HR Complex Casework Manager

Job summary

As an HR Complex Casework Manager, you will provide vital front-line expertise to the Government Commercial Organisation (GCO). Reporting directly to the HR Complex Casework Lead, you will be responsible for the end-to-end management of a variety of HR cases, ensuring that leaders receive high-quality, pragmatic, and legally sound advice. You will act as a bridge between policy and practice, driving continuous improvement and building line manager capability across the organisation.

Job description

Key Responsibilities

Front-line Casework Delivery

• Provide expert front-line HR advice to leaders on a broad range of casework, including discipline, grievance, suspension, and attendance management.
• Act as the primary point of contact for managers, guiding them through formal processes and ensuring adherence to Departmental policies and UK employment legislation.
• Support leaders through Employment Tribunal stages by ensuring accurate submissions and timely responses to information requests.

Operational Coordination

• Take responsibility for appointing decision-makers and investigating managers for formal cases, ensuring independence and procedural fairness.
• Work closely with HR Business Partners (HRBPs) to ensure case support is aligned with departmental needs and to flag significant risks or trends.
• Maintain excellent record-keeping standards, ensuring all sensitive employee data is handled with high integrity and in line with data protection policies.
• Handle sensitive data requests, including FOI/SARs where applicable, ensuring timelines are strictly adhered to.

Data & Insight

• Lead on the management of HR Management Information (MI) for casework, ensuring systems are updated accurately.
• Analyse casework data to produce regular reports for senior stakeholders, identifying trends that require strategic intervention.

Continuous Improvement & Policy

• Support the development and rollout of a management toolkit to empower line managers to handle low-level issues before they escalate.
• Contribute to the creation and refinement of new HR case-related policies based on lessons learned from closed cases.
• Deliver interventions to improve line manager capability and increase HR colleagues' knowledge of complex casework.
• Identify opportunities for continuous improvement to increase efficiency and service quality.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

• Case Management Expertise: Significant experience in managing complex HR casework (discipline, grievance, attendance) within a fast-paced environment.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Proven ability to build relationships and deliver challenging messages to leaders while maintaining credibility.
• Communication Skills: Excellent written and verbal communication, with the ability to translate complex HR issues for non-expert audiences.
• Resilience & Integrity: Ability to handle highly sensitive, confidential information and remain resilient in high-pressure situations.
• Analytical Thinking: Experience managing casework data/MI and using it to provide insights that drive service improvement.

Desirable Criteria

• Professional Qualification: CIPD qualified (Level 5 or above) or a willingness to work towards this.
• Civil Service Knowledge: Familiarity with Civil Service HR policies and the unique landscape of government departments.
• Project Support: Experience in developing toolkits, guides, or training materials for managers.

Additional information:

A minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace. Although requirements to attend other locations for official business will also count towards this level of attendance.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions
• Working Together

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £43,760, Cabinet Office contributes £12,677 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Learning and development tailored to your role.
• An environment with flexible working options.
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
• A Civil Service Pension which provides an attractive pension, benefits for dependants and employer contributions of 28.97%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by one day per year up to a maximum of 30.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

Application process

Applicants should apply be sending in a CV along with a 1000 word statement of suitability outlining their experience against the essential criteria for the role. Please use the essential criteria as a framework for your statement of suitability and give examples of your experience.

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Selection process

A sift will be undertaken against experience based upon candidates CVs and statements of suitability.

At interview candidates will be assessed against Civil Service behaviours along with strengths.

The behaviours being assessed at interview are;

Communicating and Influencing

Delivering at Pace

Making Effective Decisions

Working Together

Expected timeline (subject to change)

Expected sift date – w/c 12th July

Expected interview date/s – w/c 27th July

Interview location - Your interview will either be conducted face to face or by video. You will be notified of the location if you are selected for interview.

Reasonable Adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

Contact Government Recruitment Service via cabinetofficerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section in the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Further information

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'contact point for applicants' section.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service/Disclosure Scotland on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email Info@disclosurescotland.co.uk

Please note that this role requires CTC clearance, which would normally need 3 years UK residency in the past 3 years This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.

Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

Any move to Cabinet Office from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

Feedback

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.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Fraser Wightman
• Email : Fraser.wightman@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : cabinetofficerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and wish to make a complaint, then in the first instance you should contact Government Recruitment Service by email at : cabinetofficerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission at info@csc.gov.uk. For further information on the Recruitment Principles and bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission, please visit their website at: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/.

Attachments

Cabinet-Office-Employee-Offer Opens in new window (docx, 762kB)Cabinet Office Terms and Conditions - External 2025-02-20 Opens in new window (docx, 83kB)