Job summary
- Main area
- Human Resources
- Grade
- Band 8b
- Contract
- Fixed term: 12 months (Maternity Cover ending 26-Apr-2027)
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week (Agile working minimum 3 days on site)
- Job ref
- 197-RF7790
- Employer
- Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Catford Old Town Hall
- Town
- London
- Salary
- £64,455 - £74,896 per annum plus HCAS
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 28/01/2026 23:59
Employer heading
HR Business Partner
Band 8b
Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust, (LGT), is a community-focused provider of local and acute care, delivering high-quality services to over one million people living across the London boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, and Bexley. We provide whole-life care and are here to support our communities to live healthier lives as well as taking care of them when they need us the most.
Employing almost 7,500 colleagues, affectionately known as Team LGT, we provide services at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, University Hospital Lewisham, and at over a dozen community settings in Lewisham. We also provide some services at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup.
We have recently launched our new vision and values to mark the LGT10 – the tenth anniversary of our Trust forming in 2013. Our trust vision is to be exceptional. In the quality of our patient care; our support for colleagues; and in the difference we make through our partnerships and in our communities.
To achieve this we value Respect, Compassion, and Inclusion; Being accountable over staying comfortable; Listening over always knowing best; and Succeeding together over achieving alone. You can read more about our visions and values here
Our hospitals and community sites provide a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services, as well as emergency and planned care. The Trust is rated as “good” or “outstanding” in over three-quarters of the services inspected by the Care Quality Commission.
Every year our work includes performing 10,000 procedures in our theatres; bringing seven and a half thousand new lives into the world; carrying out 570,000 visits to patients in their homes or communities and providing emergency care for more than 300,000 patients arriving in our busy Urgent and Emergency Departments.
LGT is a centre for the education and training of medical students enrolled with King’s College London’s GKT School of Medical Education. We are a training centre for nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. We are pioneering new roles that will support the changing needs of our patients and are one of the largest employers of physician associates in the country.
We are committed to working with our partners to deliver the best outcomes for our local communities. This means playing an active role in the South East London Integrated Care System (ICS), and in formal partnerships including the South East London Acute Provider Collaborative, provider partnerships with our local mental health trusts and borough-based boards of the ICS in Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham.
Job overview
The HR Business Partner is a strategic role in support of a designated service area, and as a senior HR professional, is expected to be largely self managing. It will be necessary for the HR Business Partner to understand the business strategy of the service area for which they are responsible and to contribute to the workforce strategy for that area, whilst ensuring its compatibility with Trust-wide workforce plans.
Main duties of the job
Specifically the postholder will:
- develop robust human resources relationships with divisions/corporate areas to influence, challenge and support service delivery and people strategies and monitor success
- work alongside the Divisional Director of Operations and their teams in identifying workforce issues and developing appropriate business focussed HR interventions, and developing the people capability to deliver their business plans
- support and challenge managers in the identification of training and development needs in respect of the people management agenda, and in the application of HR policies and practices, providing advice and guidance on complex HR issues in order to minimise risk and financial exposure
- seek out and use workforce intelligence, both internal and external, to identify people management requirements within the service area, establishing credibility as an expert in strategic HR within an operational service
- coordinate a team comprising representatives from the different functional areas of HR, and where appropriate beyond HR, to analyse and interpret relevant workforce information and productivity measure, develop, recommend and support the implementation of appropriate HR interventions to address the HR issues facing the service.
Working for our organisation
- Our people are our greatest asset. When we feel supported and happy at work, this positivity reaches those very people we are here for, the patients. Engaged employees perform at their best and our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) initiatives contribute to cultivate a culture of engagement. We have four staff networks, a corporate EDI Team and a suite of programmes and events which aim to insert the 5 aspirations:
- Improving representation at senior levels of staff with disabilities, from black, Asian, and ethnic minorities background, identify as LGBTQ+ and women, through improved recruitment and leadership development
- Widening access (anchor institution) and employability
- Improving the experience of staff with disability
- Improving the EDI literacy and confidence of trust staff through training and development
- Making equalities mainstream
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Key Result Areas & Performance:
Strategy, Leadership and Management
- As a member of the senior HR team, to support the Associate Director of Workforce in the development and delivery of the Trust’s Workforce Strategy and maintain an understanding of the Trust’s key drivers and challenges in order to plan and deliver key workforce strategies aligned to business strategy and high level objectives.
- Contribute to the achievement of the Trust’s strategic goals and priorities by ensuring that workforce policy, practice and delivery are co-ordinated, effective and strategic.
- To provide a highly visible, competent and coaching leadership style which is consistent with the Trust values, building and maintaining effective working relationships with managers, staff and external organisations.
- To plan, design and conduct essential projects to analyse and respond to current and projected workforce need.
- To develop strong networks internally and externally to ensure that best practice is applied within the organisation and that opportunities for development and innovation are maximised.
- To support the Trust in reaching its vision of excellence in everything it does by leading and promoting equal opportunities, fairness, equity and inclusion through best practice working, monitoring, training and evaluation.
- To lead and assist in organisational development and change initiatives in partnership with staff and managers, in order for change to be implemented effectively and proactively in line with sound planning and communications processes.
- To represent the Trust in relevant workforce relations forums within and outside the sector.
- As a senior member of the HR function, to contribute to the development of the HR function and to HR policies, strategies and business plans which enable Trust corporate aims and objectives to be achieved.
Service Responsibilities
- To make a full and proactive contribution to the business, service and corporate planning processes to the service areas for which they are responsible, ensuring that these take account of national HR initiatives and corporate HR policies and agenda.
- To inform the business planning process and support the transformation agenda within the service area by contributing to the workforce planning cycle, service improvement and role design.
- To act as the key link between the service area and the HR function
- To work in partnership with Divisional Directors / Directors and managers in allocated divisions/service areas to establish the HR strategies and plans necessary to support: the successful delivery of patient focused services, the achievement of business targets, and the implementation of service development strategy
- To support and challenge managers in the application of HR policies and practices, providing advice and guidance on complex HR issues in order to minimise risk and financial exposure.
- To advise and support the service area in the development and modernisation of their services and related workforce requirements to include effective workforce utilisation, role design, workforce restructuring, skill mix and management of change in line with best practice and Trust policy and procedure.
- To coordinate a team comprising representatives from the different functional areas of HR, including recruitment, medical HR (where appropriate), temporary staffing, workforce relations, people management coaching, and training and development.
- In conjunction with their team, to analyse and interpret relevant workforce information and productivity measures, and work with Divisional Managers to develop strategies and plans to ensure that the workforce supports current and future performance targets, recommending HR initiatives to the service area that help meet its business needs.
- To act as an advocate of change and modernisation in support of business and HR strategies, and champion best practice Human Resource management, influencing key business decisions to ensure the effective management of staff through the fair, efficient and pragmatic application of best practice; this will include the development of managers in HR policy and practice and the monitoring and development of best practice to embrace diversity in the workforce.
- To develop the role of HR Business Partner by actively working with service areas, contributing to the early and proactive resolution of potential people management / change issues and ensuring that workforce factors are identified and actioned within overall divisional business plans.
- To lead (and project manage) key HR initiatives and change programmes to ensure that they are delivered in accordance with agreed requirements realising effective co-ordination of people, resource and talent; to ensure that, as appropriate, such initiatives are embedded and the benefits realise.
3.0 General
- To support the Deputy Director of Workforce and undertake additional project work as appropriate to ensure the delivery of a professional HR function for the Trust.
- To ensure continuing, personal and professional development, taking ownership and accountability for staying up-to-date.
- To deputise for the Director of Workforce and the Deputy Director of Workforce taking delegated responsibility at internal and external meetings and events.
Person specification
Qualifications/ Education
Essential criteria
- Master’s degree or equivalent
- M/FCIPD
- Evidence of CPD
Previous experience
Essential criteria
- Significant experience in human resources, working with managers to deliver high quality HR services
- Significant experience as a senior manager in a large complex organisation
- Significant experience of leading and managing staff
- Significant experience of facilitating and managing change
- Experience of working in the NHS
- Involvement in setting of workforce strategy
Skills/Knowledge/ Ability
Essential criteria
- An expert level of knowledge in strategic workforce issues, including legislation, NHS policy, and best practice
- Up to date knowledge of key current issues in human resources and in local, regional and national networks and issues outside the organisation and how these impact on the Trust
- Able to foster powerful and productive collaborative working relationships internally and externally
- Exceptional written and oral communication skills for a variety of formal and informal purposes; able to articulate a vision with clarity
- Exceptional interpersonal skills to be able to coordinate the delivery of effective HR support
- Strong strategic influencing and negotiating skills on complex and sensitive issues
- Ability to think strategically
- Politically astute, sensitive, tactful and diplomatic
- Ability to analyse and understand business, financial and workforce data
- Proven ability to effectively manage a range of situations that may evoke a strong emotional reaction
- Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office, including Word and Excel
- Ability to interpret and apply HR knowledge to the Trust workforce strategy
- Problem solving ability, seeking out and exploiting opportunities and innovations
- Ability to work with unpredictable situations and under pressure and to tight deadlines
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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Applicant requirements
You must have appropriate UK professional registration.
Application numbers
We recommend applying as early as possible to avoid missing out. All applications received before the cap is reached will be considered equally and assessed against the person specification.
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Lola Akintoye
- Job title
- Associate Director of Workforce
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 07880054850
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