Job title: Senior HR Business Partner
Directorate: Human Resources
This is a part time/job share role at 0.54 full time equivalent. You must be available to work from Wednesday to Friday and work 20 hours per week in total.
About us
HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is responsible for the administration of criminal, civil and family courts and tribunals in England and Wales. Our roles support our service users and colleagues, where people and businesses access potentially life-changing justice. We’re looking for individuals who are committed to public service and want to make a difference in people’s lives in delivering justice. If you’re interested in developing a career with a real purpose, please apply.
About the role
We’re looking for an experienced, strategic HR professional to join our team as a Senior HR Business Partner.
The HMCTS HR function plays a pivotal role in supporting leaders and their teams through transformation by developing and deploying the right people strategies. The role of Senior HRBP requires you to provide clear direction and focus, visibly championing changes within HMCTS.
Strong leadership is critical and all senior managers in the organisation are required to operate in a culture of openness and honesty, demonstrating a commitment to change through involvement and empowerment, and by delivering results.
As Senior HR Business Partner, you will be responsible for planning and facilitating the delivery of the People and Organisation Strategy, in support of the HMCTS Business Plan and goals.
As the business face of HMCTS you will need to work closely with the wider HMCTS HR team and wider MoJ and Civil Service HR to tailor appropriate interventions and insight to deliver a whole HR service.
As a key member of the senior management team for your area(s) of responsibility, you will provide the bridge between the business and HR and will work collaboratively with senior stakeholders and their teams to determine all people requirements.
Providing expert strategic HR advice to Directors and Senior Management Teams, as a HRBP you will coach senior leaders, and challenge where necessary, to enable highly effective change leadership and to create a compelling people proposition thereby improving individual, team and organisational performance and capability.
Some Senior HR Business Partners line manage and lead Assistant HR Business partners.
Your role as Senior HR Business Partner encompasses several key aspects (but not limited to):
Working with Senior Directors as part of Senior Management Teams to develop and implement HR and business strategy, ensuring HMCTS has the right structure, climate and capability to manage change and transition, and to support the wider cultural change agenda.
Advising on the people implications of significant change initiatives and providing technical HR/employment oversight.
Working collaboratively with Senior Directors and their teams to develop strategies in line with Civil Service/HMCTS guidelines and targets covering performance management, health and wellbeing/attendance management, engagement, and equality, diversity and inclusion.
Ensuring effective workforce planning that aligns to budget allocations and meets capacity and capability requirements, including developing attraction, talent and development strategies and supporting Talent and Succession planning to grow a strong talent pipeline.
Developing leadership capability and effectiveness through coaching, challenging and mentoring senior Directors, and influencing senior Leaders to drive engagement and cultural change.
Engaging with the Organisational Capability Team to access products and services that support delivery of our people proposition, capability development framework and organisational toolkit
Using people data and customer insight to inform and drive strategic change, improve business performance and deliver excellence.
Operating as the technical HR expert for the business, providing oversight of all people-related matters and working closely with HR colleagues, delivery partners and wider HR teams to ensure consistency and continuous improvement of HR services, policies and practices.
Identifying and disseminating HR best practice and advising portfolio leads for change initiatives and projects.
Who are we looking for? (Person Specification)
The ideal candidate for this position should demonstrate:
Essential Skills
CIPD‑qualified or working towards CIPD (or equivalent HR qualification), with evidence of ongoing Continuous Professional Development.
Proven track record of leading stakeholder engagement on HR issues and solutions, with evidence of delivering organisational transformation at scale
Significant experience of HR Business Partnering, demonstrated across varied business contexts
Evidence of role-modelling effective leadership behaviours, including setting direction, building trust and driving accountability.
Proven experience of leading strategic workforce planning and managing resourcing challenges, with the ability to identify risks, recommend evidence‑based solutions, and advise senior stakeholders confidently.
Proven ability to think and plan strategically and to implement people strategies that achieve measurable outcomes.
Demonstrated ability to build strong, trust‑based partnerships with senior stakeholders, constructively challenge, and provide balanced, actionable feedback.
Strong consultancy skills, evidenced by the ability to understand business context and communicate HR issues and solutions in clear, business‑focused language.
Demonstrated ability to coach and develop senior leaders and to facilitate effective, insight‑led decision making.
Strong understanding of change management, whole systems thinking and organisational development concepts, with evidence of leading or enabling change across diverse geographical locations and jurisdictions.
How to apply
Application Stage
Please submit:
An anonymised CV. Please ensure your CV is uploaded in a simple format to prevent any formatting issues when it's downloaded or reviewed.
Your CV should:
Be succinct and clear.
Be factually accurate - You must ensure that any evidence submitted as part of your application, is truthful and factually accurate. Please note that plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.
Include your qualifications, highlighting any modules or accreditation relevant to the role.
Include your relevant experience, providing dates.
Provide detail - we are interested in how your knowledge, skills, and experience demonstrate the capabilities we are looking for in this role.
Statement of suitability demonstrating how you meet the essential criteria (up to 750 words).
Your Statement of Suitability should be no more than 750 words and should give us real life examples of how your skills and experience match those needed for this role. Consider addressing particular points in the person specification requirements and key responsibilities. We recommend following the STAR format.
You must ensure that any evidence submitted as part of your application, is truthful and factually accurate. Please note that plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.
Technical question in relation to the person specification
We will aim to sift the CV, Statement of suitability and Technical question but, in the event of a large number of applicants, an initial short sift may be conducted on the Technical question only. Candidates who pass the initial sift will progress to a full sift where all application assessment criteria is then assessed.
Interview Stage
If successful at sift, you will be invited to attend a remote interview, via Microsoft teams. During your interview, you will be assessed against the following Civil Service Success Profiles which will include:
Questions in relation to the following Civil Service behaviours
Working together
Communicating and Influencing
Seeing the Big Picture
Strengths will also be assessed however these are not shared in advance.
Travel requirements
This is a national role however, this position involves occasional travel to Wales and Scotland, with the expectation of additional travel to other HMCTS sites where operationally necessary.
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About our benefits
We reward our people for their hard work and commitment. We have a number of family
friendly and flexible working polices that will help you achieve a healthy work-life balance. In addition, we offer a range of employee benefits which include generous annual leave, a highly competitive contributory pension scheme, childcare benefits, season ticket and bicycle loans.
Proud to Serve. Proud to keep justice going.