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 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 in the litigation and advisory team in our Legal Directorate, you will provide specialist technical expertise and advice on equality and human rights law. You will be working as part of a team who provide legal advice and support to other teams on complex issues across the Commission. This work includes providing advice on new and emerging human rights and equality issues, UN treaty monitoring, parliamentary work, responses to consultations, inquiries, and guidance. You may also lead or work with others on cutting-edge litigation and interventions across a range of appellate courts often on untested and grey areas of equality and human rights law.

You will:

• Be the legal lead on one or more key areas of the Commission’s work.

• Provide expert and authoritative advice on complex and novel issues of equality and human rights law including making recommendations to support the Commission in its decision making.

• Represent the Commission with external stakeholders, including government and those we regulate.

• Conduct litigation and/or regulatory work.

• Manage case budgets and resource in relation to funding provided by the Commission to ensure both value for money and that work remains within budget.

• Supervise and/or line manage others in the legal team as required.

• Work collaboratively as a team player both within the legal team and on cross Commission projects.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

The full list of Knowledge, Skills and Experience required for the role can be found in the Candidate Pack.

Benefits

In return you can expect to receive a competitive salary, 30 days annual leave plus bank holidays (full time FTE) and access to the Civil Service Pension Scheme and partnership pension schemes.

We will provide investment in your career, giving you access to Civil Service Learning, our peer learning programme, specialist training and mentoring.  

We offer a range of family friendly benefits, such as enhanced parental leave, flexible working including non-contractual hybrid working.

You will also have access to our wellbeing offering, including our employee assistance programme, mental health first aiders, health checks, discount gym membership and retail discounts, cycle to work scheme and other salary sacrifice options. In addition, we have a range of staff networks and social groups.

How to apply

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

If you encounter any problems with Applied or have a question about the recruitment process, please contact Becky Roberts, HR & Recruitment Officer, Becky.Roberts@equalityhumanrights.com  

Disability Confident Leader

As a Disability Confident Leader, the Equality and Human Rights Commission offers an interview for people with disabilities (as defined by the Equality Act 2010 and The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004) and who meet the minimum criteria for this appointment.

Where high numbers of applications are received, the candidates that best meet the minimum criteria for the role may only be invited to interview. If you wish to apply for consideration under this scheme, please complete the appropriate section on the online application form. This will enable us to make the appropriate arrangements, if necessary.

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 Becky.Roberts@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.