Senior Health and Safety Business Partner

About the job

• Benefits
• Things you need to know
• Apply and further information

Location

Glasgow, Leeds, Sheffield, Blackpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne and Ty Taf

Please note that for candidates requesting to work in Newcastle, this role will be based at Benton Park View from September 2025, and then at 1 Pilgrim Place in Newcastle city centre by the end of 2027

For candidates requesting to work in Blackpool Peel Park, please note these roles will initially be based at Blackpool Peel Park and will then move to Blackpool Fylde View by April 2027

About the job

Job summary

This is a key and demanding leadership role within the People Safety Team, providing strategic and operational leadership across the Health & Safety function. As a Senior Health & Safety Business Partner (SHSBP), you will lead a team of Health & Safety Business Partners (HEO) and jointly lead the wider Operational Health & Safety Team, ensuring the department continues to meet its statutory, regulatory and corporate obligations while placing the health, safety and wellbeing of our people, customers and partners at the centre of decision-making.

You will play a pivotal role in shaping, implementing and continually improving the department's Health & Safety Management System (SMS), ensuring that policies, procedures and controls remain effective, proportionate and aligned to organisational priorities. Through your leadership, you will promote a positive safety culture where health and safety is understood as a shared responsibility and embedded into everyday business activities.

Working across a complex and diverse operational environment, you will provide expert professional advice and assurance to senior leaders, helping them understand risk, make informed decisions and deliver safe business outcomes. You will support the department's ambition to continuously improve its health and safety maturity by driving consistency, sharing best practice and identifying opportunities to strengthen capability across the organisation.

A key element of the role is leading and developing a high-performing team. You will provide clear direction, coaching and support, creating an inclusive environment where colleagues are empowered to contribute, develop and perform at their best. You will be responsible for setting priorities, overseeing delivery and ensuring that work is aligned to departmental objectives and delivered to a consistently high standard.

The role requires excellent stakeholder engagement skills and the ability to influence at all levels. You will work collaboratively with senior leaders, operational teams, specialist functions and Trade Union representatives to identify emerging risks, agree practical solutions and drive continuous improvement. You will also lead a specialist area of Health & Safety expertise, ensuring lessons learned, good practice and professional knowledge are shared effectively across the team and wider business.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced Health & Safety professional who is passionate about making a difference, leading others and helping create a safe, healthy and resilient working environment across the Department for Work and Pensions. Occasional travel and overnight stays will be required.

Job description

As a Senior Health & Safety Business Partner, you will:

• Lead and develop a team of Health & Safety Business Partners (HEO), providing inclusive leadership, professional guidance and effective performance management.
• Develop, implement and continuously improve the Health & Safety Management System, ensuring compliance with legislative requirements and recognised best practice.
• Promote a positive health and safety culture by embedding effective systems, processes and behaviours throughout the organisation.
• Provide expert, evidence-based advice to senior leaders and stakeholders on health and safety risks, controls and legal requirements.
• Support the development and implementation of strategies that improve organisational understanding of health and safety risks and proportionate risk management.
• Monitor and interpret Health & Safety performance data, identifying trends and opportunities for learning, improvement and informed decision-making.
• Lead or support investigations, audits and reviews, ensuring lessons learned are captured and shared effectively.
• Work collaboratively across business areas to identify emerging risks, understand operational change and implement effective mitigations.
• Drive continuous improvement by promoting innovation, sharing good practice and supporting organisational learning.
• Build and maintain effective relationships with Trade Union representatives and key stakeholders, fostering constructive engagement and collaborative problem-solving.
• Take ownership of a specialist Health & Safety lead area, acting as the subject matter expert and ensuring knowledge, guidance and best practice are shared across the wider function.
• Contribute to the development of departmental policies, procedures and standards, ensuring they remain relevant, practical and legally compliant.

This role requires occasional travel and overnight stays to support departmental priorities and stakeholder engagement.

Person specification

We are looking for an experienced Health & Safety professional with strong leadership skills and the ability to influence across a large and complex organisation.

Essential Criteria

• A Level 3 qualification in Occupational Health & Safety (for example, the NEBOSH General Certificate or equivalent). With a willingness to work towards obtaining a Level 6 qualification.
• Significant experience of delivering Health & Safety advice, guidance and assurance within a complex operational environment [LEAD CRITERIA]
• Experience of leading, developing and motivating teams to deliver high-quality outcomes, promoting an inclusive and supportive working culture.
• A sound understanding of Health & Safety legislation, risk management principles and the practical application of Health & Safety Management Systems.
• Experience of building effective relationships with a wide range of stakeholders and influencing decision-making at different organisational levels.
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to interpret management information, identify trends and use evidence to drive improvement.
• Experience of communicating complex Health & Safety information clearly and effectively to a range of audiences.
• Demonstrable experience of supporting continuous improvement initiatives and embedding learning from incidents, audits and reviews.
• Ability to prioritise competing demands, work at pace and deliver high-quality outcomes in a changing environment.
• Experience of managing challenging conversations professionally, constructively and with resilience.

Desirable Criteria

• Membership of a recognised professional body, such as IOSH, or working towards professional accreditation.
• Experience of developing health and safety policies, procedures or governance frameworks.
• Experience of leading specialist Health & Safety workstreams or organisational improvement programmes.
• Understanding of Health & Safety challenges associated with a geographically dispersed workforce and estate.

You will be a collaborative and credible leader who promotes high standards, inspires confidence and demonstrates sound professional judgement. You will be committed to creating safer workplaces, supporting operational delivery and enabling positive health and safety outcomes for colleagues, customers and partners.

Qualifications

A Level 3 qualification in Occupational Health & Safety (for example, the NEBOSH General Certificate or equivalent).

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £44,447, Department for Work and Pensions contributes

£12,876 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

DWP have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:

• Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
• Generous annual leave – at least 23 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro–rata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.
• Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.
• Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).
• Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year’s continuous service.
• Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.
• An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women’s Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

Written Sift:

A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. The CV is an on-line tool accessed through the Civil Service Jobsite and there is no requirement to upload your personal CV. Our CV element is short and allows an initial check of eligibility but is not scored so please put the main content of your evidence and skills in your Personal Statement.

A personal statement (maximum 1250 words), explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities, and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role against the essential criteria in the person specification.

If we receive a large number of applications, we will conduct an initial sift on the lead criteria:

LEAD CRITERIA

Significant experience of delivering Health & Safety advice, guidance and assurance within a complex operational environment.

If you pass the initial sift, you will be progressed to a full sift or directly to interview.

If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards.

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artifi