About the job

Job summary

Are you committed to helping us regulate health and social care within England?

When thinking about what drives you every day in your job, what keeps you motivated and passionate about your work what comes to mind?  For 3000+ people at the CQC we end each day knowing that we have made a difference to the lives of those most in need in our communities.  We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and encourage care services to improve.  We are looking for people who are caring, demonstrate integrity and work well as part of a team to join with us and share in this sense of achievement.  If you would like to help us make a positive impact to health and social care within England, then read on.

Job description

Why this could be a great role for you...

The Civil Litigation Team consists of a Legal Manager, 3 Senior Lawyers, 5 Lawyers and 3 paralegals. We work closely with the Criminal Litigation and Inquests Team, under direction and management of the Head of Governance and Legal for Litigation.

We are recruiting for an additional Senior Lawyer with specialist expertise in employment law as a result of the team now having oversight of employment law matters at CQC.

You will provide advice on and lead litigation and related work, arising out of HR and employment law matters, including providing general advice, supporting with pre-litigation cases and also attending to Employment Tribunal cases.

In addition, you may advise on and lead litigation and related work arising out of CQC’s operational activities, which may include civil litigation, public law challenge (Judicial Review), First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal appeals, criminal prosecutions and / or Inquest work.
You will ensure decisions taken by the CQC are legally robust by identifying legal risks early and working with Directorate teams to ensure that these are managed appropriately.

You will lead a team of legal professionals and work across the Legal Services function to deliver legal advice and guidance throughout CQC.

You will provide solutions-focused legal advice to deliver CQC’s strategic objectives and develop strong relationships throughout the business using their knowledge to shape flexible strategic legal solutions to complex situations.

Person specification

What you will bring:

A qualified solicitor, barrister or CILEX fellow entitled to practise in England and Wales with at least 5 years post qualification experience, with a significant proportion of that being in employment law.

You’ll have significant litigation experience involving employment tribunal matters and experience of managing caseloads and advising on complex legal matters as well as managing potential HR / employment law issues in advance of disputes.

Experience of civil litigation, judicial review and / or regulatory law, which may include criminal litigation or Inquests, or a willingness to undertake such work.

A strong leader, with experience as a line manager, you’ll have excellent communication, presentation and relationship building skills required to secure and maintain the confidence of a range of internal and external stakeholders, such as clients, courts, opponents (litigants in person or lawyers) and counsel.

Accountabilities:

Working with the Senior Leadership Team, contribute to the development of the overall CQC legal priorities which reflect organisational goals and take into account best practice and external trends.

.Line manage, lead and develop a professional legal team.

.Provide coaching, support, and supervision across the Legal Services function.

.Monitor and manage the legal advice and guidance given to the organisation and identifies trends and consistent issues.

.Participate, as required, in any contentious work, including pre-action protocol matters.

.To advise on and lead litigation and related work, arising out of HR and employment law issues, in addition to CQC’s operational activities, to include civil litigation, First-tier Tribunal and Upper Tribunal appeals, criminal prosecution and Inquest work.

.To represent CQC and undertake advocacy in relevant court proceedings.

.Responsible for advising on all legal matters that affect CQC and act on CQC’s behalf in legal proceedings.

.Demonstrate a sound understanding of the business and build strong relations with CQC leaders in order to champion, prioritise and embed appropriate legal advice.

.Monitor and assimilate developments in relevant legislation and case law and ensure team is up to date.

.Consider the feedback and experience of other Directorates and use this to improve the working practices of Legal Services. Influence the direction of strategic legal priorities, and the application of legal guidance for CQC’s operations.

.Continuously review and improve the quality of the team’s output and processes against specific service level agreements, contributing to the embedding of a quality culture across the whole organisation.

.Monitor the team’s performance against service level agreements and manage appropriately.

.Have the appropriate knowledge, skills, and experience to actively promote diversity and equality of opportunity, treat everyone with dignity and respect and avoid unlawful discrimination.

.To demonstrate appropriate leadership behaviours to engender CQC’s values and facilitate a motivated and effective working environment.

Essential Skills and Experience:

.Qualified Solicitor, Barrister or Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, entitled to practice in England and Wales.

.5 years (minimum) post-qualification experience.

.Advocacy skills and experience in the Tribunals; advocacy skills and experience in the county courts is desirable.

.A detailed theoretical and applied knowledge of the law and procedures governing employment law.

.Strong management and leadership skills.

.Ability to coach, support and develop members of staff.

.Demonstrate excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.

.A thorough knowledge (or the ability to acquire it) of the relevant law, practice and procedural requirements including regulatory law (including civil or criminal enforcement) and public law proceedings.

.Flexible with the ability to develop solutions to complex problems.

.Established history of managing caseloads, advising on legal matters, and managing litigation.

.Excellent communication, presentation, and engagement skills.

.Extensive experience of drafting written legal advice and legal documents with the ability to present complex information in an easily understood, accessible format.

.Highly effective networker and relationship builder able to secure and maintain the confidence of a range of CQC stakeholders.

.Able to analyse risk and benefit within a fast-paced environment and to reassess priorities on a continual basis.

.Good working knowledge of IT systems including Microsoft Office packages (Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel).

.Strong persuading and influencing skills.

Benefits

What we can offer you...

 Your health and wellbeing are important to us and are supported through generous annual leave (starting at 27 days and rising with service to 32.5 days, plus 8 Bank Holidays), a cycle to work scheme, discounted gym vouchers and access to a free employee assistance service 24 hours a day. We also understand the importance of financial health and offer membership of the NHS pension scheme, contributing about 14% of basic salary. You will also be able to access discounts to supermarkets, high street stores, electronics, fleet cars, plus we also have an internal reward scheme which could see you earn yourself a voucher or two! All of our Homeworkers are also kitted out with everything they need to comfortably work from home.

We want to support you to succeed and be your very best, with opportunities for training and development along with the support of experienced managers and mentors.  

We want to make working for CQC a great experience for everyone, and to role model a diverse and representative culture. To support an inclusive environment where colleagues feel empowered to bring their whole self to work, we support a variety of staff networks, including the Race Equality Network, LGBT+ Equality Network, Carers Equality Network, Disability Equality Network and Gender Equality network.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

For an informal discussion or further information on the role, please contact Hiring Manager – Carrie Shotton, Legal Manager at carrie.shotton@cqc.org.uk

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

Security

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.