Go back South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
Head of Employee Relations
The closing date is 21 July 2025
We are pleased to be advertising for a Head of Employee Relations to lead the provision of a high quality and well-coordinated Employee Relations Team. This is a strategic senior role, within our People & Culture Directorate with accountability on a day-to-day basis for the delivery of employee relations across the Trust.
Main duties of the job
The post holder will be responsible for the leadership of the Employee Relations Team offering clear direction, support and expertise to the team through excellent leadership and management skills.You will need to have robust and up to date knowledge of Employment Law and Agenda for Change Terms and Conditions and be confident as the 'expert' in the P&OD Leadership Team.You will be a key contributor to delivery of the people elements of our 'People Strategy', as well as ensuring the Trust's People & Culture work pertaining to Our People Plan which addresses the NHS National People Plan direction.
You will need to build close and trusting relationships with direct line reports as well as other key Heads of Service and teams across the Trust.
About us
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) provide the widest range of NHS mental health services in the UK as well as substance misuse services for people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol.
We work closely with the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN), King's College London and are part of King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre.
There are very few organisations in the world that have such wide-ranging capabilities working with mental illness. Our scope is unique because it is built on three major foundations: care and treatment, science and research, and training.
SLaM employ around 5000 staff and serve a local population of 1.1 million people. We have more than 230 services including inpatient wards, outpatient and community services. Currently, provide inpatient care for approximately 5,300 people each year and treat more than 45,000 patients in the community in Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark: as well as substance misuse services for residents of Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich.
By coming to work at SLaM, you will gain experience of being part of an organisation with a rich history and international reputation in mental health care. You will have access to professional development and learning opportunities and have the chance to work alongside people who are world leaders in their field.
Job responsibilities
* Compassionately and confidently lead and manage the ER Team in tandem with the Values and Behaviours Framework, providing a gold-standard employee relations service, which mitigates commercial, corporate, and reputational risk. Act as a peer mentor and point of escalation, as necessary.
* Work closely with key stakeholders including Directors, Managers, senior clinicians, Professional Leads and senior HR / People colleagues to ensure the functions support good management and enables the delivery of the Trusts workforce strategy.
* Build strong, credible and visible relationships across the business and be viewed as a trusted advisor.
* Work in partnership with key stakeholders to implement and further develop a wide range of People & OD and employee relations policies and procedures that lead with compassion and are designed to advise and support managers and staff in the exercise of good employment practice. Oversee the People & OD policy database ensuring that policies are up to date and that policy reviews are undertaken, as required.
* Work with People & OD Business Partners and managers to regularly review and ensure that the employee relations service is providing a service that meets the organisational needs.
* Remain at the forefront of emerging ER trends to drive forward an organsiational culture that seeks to be best in class. Stay abreast of all current and forthcoming changes in employment legislation and ensure that these are immediately reflected in policy advice and employee service.
With an approach of continuous improvement, develop effective processes and practices in line with legislative compliance, case law, and best practice.
* Implement and embed an employee relations environment that is compassionate and aligns with the Just and Restorative Learning Culture principles; ensuring approaches are proportionate, legally sound, and seeking for early intervention and resolution.
* Ensure that the employee relations play a critical function in the Trust acting as a Just and Restorative Learning Organisation. Regularly de-brief appropriate managers following the conclusion of complex cases. Hold accountability for actions or learning points being followed through or escalated to the necessary governance fora.
* Lead, build and maintain positive and productive relationships with recognised trade unions to promote partnership working across the organisation leading on complex negotiations and disputes. The post holder will be the lead officer for the regular staff-side partnership forum.
* Ensure the provision of a high quality and efficient mediation service designed to resolve disputes between staff at the earliest opportunity without the need for formal procedures to be initiated. Supporting our Just and Restorative Learning Culture where our people can thrive and be themselves.
* Manage own complex ER caseload providing high quality consistent advice.
* Present information relating to highly complex and sensitive cases to Trust panels, including attendance at Employment Tribunals and giving witness evidence as appropriate.
* Advise and support Maintaining High Professional Standards investigations and hearings.
* Provide support and guidance to the ER Manager on all Tribunal and litigation matters. Ensure the ER Manager takes ownership for the lifecycle of each case and its appropriate resolution; including diagnosing areas of improvement for future organisational learning.
* Set appropriate expectations for governance, escalation and communication of ER risk, taking a commercial and pragmatic approach to managing legal risk balanced with clinical risk and efficient service delivery.
Participate in and ensure a robust Job Evaluation / consistency checking service, supporting the development of systems and maintaining records.
* Attendance at Trust Committee and Board meetings, as necessary.
* Lead on ER specific Trust-wide strategies including, but not limited to, the Anti Racism Action Plan and Autism Strategy, in the development of an inclusive and modern workforce where individuals can be their authentic selves.
* Lead and participate on a range of corporate HR Projects, developing project plans to ensure integration of operational and strategic matters.
* Deputise for the Associate Director of People and OD as appropriate.
Reporting
* Report on activity and performance data for the Employee Relations function, benchmarking services, taking action to improve the service and remedy any deficiencies as appropriate.
* Manage the employee related systems including the production of statistics, analysing regularly intelligence from reports, presenting to Trust Board and Senior Managers to inform priorities and influence strategic decision making, including cost and risk analysis.
* Lead team development of performance metric scorecards and service/system improvement processes to continuously monitor and improve service delivery and contribution of the ER function to enable care groups and departments to deliver financial and performance targets.
* Be expert super user and champion of ER systems, the Electronic Staff Record (ESR) etc. To regularly produce high quality accurate standard and ad hoc ER reports from these systems.
* Ensure that the Trust is fully compliant with, and reports on, Maintaining High Professional Standards and processes when dealing with Employee cases including compliance with relevant legislation and Trust policies.
* Ensure all information captured and stored is in line with Information Governance (IG) requirements and compliant with data protection legislation.
Team Management
* Proactively lead and manage the ER Team. Ensure regular supervision and reviews are undertaken.
* Act as mentor and role model for direct reports, new members of staff and students.
* Manage and develop the performance and capability of the Team including setting performance standards, promoting regular feedback and carrying out annual appraisals agreeing a Personal Development Plan with each member of the Team.
* Hold responsibility for undertaking sickness absence monitoring, return to work interviews, performance and grievance issues as required and in line with the Trusts policies and procedures.
* Manage the Employee Relations finances ensuring that services are managed within budget. Monitor and advise on external spend, such as that for legal services.
* Ensure appropriate procurement processes are followed.
* Ensure the delivery of a programme of training based around building competence and capacity in the Trust in managing ER issues.
Other
1. Contribute to evidence based practice and research projects and overall HR People Strategy. Ensure the effective operational implementation of all people initiatives, projects and programmes within the remit of the ER Team.
2. Support the change management processes where applicable, in partnership with People Business Partners and Organisational Development colleagues, senior managers and local m