The ONS operates a flexible hybrid working model across the UK, with colleagues linked to one of our contractual locations working between office and remote throughout the week. The locations for this role are Newport, Titchfield (Fareham).
All colleagues are required to work from their contractually allocated site for at least 40% of their working time.
The induction process for the role may be conducted in person.
Job Summary
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime and migration.
The ONS People and Business Services (PBS) Directorate facilitates and enables great people-centred outcomes and is at the forefront of implementing industry-leading, game-changing people practices. Multi-award winning, our commitment to improving people fundamentals is coupled with our drive towards more innovative approaches enabling us to attract, nurture and retain the best. We are committed to the continued development of colleagues in PBS. We are actively aligned to the Government People Function.
As a HR Officer specialising in Casework, you will be responsible for managing complex and sensitive cases across the organisation. You will handle a portfolio of employment relations cases such as grievances, disciplinary, attendance and performance.
The Casework Team core operating hours are Monday – Thursday 9am – 5pm and Friday 9am – 4pm. To support the business need and ensure smooth coverage's, colleagues will be placed on a rota, this allows us to maintain consistent levels throughout the week and colleagues to work flexible.
Please note Fridays are a busy day and our preference would be for the successful candidate’s to be contracted on this day. Flexible working requests and reasonable adjustments will be considered in line with business requirements
Job Description
In this role will act as a subject matter expert, providing expert HR advice to managers on a range of people issues ensuring legal compliance, fairness and consistency. You will help to enable and empower managers to navigate complex people issues who will action within the business, you will achieve this through signposting to guidance/tools/resources and a coaching-style approach.
The successful candidate will lead and contribute to continuous improvement projects and help to evolve our ways of working in line with business need. You will represent the HR function in cross-functional working groups and contribute to business-wide projects.
You will also be an ambassador for the work of the Employment Relations team, ensuring effective communication and collaboration across the business. As and when required, you will provide support to the wider team including Policy and Pay and Reward.
Key Responsibilities
- Coach and advise managers on how to apply Employment Policies effectively, consistently and confidently.
- Coach and advise Decision, Investigation, Appeal and Line Managers on how to carry out investigations and make decisions in discipline, grievance, and performance management cases.
- Engage in the review, development and implementation of Employment Policies and support any associated impact to ways of working.
- Manage a volume of employment cases and act as an expert point of contact for the business including those cases that have progressed to an Employment Tribunal or Civil Service Appeal Board.
- Co-ordinate Employment Tribunal claims for the organisation and represent the organisation at Employment Tribunals where required.
- Identify people issues, work with business areas and HR colleagues on effective solutions, and provide expert advice to ensure accurate interpretation of policy and procedures.
- Co-ordinate and manage relevant Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations (TUPE) activity across the organisation.
- Effectively use the electronic case management system to log and progress all casework, handling sensitive data in accordance with organisational policies and GDPR regulations.
- Feed insights and observations to senior managers and business partners so they are able to influence strategic organisational change.
- Take a continuous improvement approach, in line with business need, to evolve the ER service and processes by which we operate.
- Participate in wider HR projects and activity across the People & Performance Division where required.
In this role will act as a subject matter expert, providing expert HR advice to managers on a range of people issues ensuring legal compliance, fairness and consistency. You will help to enable and empower managers to navigate complex people issues who will action within the business, you will achieve this through signposting to guidance/tools/resources and a coaching-style approach.
The successful candidate will lead and contribute to continuous improvement projects and help to evolve our ways of working in line with business need. You will represent the HR function in cross-functional working groups and contribute to business-wide projects.
You will also be an ambassador for the work of the Employment Relations team, ensuring effective communication and collaboration across the business. As and when required, you will provide support to the wider team including Policy and Pay and Reward.
Key Responsibilities
- Coach and advise managers on how to apply Employment Policies effectively, consistently and confidently.
- Coach and advise Decision, Investigation, Appeal and Line Managers on how to carry out investigations and make decisions in discipline, grievance, and performance management cases.
- Engage in the review, development and implementation of Employment Policies and support any associated impact to ways of working.
- Manage a volume of employment cases and act as an expert point of contact for the business including those cases that have progressed to an Employment Tribunal or Civil Service Appeal Board.
- Co-ordinate Employment Tribunal claims for the organisation and represent the organisation at Employment Tribunals where required.
- Identify people issues, work with business areas and HR colleagues on effective solutions, and provide expert advice to ensure accurate interpretation of policy and procedures.
- Co-ordinate and manage relevant Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations (TUPE) activity across the organisation.
- Effectively use the electronic case management system to log and progress all casework, handling sensitive data in accordance with organisational policies and GDPR regulations.
- Feed insights and observations to senior managers and business partners so they are able to influence strategic organisational change.
- Take a continuous improvement approach, in line with business need, to evolve the ER service and processes by which we operate.
- Participate in wider HR projects and activity across the People & Performance Division where required.
Person specification
Essential Criteria
- Policy and Legal Knowledge: Good understanding of employment and data protection legislation with experience in its practical application, and an awareness of future developments in people management best practice.
- Working with Others: Strong interpersonal, consultation and stakeholder management skills, with experience of collaborating with a range of colleagues/professions. Able to engage positively and build relationships to deliver successful outcomes, receive/respond to feedback, accept challenge, but also stand ground where necessary.
- Delivery and Organisation: The ability to apply attention to detail across a varied workload whilst also seeing the bigger picture. Strong organisational and planning skills, with the ability to set goals, work to tight deadlines and prioritise own work, and the work of others.
- Problem Solving and Judgement: A curious, proactive and practical approach to resolving issues and continuous improvement, with the confidence to seek advice and support when needed.
- Communication and Influence: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to advise, coach and influence, as well as articulate messages in a clear and concise way for a varied audience and purpose.
- Professional Development and Expertise: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Level 5 qualified and Associate membership of CIPD, with relevant experience of successfully working in a progressive, complex and diverse HR environment.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Changing and Improving
- Managing a Quality Service
- Communicating and Influencing
- Seeing the Big Picture
Alongside your salary of £34,075, Office for National Statistics contributes £9,871 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.
Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that our careers site will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture.
Inclusion & Accessibility
At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.
As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.
If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.
ONS are committed to flexible ways of working that support a healthy work-life balance. ONS has already considered how this job could be right sized for applicants working flexibly and we are happy to explore options with you about working part time, in a job share or flexibly, in line with our hybrid working policies.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
For ONS the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.
If you are unsure that you meet the eligibility above, please read the information available on Gov.uk on this link, or contact the recruitment email on the advert before applying to discuss, as failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected and any offer of employment being withdrawn.
At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:
- Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
- UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
- Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
- Security Services records
Artificial intelligence (AI) software such as ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and Gemini are powerful tools that can create and review text in ways that mimic what people can do. These tools can help you enhance your application and prepare for the process, but it is essential you use them appropriately.
They must also not be used to provide misleading or false information at any stage of the application journey.
It is also important to understand that while AI can help you prepare for an interview, you must not use it to produce responses during an interview.
For full guidance in relation to the use of AI through the recruitment process, please click here.
Application Process
Number of Stages: 2 stage process
Stage 1: Application
Stage 2: Interview
Stage 1 – Application
The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your work history, skills, experience, CV, and answers to the below questions. It is important that your application is tailored to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the role.
Answers to the following questions should be no more than 500 words per answer:
- Can you share an example of a time when you coached a colleague or line manager in interpreting and applying an employment policy in an effective, consistent, and confident way?
- How have you applied employment law to address a challenge facing the organisation and reduce its associated risks?
Please note that Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage of the application process.
In instances where a high number of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted, and candidates will be invited to interview based on merit order, i.e., those with the highest scores.
Stage 2 – Interview
If invited to interview, you will be assessed using techniques aligned with the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, covering all behaviours listed in the job advert. You will be asked to complete an in-tray exercise which will be provided on the day of the interview and candidates will be allocated time to prepare.
Interviews will be held online via Microsoft Teams.
A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made.
Sift - w/c 6th October 2025
Interviews - w/c 20th October 2025
Dates are subject to change.
For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachment. Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
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 security 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.
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 security 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.
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 the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
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 :
Recruitment team
Further information
If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact
[email protected]. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission
