HRAdvisor (FTC for 18 months)

Salary: £26,518 to £29,722 per annum

Closing date: Midday, Thursday 8 February 2018

Welcome. I’m delighted you’re interested in working with The Pensions Ombudsman. Let me tell you a little more about us so that you can decide if you like what you hear and think you might be the right fit to join us as HRAdvisor.

We are a small and growing office - about 60 strong. “Strong” is the right word, because we have such great people working here. Our aim is to support one another to provide the best service we can for people who use us. What we do makes a real difference to people’s lives, particularly at a time when every penny counts and people have to have faith in pensions if they are to save for tomorrow.

As HRAdvisor you will play a key part in helping our workforce provide the best possible service. You will assist in the delivery of the HR plan and will advise managers and staff on various HR matters,lead on recruitment and help with a variety of HR related projects.

Thisis a challenging and rewarding rolein a small and evolving organisation. Werequire you to have significant experience as a HR Advisor or HR Administrator, with a solid understanding of people management issues.You will also have a good understanding of recruitment and selection, HR systems, learning and development and change management.

This is an exciting opportunity for an ambitious and curious HR professional to gain some useful HR experience.The role is two-fold; whilst primarily helping to ensure the smooth operations of day-to-day HR function, the post holder will also have capacity to get involved in some interesting HR projects which will help us to create and develop new and efficient ways of working.

If you would like an informal chat about the role, please contact Chris Henry, HR Manager on: 0207 630 2201 or

If you think that you are have the skills and experience to take on this challenge we would be delighted to hear from you.

Anthony Arter

Pensions Ombudsman

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A description of the work of The Pensions Ombudsman

When someone has tried to resolve a problem with their pension and isn’t satisfied with the outcome, they can ask us to help.

We are an independent organisation set up by law to investigate complaints about pension administration. We also consider complaints about the actions and decisions of the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) and about some decisions made by the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS).

We look at the facts, without taking sides. And we have legal powers to make decisions that are final, binding and enforceable in court. Our service is free.

We are funded by grant-in-aid paid by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). The grant-in-aid is largely recovered from the general levy on pension schemes administered by the Pensions Regulator.

Around60 staff work here dealing with about 6,500 enquiries and 1,300 investigations each year. A number of investigations are resolved without the need for a full Ombudsman determination.

The role

You will be part of the Business Support team and will report to the HR Manager. The team contributes to The Pensions Ombudsman’s business aims by providing corporate support to the organisation on all matters concerning HR, finance, IT, communications and all non-casework activity.

The Pensions Ombudsman has an exciting year ahead – you’ll be joining as we relocate our offices to a brand new government hub in Canary Wharf and as weintroduce Smarter Working across our business.This role will suit a flexible and innovative HR professional who likes and embraces change,because a large part of the role will be helping to develop new and innovative ways of working.

Key duties

General

  1. To be the first point of contact for day-to-day routine HR questions and queries. Ensure issues are handled in a fair and consistent manner in line with The Pensions Ombudsman’s policies and procedures.
  1. Ensure all HR documentation including policies, procedures, processes and the staff guide arefollowed and updated as necessary.
  1. Be a champion of great HR practice and ensure we provide an excellent service to both our internal and external customers.

Recruitment and on boarding

  1. Oversee our recruitment, selection and on-boarding processes, ensuring candidates have a great experience - from application, to first day and beyond.
  1. Work with the HR Manager to ensure our employee proposition remains attractive, relevant and competitive.
  1. Adviseline managers on how to develop excellent and fair recruitment andselection processes.
  1. Work with line managers to build suitable and bespoke induction / on-boarding programmes which will ensure new starters get off to the best possible start.
  1. Ensure appropriate on-boarding paperwork and administration is completed for every new starter.

Learning and development

  1. Help to develop and administer our annual performance review process, ensuring objectivesare aligned with our corporate strategy.
  1. In conjunction with the HR Manager, help to develop and implement a comprehensive learning and development framework for the organisation. Administer and organise training sessions and programmes where appropriate
  1. Working with the HR Manager, help to manage a knowledge management framework across the business.

Better ways of working

  1. Assist with and champion smarter ways of working. Manage the digitisation and streamlining of HR process (such as payroll processes and file storage) and help HR become completely paper free.
  1. Assist with the review of our current HR database and outsourced payroll provider and if appropriate, help toidentify and implement a new system.
  1. Assist with the selection, procurement and implementation of a recruitment candidate management system.

Other

  1. Help with relevant information requests that are submitted to our sponsor government department and pension providers, including My CSP.
  1. Assist with the design, analysis and administration of staff surveys
  1. Help to develop a useful and robust exit interview process so we can ensure we are constantly learning and improving.
  1. Ensure effective HR systems are in place for managing all HR records and for record keeping and data provision.

Essential skills

Knowledge

  • Demonstrable HR knowledge (ideally CIPD qualified or part qualified,although this is not essential)
  • Up-to-date knowledge of employment law and HR best practice, with the ability to apply this knowledge in a user friendly way
  • Knowledge of organisational change management
  • Knowledge of a variety of HR and payroll systems
  • Knowledge of recruitment best practice and direct advertising methods

Skills

  • Excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to build relationships at all levels within a small organisation
  • Well-developed written business English
  • Ability to design and deliver engaging training sessions
  • Ability to translate complex HR information to jargon free advice / communications with staff at different levels
  • Ability to analyse and interpret HR data

Experience

  • General HR experience with exposure at all levels of an organisation
  • Some experience of managing HR casework and guiding mangers on a variety of employee relation matters
  • Experience of working with a number of different HR database and recruitment systems
  • Some experience / understanding of payroll associated administration
  • Demonstrable recruitment experience – specifically providing advice and guidance to recruiting managers
  • Experience of L&D design, review and analysis, to produce a blended-leaning approach
  • Experience of working with trade unions and a staff forum group

Main terms and conditions

Location

The successful candidate will be based at The Pensions Ombudsman, 11 Belgrave Road, London, SW1H1RB. In April 2018 we will be moving to 10 South Colonnade, Canary Wharf E14 4PU. The appointed candidate will be required to move to the new office.

Salary

The salary range for the HRAdvisor is £26,518 to £29,722per annum.

Pension

The post holderis entitled to join the Civil Service Pension Scheme. Further details are available from

Leave

Annual leave allowance is 25 days per annum plus bank holidays and 2½ days privilege holiday.

Hours

Contracted hours will be 41 per week (including 1 hour lunch break)

Probation

The successful candidate will work a probationary period of 6 months. The appointment will be confirmed when this period has been completed successfully.

Other benefits include

  • Interest free loans for the purchase of season tickets.
  • Flexi time.
  • Buying and selling annual leave.
  • Other flexible working arrangements, subject to satisfactory performance.
  • Free eye tests.
  • Employee assistance programme.

Application process

Please complete the attached application form and submit it with your CV. In the section "Why I am suited to this role", we want you to provide clear examples of how you have demonstrated the essential skills required, in no more than 1000 words.

We will use your CV and application form to decide who to invite to interview. As well as considering the substance of your application and CV, we will also use them to judge your written communication skills.

To help us to monitor the effectiveness of our diversity policy, please complete the diversity monitoring form and submit it with your application. This is not compulsory and will form no part of your application.

Please return the completed form to

Closing date: 9am, Monday 19February 2018

Annex

HMG Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)

Everyone who works at The Pensions Ombudsman is expected to successfully complete the BPSS.

There are four elements of verification and we must be satisfied that evidence has been made available to enable verification of each element. These are:

  • confirmation of nationality and immigration status;
  • confirmation of identity;
  • verification of previous three-year employment history;
  • disclosure of unspent criminal convictions.

We will carry out the first three checks internally but for the unspent criminal conviction check we use Disclosure Scotland (an agency) to provide a disclosure certificate.

BPSS ensures that:

  • new staff are entitled to undertake the employment in question and, where appropriate, meet nationality rules for government service;
  • we are guarded against the employment of anyone posing as a prospective employee for commercial or personal gain; and
  • a sound basis is provided for any subsequent security checks.

The check will be carried out when a contract offer has been made. The offer will be subject to successful completion of the BPSS. The contract will not commence until BPSS has been completed successfully.

Applicants should be aware that supplying false information or failing to disclose relevant information could be grounds for refusal/dismissal and could amount to a criminal offence.

Data protection

Checks require processing of personal data about individuals. The provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 will apply at all times.

Information about criminal records (self-disclosures, or other vetting disclosures) will only be held by the Business Manager and/or Human Resources Manager. Disclosure information will only be used for the specific purpose for which it was requested. For successful candidates, the information will be kept securely and will not normally be kept with standard personnel records if such records can be accessed by other staff. Disclosed information will be kept for a further six months beyond the duration of employment. For unsuccessful candidates such information will be kept for six months in line with all other recruitment paperwork. Once the retention period has elapsed, disclosed information will be destroyed by secure means.

We may check information provided by you, or information about you provided by a third party. We will not disclose information about you to anyone outside our organisation unless the law permits us to.

Information provided by you in this application, and the supporting documentation, will be used by the panel to consider your suitability for the post applied for. If you are successful, this information will become part of your employment record. If you are unsuccessful, some data may be used for monitoring purposes and will be destroyed after twelve months.

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