Senior Case Manager – HR Casework Service

Job summary

IMPORTANT - This vacancy is using the Civil Service Numerical and Verbal tests. The deadline for completing the tests is the same as the vacancy closing date. Please ensure you complete the tests with sufficient time to complete the written application.

We are building an in-house HR Casework Service which will provide high‑quality, consistent, pragmatic and timely support and advice to managers across a wide range of employee relations matters. This is a key role within a growing team, helping to deliver a “single front door” for casework and improving how we manage performance, attendance, conduct and workplace issues.

This is a high-impact, leadership role, where, as a senior casework specialist, team leader, and trusted adviser, you will manage complex employee relations casework and manage a team of HEO Case Managers. Working closely with senior leaders and HR Business Partners (HRBPs) you will act as a bridge between policy and practice, delivering a high-quality, consistent and insight-driven casework service, while building line manager capability across the organisation.

Job description

Responsibilities will include:

Casework Leadership & Delivery

• Act as the primary point of contact for line managers, providing expert HR advice on a broad range of complex and sensitive employee relations cases, including performance, discipline, grievance, conduct, and attendance management and guiding them through formal processes to enable cases to be progressed efficiently to conclusion.
• Maintain end-to-end oversight of cases, ensuring quality, consistency, alignment with policy, departmental risk appetite and timeliness
• Handle escalated and high-risk cases, including senior stakeholder engagement and escalations.

Line Management

• Line manage a team of HEO Case Managers, setting clear objectives, priorities and performance expectations.
• Allocate and oversee caseloads, ensuring effective workload management across the team, maintaining service standards and delivery against SLAs.
• Develop the capability and confidence of the team, Identifying capability gaps and implementing development plans to strengthen team performance.
• Undertake quality assurance of casework outputs to ensure consistency and compliance

Stakeholder Engagement & HRBP Partnership

• Work closely with HR Business Partners aligned to allocated groups to:
• Collaborate with HR Business Partners and senior leaders to:
• Act as a trusted adviser to Directors and senior stakeholders, ensuring advice reflects business context and organisational priorities.

Coaching & Capability Building

• Coach line managers to build confidence and capability in managing people issues, reinforcing that managers retain ownership of decisions.
• Promote early intervention approaches, including informal resolution, mediation and preventative action.

Data, Insight & Continuous Improvement

• Analyse casework data to identify patterns, risks and organisational trends (“hotspots”).
• Work with HRBPs and senior leaders to translate insight into targeted interventions and improvement activity.
• Identify opportunities to simplify processes, improve consistency of advice and enhance service delivery.
• Support development of MI, reporting and performance metrics to drive service improvement.

Governance & Service Delivery

• Contribute to case governance arrangements, including case reviews and escalation routes.
• Ensure adherence to policy, legal requirements, SLAs and quality standards.
• Support the delivery of a “single front door” casework model, ensuring clarity and accountability for stakeholders.

Person specification

Essential Skills Criteria:

• Strong knowledge of employee relations policy and practice and significant experience managing complex employee relations casework.
• Ability to interpret and apply policy in complex or sensitive situations, analysing evidence, assessing risk and making sound recommendations.
• Proven ability to build relationships and deliver challenging messages to influence leaders while maintaining credibility.
• Ability to lead, support and inspire others to deliver high-quality outcomes and contribute to an inclusive, high-performing team.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deliver at pace.

We welcome applications from candidates seeking part time or compressed working pattern. However, due to the nature of the work and the shift coverage required, the minimum number of contracted hours for this role is 30 hours per week over a 4 day period.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £44,305, Department for Education contributes

£12,835 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).

Applicants currently holding a permanent post in the Civil Service should note that, if successful, their salary on appointment would be determined by the Department’s transfer / promotion policies.

As a member of the DfE, you will be entitled to join the highly competitive Civil Service Pension Scheme, which many experts agree is one of the most generous in the UK.

You will have 25 days leave, increasing by 1 day every year to a maximum of 30 days after five years’ service. In addition, all staff receive the King’s Birthday privilege holiday and 8 days’ bank and public holidays.

We offer flexible working arrangements, such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.

Most DfE employees will be working a hybrid pattern, spending at least 60% of their time in an office or work setting. Changes to these working arrangements are available in exceptional circumstances but must be agreed with the line manager and in line with the requirements of the role.

Travel to your primary office location will not be paid for by DfE, but costs for travel to an office which is not your main location will be covered.

As an organisation, which exists to support education and lifelong learning, we offer our staff excellent professional development opportunities.

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

To apply for this role, please select 'Apply Now' at the top or bottom of this advert. CV details need to be included in the template within the application form; attached or emailed CVs will not be considered.

Stage 1: Civil Service Numerical Test (CSNT)

When you have completed your personal information, you will be asked to complete the CSNT. You must achieve the minimum pass mark to progress to the next stage.

Stage 2: Civil Service Verbal Test (CSVT)

When you have completed the CSNT, you will be asked to complete the CSVT. You must achieve the minimum pass mark to progress to the next stage.

It is important you allow enough time to complete the test online (within 24-48 hours is recommended), and obtain the results before you can complete your full application online prior to the test closing date and time.

Do not leave completing the tests until the last minute in case you experience any access or technical issues. There may not be technical support available after business hours.

While the tests should work on most operating systems and modern browsers with a good internet connection, we cannot guarantee that every combination will work. At the beginning, the test will check which browser you are using, and alert you if it is likely to be incompatible.

It is highly recommended that you complete the online tests on a desktop computer, not a mobile phone or tablet.

If candidates require reasonable adjustments during the application process, or online test process, please allow sufficient time (at least 5 working days prior to the closing date) to allow us to review and progress your application to the next stage of the process.

Please note that there is no candidate support available from Friday 5pm until Monday 9am.

If you are unsuccessful in passing the online tests you will be unable to continue any further in the application process. If you successfully pass the tests, you will then progress to stage 3 of completing the full application.

Stage 3: Written Application

At sift stage, you will be assessed on your Experience in line with the essential criteria listed in the person specification section of the job advert.

To apply for this role, please provide:

• A Short CV setting out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role.
• Your Statement of Suitability – In no more than 750 words, provide examples of how your personal skills, qualities and experience meet the essential criteria. This is not intended to be a cover letter, instead work through each essential criteria in turn. You may wish to follow the STAR technique to help focus your examples. The key things we are looking for are what you did, how you did it and what the outcome was.

To confirm, the maximum word count for the statement of suitability is 750 words . Please adhere to this limit as anything over 750 words will not be taken into account.

The CV and Statement of Suitability will be assessed against the essential criteria detailed in the advert.

When looking at your experience, we’re looking for examples of things you have previously achieved or your knowledge in a particular field, which are relevant to the job role. We’re not looking at how much time you spent in a particular field, but rather how you performed. Sometimes experience can be transferable from a non-work context. Skills gained through voluntary work or a hobby, such as teamwork or communication, can demonstrate the experience required for the role.

The sift will be restricted to just assessing personal statements in the event of a large volume of applications.

We reserve the right to increase the minimum pass mark for the CSNT and CSVT where there is a high volume of applications or a particularly strong field of candidates. Where this occurs, candidates who do not meet the revised pass mark will not progress further, and their written application will not be assessed.

Please note, CV details must be contained within the template on the application form. Any CV or Statement of Suitability that has been emailed to our team will not be considered.

Once you have submitted your application it cannot be amended; only submit your application when you have completely finished, answered all the relevant questions and reviewed the information entered.

Application sifting will take place w/c 28 September 2026. Please note these dates are subject to change.

If you are successful at application sift stage, your application will be progressed onto Stage 4 part of the Selection process.

Stage 4: Assessment/Interview

The interview will be a 2-part process:

Part 1: Candidates invited to interview will also undertake an assessment at the start of the interview. This will involve reviewing a technical scenario and preparing a response for the interview panel. Further details will be provided to candidates on the day of the interview.

Part 2: The interview will last approximately 1 hour. You will be asked questions on the Essential criteria listed above to determine your level of experience in these areas.

Experience is the knowledge or mastery of an activity or subject by involvement in or exposure to it. When loo