Senior Equality, Health Inequalities and Human Rights Officer

Grade B: £37,694 (National Framework) or £42,863 (London Framework – if you are London office based or homebased and live within the boundary of the M25) – There is also an additional homeworking allowance of £529 per annum for those working from home.

Contracted Hours: Full time 37 hours per week or Part time, minimum 28 hours per week. Job share may be considered

Contract Type: Fixed Term/Secondment opportunity until 31st March 2024

Location: This role is home based

Closing Date: Monday 20th February 2023 at 11.59pm

Potential Interview Date: (via Teams): Friday 3rd March 2023

This role is NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points based system. Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

For an informal discussion or further information about this role please contact Hiring Manager – Helyn Aris, Interim Equality, Health Inequalities and Human Rights Manager: Helyn.aris@cqc.org.uk

Are you committed to helping us regulate health and social care within England?

Why this could be a great role for you….
When we need health and care services, we all want and expect high quality, care. However, not everyone has equal access, experience and outcomes. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated existing inequalities and brought unprecedented challenges. As we develop our new regulatory approach and new health and care reforms come into force, there is a unique opportunity for CQC to use our regulatory powers to achieve better health and care for all.
This is a unique opportunity for someone with a strong commitment to improving equality, tackling inequalities and protecting human rights for people using services to work as part of our influential organization.
As a member of the Equality, Health Inequalities and Human Rights team in our Policy and Strategy unit, you will be supporting delivery of CQC’s strategic ambitions. You will have the opportunity to help support the development of important regulatory projects, meeting both our Equality Objectives and our Public Sector Equality Duty (Equality Act 2010) all within the context of a human rights based approach. You will have strong values, be a confident communicator with an ability to support strategic and policy work in CQC.

What you will bring…
If you have a strong commitment to tackling inequalities and promoting human rights and the right skill set then we want to hear from you.
You will have an ambition to be an agent for change to improve health and care for everyone – especially for those who need us the most to uphold their rights as a regulator. You will support equality work on health inequalities and human rights implications and also deliver against opportunities in our regulatory development work – across all equality characteristics and all health and care settings and in relation to health inequalities in local communities and workforce equality in the organisations that we regulate.
You will be well organized, a keen problem solver and adept at working in a strategic environment. You will be confident in collaborating on projects across the organisation whilst working alongside colleagues in our supportive team. You will have very strong skills in partnership working with CQC colleagues and external stakeholders. You will be friendly approachable and curious to learn more.

What we can offer you...
Your health and wellbeing are important to us and are supported through our benefits scheme

• 27 days’ annual leave, rising with service to 32.5 days, plus 8 Bank Holidays
• NHS pension scheme, with around a 14% employer contribution
• Free employee assistance service 24 hours a day
• Discounts to supermarkets, high street stores, electronics and fleet cars
• Discounted gym vouchers
• Cycle to work scheme
• Internal reward scheme where you could earn yourself a voucher or two!
• Equipment for homeworking

We want to make working for CQC a great experience for everyone, and to role model a diverse and representative culture. To support an inclusive environment where colleagues feel empowered to bring their whole self to work, we support a variety of staff networks, including the Race Equality Network, LGBT+ Equality Network, Carers Equality Network, Disability Equality Network and Gender Equality network.

We want to support you to succeed and be your very best with opportunities for training and development; along with the support of experienced managers and mentors.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Accountabilities:
Collaborate with the Equality, Health Inequalities and Human Rights (EHIHR Manager) to develop specific work and policy areas, which helps sets the strategic direction of CQC in relation to equality, health inequalities and human rights, both within the organisation and the wider external environment.
Analyse the implications of external legislative, policy and other drivers in relation to CQC’s equality, health inequalities and human rights priorities and strategy
Provide guidance to CQC to ensure equality, health inequalities and human rights priorities are appropriately covered in CQC strategy and policy
Development of specific work programmes which enable delivery of equality, health inequalities and human rights priorities in regulation, for example intelligence, methods and learning and development
Developmentof regulatory policies, methods and external and internal guidance which enables CQC to promote equality and human rights and tackle health inequalities effectively in our work, drawing on internal and external expertise - ensuring that milestones are met and regular updates are provided
Provide advice, assistance and quality assurance of products and outputs from other teams, to ensure that equality, health inequalities and human rights is appropriately embedded across CQC work.
Support EHIHR Manager in managing statutory duties relating to equality and human rights
Support EHIHR Manager in developing and embedding culture change relating to equality and human rights in CQC
Ensure that policies, methods and guidance meet the needs of operational delivery by working closely with operational teams and leads and other key internal partners
Engage staff across CQC in the development of equality, health inequalities and human rights strategy, so that they feel ownership of the strategy
Ensure that CQC has effective relationships with external stakeholders around equality, health inequalities and human rights and is working in partnership with them where appropriate, developing materials to support external co-production and formal consultation where required
Ensure that the views of people using services contribute to the formation of equality, health inequalities and human rights strategy andassociated products.
Provide advice and guidance in response to internal and external queries on anyequality, health inequalities and human rights matters.
Undertake Evaluation and impact assessmentof CQC work to promote equality and human rights and tackle health inequalities
Contribute to effective team working within the Policy and Strategy Unit

Essential Skills and Experience:
Experience of having worked withinan equality and or human rights function.
Experience of developing Equality, health inequalities and human rights materials for a range of audiences,
Experience of taking a structured approach to problem solving in a policy context
Experience of analysing the impact of legislation and policy and delivering policy projects
Experience of developing and delivering clear policy proposals, recommendations and guidance for wider implementation by operational teams
Experience in working with cultural change
Knowledge of the health and/or social care sector
Specialist knowledge of equality and human rights legislation and policy
Proven ability to proactively manage and maintain effective relationships with external and internal stakeholders. Highly developed verbal and written communication skills and influencing skills.
High level of planning, organisation and time management skills.
Experience of working collaboratively in a team to deliver projects
Have the appropriate knowledge, skills and experience to actively promote diversity and equality of opportunity, treat everyone with dignity and respect and avoid unlawful discrimination

Desirable
Knowledge and understanding of the development of regulatory frameworks and methods and their implementation
Experience of project management
Experience of evaluation/quality improvement techniques

Please note some roles may be subject to a satisfactory DBS check

We are committed to being open and transparent around our processes and we endeavour to offer every candidate the opportunity to perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. We seek to support candidates to identify potential challenges and work with them to identify and facilitate reasonable adjustments as appropriate. Should you require assistance and/or would like to request a reasonable adjustment at any stage of the recruitment process, please contact a member of the team via email: recruitment@cqc.org.uk

Note for external candidates:
CQC are currently working through an organisational transformation programme which includes the creation of a new target operating model. This role is offered as a fixed term contract as part of the transition process to that new model. For further information on this please visit https://www.cqc.org.uk/about-us/jobs/information-applicants

CQC is committed to promoting a fair and inclusive workplace where all our people can flourish and reach their full potential. We know diverse teams allow for a more creative and productive environment and therefore encourage applications from everyone regardless of: age, gender/sex, gender identity or expression, religion or belief, disability, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

Our Values

Excellence – Meeting our challenge to be a high-performing organisation
Caring – Treating everyone with dignity and respect
Integrity – Demonstrating our passion for ‘doing the right thing’
Teamwork – Enabling us to be the best we can