Performance and Insight Manager

Job summary

As a key member of Acas Advice and Business Solutions (ABS), this role will lead the Performance and Insight function across the directorate and will report to and provide strategic advice to the Directorand SLT, using MI, customer and marketplace insights to plan and inform business decisions.

The postholder will be accountable for developing performance mechanisms, monitoring and reporting for all services, including finance, people, customer service and operational standards, and commercial sales aspects and ensure that its people deliver in line with the Acas strategy. Using knowledge, insight and data from Advice and Business Solutions this role will lead and collaborate on data-led decision making. Set standards for our services and Directorate Governance mechanisms to adhere to, providing advice, guidance and a clear direction of performance and development opportunities to deliver a unified, consistent service for our customers.

The purpose of the role is to:

• Provide strategic advice to the ABS Director, guiding and preparing business plans and informing decisions to improve effectiveness and efficiency
• Provide a high-quality efficient service that plans Directorate activity and team standards and monitors and reports progress, recording and managing risk mitigation in the process. The role will also provide a support function to aid with wider team and service development and compliance. This will include:
• Working with director and service heads to set performance targets for the service including KPIs and metrics.
• Working with director and service heads to ensure good governance, communication and compliance across the directorate
• Creating short and medium-term business planning for the service against the Acas strategy.
• Working with Director and service heads to bid for any funding which may be required to improve the service.
• Leading a high-quality support service delivering high levels of customer service both internally and externally

Job description

The postholder's main accountabilities will include:

• Monitoring and Reporting Performance – Accountable for monitoring and reporting against performance against targets to the Executive Board, Governance Boards and other key stakeholders.
• Benefits Tracking – Accountable for benefits tracking and realisation of any project or BAU spend to ensure return on investment.
• Benefits Reporting – Accountable for reporting on the return on investment to tract KPI's and forecast revenue.
• Action Planning to Improve Performance – Accountable for identifying concerns with service performance and working with service heads to set and implement action plans to ensure KPIs are met.
• Business Planning – Accountable for working with the service heads and director to map short and medium-term business planning for the service against the Acas strategy.
• Internal Relationship Management – Accountable for monitoring internal relationships and ensuring that collaboration between the internal services and Advice and Business Solutions are effective in ensuring service delivery.
• Opportunity Identification – Accountable for working with service heads to identify opportunities for service improvement either BAU or project-based. Accountable for working with service heads on costing and design of projects.
• Maintenance of Internal Policy and Standards (Customer Advice) – Accountable for working with service heads on drafting, maintaining all internal policy and standards documents relating to the function including policy, standard operating procedures, template documents to ensure that these are up-to-date and compliant with service requirements.
• Service Objective Setting – Accountable for working with director and service heads to set clear and measurable objectives for the service.
• Risk Management – Accountable for identifying any risks to the service and maintaining appropriate risk records for reporting to corporate risk register.
• Advice Services Improvement – Accountable for delivery of improvement initiatives relating to advice services. Accountable for working with the PMO and fulfilling improvement project objectives.
• Funding/Investment Bidding – Accountable for working with director and service heads on bidding for any funding which may be required either through the internal investment portfolio or external funding opportunities. Accountable for drafting business cases for approval to relevant committee.
• Stakeholder Relationship Development – Accountable, in conjunction with External Affairs, for the development of local, regional and national relationships with external partners to fulfil strategic ambitions.
• Service Protocols – Accountable for ensuring that service protocols and guidelines are developed, communicated and implemented consistently as required
• Delivering the responsibilities of the role and undertaking other duties commensurate with the grade and scope of the role.

Who we are

Acas exists to make working life better for everyone in Britain. We are the experts in workplace matters, we’re impartial, so we’re not on anyone’s side. That means we’re working for everyone to help prevent, manage and resolve workplace issues.

Acas helps employers and employees by providing information, advice, training, conciliation and other services that prevent, manage or resolve workplace problems.

Acas: Britain’s Workplace Experts

Acas has been recognised for its Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace from the Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion awards; it has been Disability Confident Highly Commended, a Pay Gap award winner, and an Overall winner for public sector organisations. Acas is committed to providing services and developing policies which embrace diversity, promote equality of opportunity and eliminate unlawful discrimination.

Person specification

The successful applicant will have the following:

Essential criteria

• Communication skills, written and verbal (Lead)
• Reporting and managing risk (Lead)
• Business Planning and budget development and management
• People management
• Preparing and analysing reports/dashboards
• Project/portfolio management
• Working in a multi-disciplinary team
• IT skills
• Ability to prioritise
• Delegation skills
• Analytical thinking and insight
• Business planning skills
• Financial skills
• Influencing skills

Applicants should have a qualification in finance, business management, governance or related fields or equivalent experience at the time of application.

Desirable criteria (the following will be assessed only in the event of tie-breaker scenarios)

• Customer service/standards development
• Risk management
• Compliance
• Managing conflicting priorities
• Knowledge of organisational policies and procedures
• Membership / Chartership of a relevant professional body (e.g. CIPD) is desirable

Qualifications

Applicants should have a qualification in finance, business management, governance or related fields or equivalent professional experience at the time of application. If you have equivalent professional experience, please add details to explain.

Behaviours

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Leadership
• Making Effective Decisions

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Leadership

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £59,870, Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service contributes £17,344 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

We’re big believers in rewarding people for the amazing work they do. Take a look at some of the fantastic benefits we offer:

• Learning and Development
• Health and wellbeing
• Pension scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Volunteering opportunities

Could you ask for any more?

You’ll have access to a Lifestyle website where you’ll be able to grab savings on a wide range of products, from holidays to your weekly shop.

To find out more, check out: Working for Acas

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 and Experience.

How to apply

Please click on the 'Apply now' button.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:

• An evidence-based Personal Statement and CV reflecting the essential and desirable Experience requirements as listed in the Person Specification section of this advert. Your Personal Statement should be no longer than 1000 words It should avoid generalised assertions, instead including specific examples of achievements, explaining the degree of challenge, what you did and the outcomes.
• A 250-word statement on the following Behaviours: Communicating and Influencing; Seeing the Big Picture; Leadership
  
  

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the:

• Lead Essential experience criterion: Communication skills, written and verbal
• Lead Essential experience criterion: Reporting and managing risk

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift of all the above requirements or progressed straight to interview.

If a large number of applications meet the minimum standard an interview wait list may be created for this position. This means that if you have met the minimum requirements at sift you may be placed at a ‘Hold’ status for up to 12 months and if we are able to invite you to an interview we will be in touch.

Interview Details

If you have successfully passed sift at the application stage, you will be invited to an interview which will either take place via Microsoft Teams or Face-to-Face, and which will take place from the week commencing 06 July 2026.

It will be a Behavioursbased interview, and it will also include a Presentation that will be used to assess your Experience (the presentation question and instructions will be sent to candidates who are invited to interview).

The following Behaviours will be assessed at Interview:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Leadership
• Making Effective Decisions

The following Essential Experience criterion will be assessed at Interview

• Communication skills, written and verbal

A reserve list will be created for this position; this means that if you have passed the interview, but we cannot immediately offer you this position, you will be placed on a reserve list for 12 months and may be considered for similar positions during that time.

Reasonable Adjustments

As a Disability Confident Leader, Acas is committed to creating an inclusive recruitment process. If you have a disability and feel that any part of the recruitment process puts you at a disadvantage, we will work with you to make Reasonable Adjustments that support your needs. If you require any changes to help you apply:

• Please contact the Acas Recruitment Team via HRrecruitment@acas.org.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
• Please complete the “Assistance Required” section on the “Additional Requirements” page of your application form to let us know about any adjustments or support you may need during the recruitment process. For example, this might include accessibility arrangements for entering a building or interview room, communication support, modifications to assessment methods, etc.
• You can find out more about the Disability Confident Scheme and Reasonable Adjustments by clicking these links.

Want to learn more about Civil Service recruitment? You can find out more on Civil Service Careers, including information on Success Profiles, writing a Personal Statement, acceptable use of Artificial Intelligence, and what to expect at Interview.

For applicants requiring a visa to work in the UK

Please be advised that Acas does not hold a UKVI Sponsorship Licence, so we cannot consider sponsoring a visa applicant or issuing a Certificate of Sponsorship.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.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

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 : HR Recruitment Team
• Email : HRRecruitment@acas.org.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : HRRecruitment@acas.org.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Code and wish to make a complaint, you should contact us on via HRrecruitment@acas.org.uk in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from us, you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

Attachments

Job Description - G7 Performance and Insight Manager Opens in new window (docx, 52kB)