Job Title HR Manager
Department Human Resources
Reports to Finance Manager / Director
Location Office Working (option of 1 day a week working from home)
Guardian House. Capricorn Park. Blakewater Road. Blackburn BB1 5QR
Hours Full-time (37.5 hours per week)
Salary £38,000.00
Job Purpose
The HR Manager is responsible for leading and delivering a comprehensive, professional, and legally compliant Human Resources service across Children's Social Care and Independent Fostering Agency. The role ensures the organisation attracts, develops, and retains a skilled workforce capable of delivering outstanding outcomes for children, young people, foster families, and staff.
Working closely with senior leaders, managers, and regulatory bodies, the HR Manager will oversee all aspects of employee relations, recruitment, workforce planning, safeguarding employment practices, learning and development, wellbeing, and organisational culture while ensuring compliance with UK employment legislation, fostering regulations, and relevant inspection standards.
Key Responsibilities
Strategic HR Leadership
- Full employee life cycle
- Support senior leadership with workforce planning and organisational development.
- Provide HR to Directors and Registered Managers.
- Produce reports for senior leadership.
- Monitor staff absence, disciplinary issues
- Lead change management and organisational improvement initiatives.
- Promote equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging throughout the organisation.
Recruitment & Safer Recruitment
Lead and oversee safer recruitment processes in accordance with:
- Keeping Children Safe in Education
- Children's Homes Regulations
- Fostering Services Regulations 2011
- UK employment legislation
- Safer Recruitment principles
Responsibilities include:
- Managing recruitment processes.
- Ensuring robust interview processes.
- Overseeing DBS and right-to-work checks.
- Verifying qualifications and employment history.
- Coordinating references.
- Supporting recruitment of:
- Social Workers
- Supervising Social Workers
- Children's Residential staff
- Support Workers
- Managers
- Foster Carers
- Administrative staff
- Senior Leaders
Employee Relations
Provide expert advice on:
- Disciplinary matters
- Grievance procedures
- Capability management
- Performance management
- Attendance management
- Flexible working
- Family leave
- Whistleblowing
- Redundancy
- TUPE
- Settlement agreements
Manage complex employee relations cases from start to conclusion.
Safeguarding Responsibilities
Ensure HR practices promote safeguarding by:
- Supporting safer recruitment.
- Ensuring mandatory safeguarding training compliance.
- Managing allegations against staff in partnership with safeguarding leads.
- Maintaining confidential personnel records.
- Ensuring appropriate escalation of safeguarding concerns.
Learning & Development
Develop and oversee organisational learning by:
- Identifying training needs.
- Managing induction programmes.
- Supporting apprenticeships.
- Coordinating mandatory training.
- Supporting leadership development.
- Maintaining training compliance records.
Promote continuous professional development across the workforce.
Compliance & Regulatory Standards
Ensure HR compliance with:
- Employment Rights Act
- Equality Act 2010
- Data Protection Act 2018
- UK GDPR
- Health & Safety legislation
- Working Time Regulations
- National Minimum Wage requirements
- Fostering Services Regulations 2011
- Children's Homes Regulations
- Ofsted requirements
- Safer Recruitment guidance
Support inspections by preparing workforce evidence and documentation.
HR Policies
Develop, review and implement policies including:
- Recruitment
- Safeguarding
- Equality & Diversity
- Disciplinary
- Grievance
- Capability
- Flexible Working
- Absence Management
- Wellbeing
- Menopause
- Domestic Abuse
- Whistleblowing
- Performance Management
Ensure policies remain legally compliant and reflect best practice.
Payroll & HR Administration
Work alongside Finance to ensure:
- Accurate payroll information.
- Contract administration.
- HR system management.
- Staff records.
- Annual leave records.
- Employment documentation.
- HR reporting.
Staff Wellbeing
Introduce employee benefit schemes
Lead initiatives that promote:
- Employee wellbeing
- Mental health awareness
- Staff engagement
- Retention
- Reward and recognition
- Positive organisational culture
Leadership Responsibilities
- Line manage HR staff where applicable.
- Coach and support managers.
- Deliver HR training.
- Promote professional standards across the organisation.
- Deputise for senior leaders where appropriate.
Person Specification
Essential Qualifications
- Relevant HR qualification or equivalent experience.
Desirable:
- CIPD Level qualification.
- Management qualification.
Essential Experience
- Significant HR management experience.
- Experience within children's social care, fostering, education, health or regulated care.
- Managing complex employee relations cases.
- Safer recruitment.
- Policy development.
- Employment law.
- Workforce planning.
- HR systems.
- Managing organisational change.
Desirable:
- Experience supporting Ofsted-regulated services.
- Experience within an Independent Fostering Agency.
- Experience supporting children's residential services.
Knowledge
Good understanding of:
- UK Employment Law
- Equality Act 2010
- Safeguarding principles
- Safer Recruitment
- HR best practice
- Employee wellbeing
- Performance management
- Data protection
- Children's Social Care workforce requirements
- Ofsted expectations
Skills
- Excellent communication skills.
- Strong leadership ability.
- Influencing and negotiation skills.
- Problem solving.
- Report writing.
- Organisational skills.
- IT literacy.
- Ability to manage confidential information.
Personal Attributes
The successful candidate will demonstrate:
- Integrity
- Professionalism
- Compassion
- Resilience
- Sound judgement
- Flexibility
- Commitment to safeguarding
- Commitment to continuous improvement
- Child-centred values
Safeguarding Statement
This organisation is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. The successful candidate will be required to undergo an enhanced DBS check with barred list checks where applicable, provide satisfactory references, and comply with all safer recruitment requirements.
Pay: £35,000.00-£38,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Casual dress
- Company pension
- Free parking
- On-site parking
- Sick pay
Work Location: In person
