are responsible for administering staff and payroll changes and providing support and guidance on self-service activities such as leave and sickness.  We manage queries that come into the HRHelp inbox and this could be up to 2100 queries a month.  The team also provide professional HR advice on more complex cases such as parental leave, payroll calculations, and staff policies.

This role sits within the wider HR Operations Team, a multi-disciplinary in-house team who provide payroll, pensions and employee services for GLD, Attorney General’s Office (AGO) and Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCSPI).

The postholder will be expected to manage queries and cases in a consistent, understanding and professional manner, taking into consideration the information received and GLD’s HR and payroll processes and policies.  You will work as part of a wider team to deliver excellent customer service with a fast-past environment.

In return, you will receive ongoing training and support, and the opportunity to develop your HR career and develop a deep understanding of HR processes and policies.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide professional advice and guidance on all aspects of payroll, pension and HR polices, including but not limited to loan, secondments, leavers, flexible working, promotions, and parental leave
• Complete pay and pension actions in time for monthly payroll run
• Ensure employees have a positive user experience by providing consistent, accurate and timely advice to employees within agreed timescales
• Take responsibility for resolving issues and errors when they arise, including escalating incidents where appropriate
• Manage, plan and prioritise own workload effectively on a daily basis ensuring you meet deadlines
• Manage and advise on complex cases, including proving support to junior and less experienced colleagues
• Actively consider ways to improve team performance and user experience
• Develop a good level of knowledge of current and new HR policies and support colleagues by sharing best practice and providing feedback
• Maintain and develop effective relationships with other HR Colleagues
• Ensure all personal data is managed and stored in line with the Department’s data protection procedures

This is an outline description of the key responsibilities and accountabilities involved in the job. This is not an exhaustive list, and the post-holder might be expected to undertake any other duties across the HR team, commensurate with the Band and level of responsibility of this post, for which the post holder has the necessary experience and/or training.

Person specification

Behaviours

Below are details of the Success Profiles that make up this role.

You will be expected to provide evidence to show how you meet the criteria at interview and/or selection stage.

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Managing a quality Service (Lead behaviour)
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and influencing
• Changing and Improving

Essential skills and experience

• HR administration and/or advisory experience
• Customer service experience including resolving and escalating enquiries
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Proven and effective administrative and organisational skills, including the ability to prioritise own workload effectively in a fast-paced environment
• Confident numeracy skills with good attention to detail
• Able to follow and apply standard processes and procedures and use logic to solve problems
• A flexible, willing and pragmatic approach to supporting the wider operational environment

Desirable Skills and Experience

• Hold or willing to gain a professional HR qualification e.g CIPD

Civil Service Code

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of you and other civil servants. These are based on the core values which are set out in legislation. As a civil servant, you are expected to carry out your role with dedication and a commitment to the Civil Service and its core values of:

• ‘integrity’ is putting the obligations of public service above your own personal interests
• ‘honesty’ is being truthful and open
• ‘objectivity’ is basing your advice and decisions on rigorous analysis of the evidence
• ‘impartiality’ is acting solely according to the merits of the case and serving equally well governments of different political persuasions

These core values support good government and ensures the achievement of the highest possible standards in all that the Civil Service does.

For further information about Civil Service recruitment processes and Success profiles, please visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £26,733, Government Legal Department contributes £7,217 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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

Application

Applicants must apply online via CS Jobs by the 12:00 Midday 8th July 2024. Interested candidates are asked to submit:

• A CV outlining job history, experience, skills and qualifications which will be submitted online to be assessed and scored.
• A 500-word statement of suitability focusing on experience of the essential criteria, your motivation and your suitability for the role.
• 250-word statement demonstrating the below behaviour following the success profiles format: Managing a Quality Service (Lead Behaviour)

Your application should demonstrate how you meet the above essential criteria for the post, with relevant examples. It will not be sufficient to reiterate the criteria; you are expected to illustrate how you have met the requirements

Your application will be sifted by a GLD panel. Should we receive a high number of applications then we may only sift on the lead behaviour and statement. If your application progresses to a full sift, your CV will also be considered.

Selection Process

After the closing date, the appointing panel shall assess candidates’ suitability for the role based on evidence provided in their application against the behaviours and experience outlined in the person specification. The panel reserve the right to raise the benchmark when inviting candidates to interview.

Interview

Should you be successful in being invited to interview, you will be assessed on your performance in all essential criteria as listed in the Person Specification, alongside strength-based questions. Candidates invited to interview will be given further information on the day and time to prepare.

• Behaviour: Managing a Quality Service (Lead behaviour)
• Behaviour: Delivering at Pace
• Behaviour: Communicating and influencing
• Behaviour: Changing and Improving
• Skills and Experience

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview.

Interviews will probably take place remotely via video conference, full details of the interview format will be provided to shortlisted candidates prior to interview. The timeline later in this pack indicates the date by which decisions are expected to be made, and all shortlisted candidates will be advised of the outcome as soon as possible thereafter.

Offer

Regardless of the outcome, we will notify all candidates as soon as possible after the final interview.

We appoint in strict order of merit. If you meet the minimum criteria for this position but are not successful for a post, you will be placed on the reserve list for up to 12 months.  We then may contact you to see if you are interested in a post at the same, or a lower grade, in GLD should one arise.

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. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.