About us

We are the Equality and Human Rights Commission. We are Great Britain’s national equality body and a United Nations accredited National Human Rights Institution. We were established by the Equality Act 2006 and our role is to protect and promote equality and human rights across England, Scotland and Wales. As a statutory non-departmental public body, we are funded by HM Treasury via the Cabinet Office, but we operate independently of governments.

We pride ourselves on being a flexible and inclusive employer. We celebrate difference, embrace diversity and support all our people to thrive at work. If this sounds interesting - apply to join us!

Our Vacancy

We are now looking for three people to join our Policy team, who share our values of fairness, dignity and respect and can help us achieve our goals.

The Policy team drives high-impact engagement with Government and Parliament across our strategic priorities. We provide expert advice to Government and Parliament on the equality and human rights implications of laws and proposed laws and policy. This includes engaging with Government consultations and parliamentary processes, preparing briefings for debates and providing evidence to select committees. The Policy team works closely with the Commission’s Stakeholder Engagement team to ensure our external profile is coherent and effective, and supports engagement with Government to maximise the impact of our Compliance, Human Rights Monitoring, and Enforcement work.

Key Responsibilities

Senior Associates support the development of strategies to achieve our aims, deliver key projects, engage our stakeholders including in Government and Parliament, and prepare high quality advice and briefings for Government and Parliament. The current roles will be working on our strategic aims to: uphold and strengthen our equality and human rights laws; ensure equal access to and fair treatment in the labour market; or protect the rights of people in detention and other institutional settings. We are currently in the final year of our 2019-22 Strategic Plan and some of the successful candidates may move to different policy areas from April 2022.

You will focus on:

• Working with colleagues across the Commission and engaging our external stakeholders to develop our plans and achieve our strategic aims

• Developing and maintaining expert knowledge of a number of policy areas to inform the work of the Commission

• Developing and agreeing policy positions and preparing submissions to advise Government and Parliament and achieve progress in line with our strategic aims.

*Please note - this an overview of the role and is not exhaustive list of the all the great things you will be involved in.

What we are looking for

You will be assessed against our core skills (Leadership, Delivery Management and Stakeholder Engagement) and the knowledge, skills and experience required for the role in the application form. Please provide evidence and examples from your work history or other aspects of your life to demonstrate how you meet the criteria required. Full criteria details can be found in the candidate pack.

Please complete the online application before midnight on the closing date. No applications will be accepted after the closing time. We use an online application system called Applied to receive and process job applications. Applied is fully GDPR compliant and rated highly in terms of accessibility (usable for the majority of candidates with or without disabilities). However, alternative accessible versions of the application form are available upon request – please contact us by email at recruitment@equalityhumanrights.com if required.

At application, we will ask you 4-5 core skills questions. Your answers will enable us to assess your suitability for the role and will help us decide whether to invite you to the next stage of the process. Please note however - if there is a high volume of applicants, an initial sift may take place on the core skill of leadership and knowledge skills and experience. If this takes place this means the recruiting panel will only screen the outlined core skill question and you may not receive feedback on your full application.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

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 Link for more information and submit your application today!

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 inclusive workplace where we celebrate difference, value everyone’s contribution and where people of all backgrounds can thrive.  We do not accept discrimination or harassment, and all our recruitment decisions are based on fair and open competition, with appointment on merit. We are committed to further growing our workplace by making sure that the talent pipelines for our most senior roles are as diverse and inclusive as they can be. We welcome applications from everyone and encourage disabled people and people from an ethnic minority background to apply. This is to ensure we are taking positive action in order to achieve our legitimate aim of a balanced representation in our workforce at senior grades.