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People Group
It’s more than shaping the future of people services. It’s shaping the future of justice. Join the People Group
Why consider People Group jobs?
Join one of the most exciting parts of government to grow your career. Being part of the People Group, you can choose from different roles and career paths beyond traditional HR. With almost 85,000 people employed in prisons, probation, courts and tribunals, as well as a central policy department, our work is fascinating, challenging and incredibly rewarding.
Help us improve the employee experience and the skills and support they need to deliver a justice system that reduces reoffending and keep our society safe. You don’t need an HR qualification to join us. The most important thing is you can communicate and empathise with people.
If you’re keen to learn, grow and contribute, this is the place to do it.
Things you need to know
Senior HR, Change and Project Leads
As a Senior HR, Change and Project Lead you’ll help shape the future of our organisation by designing and delivering tailored HR and people change interventions.
You’ll have considerable influence over our medium and long-term people strategy. Drive improvements in areas, such as:
- effective leadership
- people management
- organisational design and development
- change management
- diversity and inclusion
- workforce strategy
Essential skills and experience
You’ll need to have:
- a background in HR business partnering or people change
- experience in project management or change management
- leadership experience
- strong stakeholder management skills
Desirable: Hold a relevant professional qualification such as CIPD, APMG Change Management Practitioner or Prince2.
HR, Change and Project Managers
From workforce strategy to diversity and inclusion, help manage and deliver complex, large-scale HR and people-focused interventions. For example, you might set up and staff a new service, directorate or prison. Or you might focus on understanding people’s needs and motivations at work, using behavioural insight and science to deliver sustained change.
Bringing business insights to improve HR processes, systems and services, you’ll work with stakeholders, resolving issues and aligning different agendas.
Essential skills and experience
You’ll need experience of:
- HR
- organisational development
- project management.
Desirable: Hold a professional qualification in people management, project management or change management.
HR Project Support Officers
As a HR Project Support Officer, you’ll help us deliver projects that create positive change for our people.
The role will involve research and analysis, and drafting reports and briefs to inform decision-making and policy development.
Essential skills and experience
You’ll need relevant work experience that demonstrates your interest and ability in people and project management.
While a background in HR or organisational change would be helpful, it’s not essential.
People Support Officers
As a People Support Officer, you’ll help us to deliver projects that create positive change for our people.
You’ll start by providing vital administrative support, such as maintaining records or supporting meetings, and your responsibilities will grow as your experience increases.
During your time as People Support Officer, you’ll have the opportunity to work towards a relevant apprenticeship or professional qualification.
Essential skills and experience
You must be IT literate with excellent administrative skills, highly organised with excellent communication skills.
Benefits
- 25 days’ annual leave on joining, increasing on a sliding scale to 30 days after 5 years’ service. Plus 8 public holiday and service days
- an attractive Civil Service pension
- a wide range of other Civil Service benefits including a cycle to work scheme, family-friendly policies, a reward and recognition scheme, employee discount scheme and flexible working options
Training
We provide a comprehensive learning, development and talent programme.
You’ll also have the option to gain qualifications, from entry-level, right up to a masters equivalent, including externally recognised qualifications such as CIPD.
There are many apprenticeship options available when you join us too. These include:
- HR Support Level 3
- HR Consultant/Partner Level 5
- Learning and Development Consultant Level 5
- Associate Project Manager Level 4
- Project manager degree Level 6
- Operations/Departmental Manager Level 5
- Chartered Manager Degree Level 6
- Senior Leader Level 7.
“At the grand old age of 53, I’m living proof that an apprenticeship is not what you think it is. A level of commitment is needed, and I did not go into it lightly, but I was determined to become a qualified HR professional. By choosing to succeed, I am now an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and I have a HR Consultant Level 5 Diploma apprenticeship.” Ali HR Change Delivery Lead, Probation Reform Programme, Change Delivery
We are a nationally based team. Our technology and ways of working allow us to stay connected and the opportunity to work remotely. You can benefit from working from home or at a local commuter hub, where business needs allow, saving you the time, cost and stress of a daily commute.
“They’re good on flexible working. I have caring responsibilities and I am able to work compressed hours” Kerry People Change Lead, Prison Capacity Programme, Change Delivery
It’s more than enhancing workforce capability. It’s improving public safety.
We’re passionate about creating an organisation where leaders inspire, talent is nurtured, people feel welcome and everyone is encouraged and enabled to deliver.
From the moment people are recruited into our service, until the time they leave, we take a people-focused approach to make a positive contribution to their employment experience and career journey.
Our teams come from a range of professional backgrounds, as well as HR. We work together to provide expert support, advice and delivery throughout the employee lifecycle.
Bringing together a range of expertise, including project and change management, insight and analysis, capability building and talent development, we work creatively to provide innovative ways to support our staff to perform their roles to the best of their ability.
Change Delivery
We work across the service to:
- support, advise and challenge the business
- work with senior leaders to shape the delivery of organisational change
Leading and championing people-focused change, our vision is to enable the business to benefit from organisational changes.
We’re looking for people who can bring skills and experience from different backgrounds and help us develop innovative approaches to change delivery.
Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing Team
We ensure that diversity, inclusion and wellbeing is embedded in the service’s DNA. Our team makes sure we have the tools to be legally compliant and make change happen, empowering everyone to be their best at work.
In this role, you’ll work alongside senior leaders, champions, networks and allies to help us develop our culture and practice.
Our roles enable talented colleagues to build deep expertise across our agenda, especially race and LGBT+.
HMPPS HR Business Partnering and Learning and Development
Our HR team supports people to be their best.
We enable reform across our prison and probation services, creating meaningful change and improving the employee experience. Our team professionalises the workforce and provides continued development to our colleagues across HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). We improve the health of our workforce and champion change in how we deliver our services.
Other teams
Other teams in the People Group include:
- Workforce Planning, Insight and Research
- Recruitment and Resourcing
- Service Improvement and Assurance
- Shared Services Commercial
- Shared Services Strategy
- Business Partnering
- Business Groups
- Talent and Capability
- Organisational Effectiveness
- People Services, Policy and Reward
- Civil Service Human Resources Casework.
We embed diversity, inclusion and wellbeing in our services’ DNA. We want everyone in our service to feel they belong and can be their best at work.
Read more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace.