About the job

Job summary

House of Commons 

The House of Commons is a unique and exciting place to work right at the heart of the UK's thriving democratic system.  

Behind the scenes, the House of Commons Service is made up of more than 3,000 employees who support and facilitate the smooth day to day running of the House. They provide professional services to Members of Parliament, their staff, and the wider parliamentary community. 

Introduction  

The People and Culture Team works collaboratively with colleagues across the House Service and Parliamentary Digital Service to steer and track our progress and to support the employee journey across the organisations.  

The Reward and Employee Engagement team leads our approach to pay, reward and engagement with our Trade Union colleagues. Key responsibilities include:  

• Leading on negotiations with unions on pay and reward; 
• Development of reward, pay and employee relations strategy and policy to support corporate objectives; 
• Managing pay and benefits;  
• Policy review and development. 

Job description

The purpose of the role is to develop our approach to reward for specialist roles in Parliament. The development of our strategic approach and thinking to pay and reward for specialists is a deliverable of the House of Commons Independent Review of Financial Management (IRFM).  

As Specialist Pay Lead, your key focus will be the development of our strategic approach and thinking on specialist pay and reward, and implementation of agreed proposals. The role will combine the delivery of strategic, long-term guidance and plans, and more immediate solutions complementing work already underway. 

Some of the responsibilities for this role include: 

• Leading the development of a long-term, sustainable pay and reward strategy for specialist roles in the House of Commons, the Joint Departments, and the House of Lords in line with other pay and reward initiatives in both Houses of Parliament.  
• Providing strategic guidance and advice to inform decisions by senior stakeholders and relevant boards and groups on specialist pay and reward policy. 
• Providing a benchmarking service to support team and departmental positioning of salary levels when looking at recruiting for more specialist roles.  
• Leading on the pay and reward aspects of Capability frameworks. 
• Designing and implementing innovative reward solutions that support organisational performance objectives

Person specification

To be successful in this role you will demonstrate: 

• Deep and broad up-to-date knowledge and understanding of Pay and Reward with significant senior level experience of designing, delivering and evaluating effective initiatives and public sector pay solutions, ideally within a specialist pay environment (i.e. digital, estates and commercial). 
• Strong planning and organising skills, able to manage and react to short and long-term demands. 
• Experience of creating and delivering a reward strategy that enables the business strategy to be successfully delivered, with unique and diverse stakeholders.  
• Ability to work at and influence at senior levels of management as well as engage with individuals at all levels to gain buy in. 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £68,900, House of Commons contributes £18,603 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

• CV & Supporting Statement – If you would like to apply for this role, please submit your CV and covering letter with a 500 word limit.  

More information on the role and the full criteria can be found in the Job Description.  

Please note that most job offers will be made at the minimum of the salary range, other than in exceptional circumstances. 

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). 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.