Deputy Directors - NHS Workforce Directorate

The people who work in the NHS are critical to ensuring good access to high quality care for patients. Their pay, pensions and terms and conditions are key factors in recruiting and retaining staff and motivating them to ensure we have the right mix of people with the rights skills both for now and in the future. As the new Government develops a new ten year plan for the NHS, getting workforce policy right to deliver that plan will be central to the Department's work in delivering the Government's Health Mission. Both these roles involve close partnership working - with NHS England, with employers in the NHS and with the trades unions who represent staff. So collaborative working and the ability to build strong relationships with stakeholders inside and outside Government will be key to both. We are seeking inclusive leaders, who will support the team, the Directorate and the Group corporately and model departmental and civil service behaviours. The successful candidate will lead a diverse team across our two main sites in London and Leeds, and would be expected to work out of one of those sites. Applications from candidates in Leeds would be particularly welcome, as the Directorate maintains a strong presence there. DHSC are seeking two Deputy Directors for the NHS Workforce Directorate, which is part of the Secondary Care and Integration Group. The NHS workforce is a complex, high-profile policy area with considerable interest from ministers and senior officials, the public and the media. It is at the heart of ensuring the NHS can deliver the services the country needs. The directorate includes the teams that lead on NHS pay, industrial relations, professional regulation and education and training as well as overall workforce strategy for the NHS. We work in close partnership with our colleagues in NHS England. These postholders will lead on the following areas of work, but across the Workforce Directorate there are also a range of strategic projects in play to respond to the new administration's policy agenda, and there will be scope to shape these additional elements around the successful applicants. As a Deputy Director you will ensure the team plays its part in ensuring DHSC operates as a great department of state, supporting Ministers to fulfil their parliamentary and wider responsibilities. You will also be a senior leader within the workforce directorate and will take an active role in ensuring the directorate is a positive and inclusive place to work. Role 1 - NHS Industrial Relations and NHS Pay This is a high-profile area of work with considerable Ministerial interest. The team is responsible for Agenda for Change (a wide-ranging group of c1.3m non-medical NHS staff), three medical contracts (Consultants, Resident (formerly Junior) Doctors, and SAS doctors) and Very Senior Managers. The paybills total c.£70bn pa, 46% of the NHS Budget. The team of 14 combines technical expertise with strong generalist policy skills and political nous to deliver across an often-demanding portfolio. The team led on recent negotiations with unions representing NHS staff in the context of a series of unprecedented disputes in the NHS. The focus is on delivering those deals and supporting sustainable pay setting in a challenging fiscal context. Key Responsibilities Responsibilities include:

• Setting overarching strategy for pay and industrial relations, balancing political, financial and policy considerations;
• Leading on DHSC's input to and response to the annual pay review body (PRB) process, ensuring high-quality, accurate written and oral evidence for the PRB, and advising Ministers on high-profile annual decisions on pay uplifts which align with the overarching strategy;
• Building collaborative relationships with HMT and DHSC's finance team, given the scale of the public spending impact;
• Leading DHSC's engagement with NHS trade unions, working closely with the GP team and other Workforce teams;
• Leading on the terms and conditions for Agenda for Change staff, hospital doctors and very senior managers in the NHS, including updating them through negotiations when necessary. For example, the team will work with NHS employers and trade unions to make adjustments to Agenda for Change pay scales in due course, following a recommendation from the NHS pay review body; and
• Managing the NHS Employers contract: a c £10m pa commercial contract representing employers across the NHS in England, and providing employment services support within the NHS.
This role requires building and maintaining close, collaborative relationships with national stakeholders in NHS Employers, NHS England, HMT Treasury, Cabinet Office, Number 10 and the Office for Manpower Economics, as well as NHS trade unions.,
• Policy development - considering issues about the design of the NHS pension scheme, whether it needs to be refined or reformed, and advising ministers on the implications of the government's wider approach to pensions and tax impacts on members of the NHS Scheme.
• Project delivery - you will act as SRO and oversee the work in your team and the NHS Business Services Authority to implement the McCloud Remedy, which impacts on all public sector pension schemes;
• Case work - as deputy director, you decide on requests from employers to be able to access the NHS Pension Scheme for their staff, and the team also supports ministers to consider cases where forfeiture of an NHS pension might be appropriate.
  
  Leading policy development and delivery relating to NHS Pensions. This is a team of 11 people. The work they do is far reaching - the NHS Pension Scheme is the largest in Europe with around 1.8 million active members, c800,000 deferred members, and over a million pensioner members. The team's work is an unusual mix of