Compliance Officer - Scotland

Equality and Human Rights Commission

Location Glasgow, G2 7JD. With occasional travel to other locations to meet business needs.
Salary £38,990.64 (pending a pay award for 2022/23)
Team Regulatory Network
  • Closing: 12:00am, 9th Oct 2022 BST

Job Description

About us

We are Britain’s national equality regulator and a United Nations accredited ‘A status’ national human rights institution.

We uphold people’s rights without fear or favour. We use the full force of our legal powers to defend people from unfair or unequal treatment and to challenge breaches of the law. We advise on developing laws and provide guidance, training and support to enable compliance.

We bring people together to create change. We work with employers, governments and a wide range of organisations, to promote understanding of equality and human rights and we support them to make improvements in practice.

Our new strategy for 2022-25 gives us a strong platform to show that we will use our powers to protect and promote equality and human rights, and that we have identified the main challenges in society where we can make a difference in our role as a regulator.

Overview of the role and responsibilities

Working as a Senior Associate at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, you will contribute to and/or lead work in support of the delivery of our Business Plan. Our Senior Associates have many opportunities for autonomy and responsibility and are able to work effectively across the Commission, contributing to the success of our projects and/or specialist areas of work. Working flexibly and collaboratively, you will be a self-starter who requires minimal supervision and oversight from senior colleagues. You will continue to hone your judgement and professional/technical skills, taking pride in your work and supporting/developing others.

The role requires understanding of the Scottish policy and political environment and wider environment in which the Commission operates as well as knowledge of equality and/or human rights legislation, including the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED).

You will need to fulfil this role in a way that is in keeping with our values of fairness, dignity and respect, and display a high degree of flexibility, accountability and initiative.

You will:

  • Engage with internal and external stakeholders to identify the factors which are holding back progress on equality issues

  • Support the development of a regulatory hub and compliance work across GB

  • Analyse information and evidence, identify key elements, and make credible recommendations for action

  • Design and deliver targeted interventions under our relevant priority aims to ensure organisations have the knowledge and tools they need to comply with equality and human rights law, including the PSED

  • Communicate complex concepts and advice into accessible, user-friendly language and / or documents to promote compliance by external stakeholders. This may include events, roundtables and meetings or via written communications such as guidance, training materials, toolkits and blogs

  • Contribute to formal inquiries and gather evidence of national practice

  • Work to ensure effective three nations working across the regulatory function

  • Plan and organise your own work and support the performance and development of your team.

Team Responsibilities

The Scotland Compliance team is responsible for:

  • Identifying the barriers to/examples of good practice in compliance with the Equality Act; and

  • Using that information to inform nation appropriate interventions which will equip duty-bearers to comply with the law, individuals to enforce their rights and regulators, inspectorates and ombudsmen to drive improved compliance through their own work.

  • Conducting formal inquiries to gather evidence of practice and compliance with the Equality Act across a sector.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

The role requires a good understanding of compliance in relation to equality and human rights in Scotland and across GB. You will need to build strong relationships with internal and  external stakeholders be able to demonstrate good planning and organisational skills, impartiality and professionalism, resilience and the ability to prioritise and deliver at pace while working on different projects simultaneously. You will need to have the confidence to engage at senior levels as well as the ability to persuade and influence to improve compliance and drive change.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience required include:

Essential

  • An understanding of equality and/or human rights legislation, including the PSED

  • An understanding of the barriers to compliance with equality and human rights legislation in a Scottish context

  • An ability to analyse and evaluate information and evidence, identify key points, draw conclusions, and test solutions

  • Good planning and organisational skills and ability to prioritise work and deliver at pace

  • Good communication skills with the ability to produce and present work of a high standard, tailored to the needs of different audiences

  • Experience of building strong relationships with stakeholders, including those at senior levels, with a demonstrable track record of influencing change and improvement

  • Experience of delivering impactful projects and identifying and managing risk

  • Experience of working on cross-functional teams

Desirable

  • Experience of working on inquiries and / or compliance interventions

Benefits

In addition to a competitive salary, we offer a range of benefits including flexible working patterns, 30 days annual leave plus 8 bank holidays (full time FTE), access to the Civil Service Pension Scheme and partnership pension schemes, and enhanced parental leave benefits. More information can be found in the candidate pack.

How to apply

If this sounds like the role for you, please review the attached Candidate Pack or more information and submit your application today!

If you have any questions, please contact Bill Stevenson, Head of Complaince, bill.stevenson@equalityhumanrights.com or 0141 228 5982.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is an accredited Disability Confident Leader and operates a Guaranteed Interview Scheme (GIS) for candidates with a disability.

Should you wish to apply under our Guaranteed Interview Scheme or request a reasonable adjustment, please indicate this in your application.  

If you require an alternative accessible version of the application form or wish to discuss your application or reasonable adjustment  – please contact us by email at recruitment@equalityhumanrights.com or by telephone on 0161 829 8100.

Diversity in our workforce

At the Commission, we are proud of our respectful workplace that values the contribution of all our staff, whatever their background.  We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment. Our recruitment decisions are based on fair, open competition, with appointment on merit. We welcome applications from everyone to ensure we achieve a balanced representation in our workforce in all grades.

Removing bias from the hiring process

Applications closed Sat 8th Oct 2022

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Removing bias from the hiring process

  • Your application will be anonymously reviewed by our hiring team to ensure fairness
  • You won't need a CV to apply to this job

Applications closed Sat 8th Oct 2022