Senior People Advisor - North West based in Liverpool

The Senior People Advisor provides high‐quality, professional HR support to managers and colleagues across the business. The role is responsible for leading on complex employee relations casework, providing expert advice, and ensuring policies and procedures are applied consistently. The postholder will be a trusted partner ensuring delivery of people practices by our managers through documentation, the timely progression, and resolution aligned with legal and policy frameworks. Our Senior People Advisors will work closely with our People Advisors to deliver an effective HR Business Partnering model that is focused on a proactive approach and solution to support management teams and staff.

Key Accountabilities and Responsibilities

• Manage a portfolio of more complex or sensitive cases, absence management, capability processes and restructures requiring more senior involvement providing hands-on support to managers.
• Act as the escalation point for People Advisors, providing expert guidance on complex or high‐risk cases including disciplinary, grievance, performance, capability, probation, and attendance.
• Lead case management meetings with Heads of Operations.
• Provide expert advice and support to managers at all stages of formal processes, ensuring compliance with employment legislation and organisational policy.
• Support the development of People Advisors by mentoring and sharing best practice to strengthen their confidence and capability.
• Review case documentation for quality, accuracy, and compliance, providing feedback and coaching to managers and People Advisors.
• Prepare briefings for appeal chairs and ensure paperwork is complete and accurate.
• Act as HR representative in hearings and appeals, giving balanced guidance and advising on risk.
• Support restructures, TUPE, role changes, and organisational reviews.
• Draft consultation documents, prepare selection tools, and support meaningful consultation with affected colleagues.
• Support early resolution of issues by coaching managers and promoting effective, legally compliant people management.
• Support the HR Advisors with case management.
• Support HR cyclical tasks with the team.
• Support the work with the People Culture Specialists to develop delivery plans and strategies to improve the competence and knowledge of our operational managers in the early resolution of employee relation issues.
• Work within organisational frameworks, escalating risks appropriately.
• Maintain accurate HR records, ensuring GDPR compliance.
• Contribute to policy updates based on case learning and legislative changes.

Skills and Knowledge

• Strong working knowledge of employment legislation and its application in day‐to‐day casework.
• Significant experience managing complex ER casework from investigation to conclusion.
• Understanding of people policies, procedures and HR governance frameworks.
• Understanding of safeguarding responsibilities and organisational compliance expectations.
• Advanced case management skills with the ability to assess risk, provide high‐quality advice and coach others on consistent policy application.
• High level communication skills, able to confidently support managers and guide People Advisors on sensitive or complex matters.
• Analytical skills, able to assess information, identify issues, and make informed recommendations.
• Strong organisational skills, able to prioritise workload, monitor case progress and ensure delivery against SLAs.
• Ability to build effective working relationships with managers, colleagues and external stakeholders.

Values and Attitudes

• Empathetic approach.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to get things done in co‐operation with others, and as part of a team.
• Personal qualities including enthusiasm, tenacity, flexibility, patience, and a positive, solution‐focused outlook.
• The ability to relate to and understand the needs of staff and the emotional resilience to deal with difficult and distressing situations.
• Ability to work under pressure at times and effective at working to deadlines.
• Ability to work independently and to use own initiative with appropriate discretion.

Experience

• At least 3 years' experience of working as a HR professional in an advisory capacity, handling high‐risk / complex ER cases.
• Significant experience providing HR advisory support across a range of employee relations issues including disciplinary, grievance, attendance, capability, probation and investigations.
• Proven ability to manage complex, high‐risk, or sensitive people matters with professionalism and sound judgement.
• Demonstrated ability to handle confidential and sensitive information with discretion and integrity.
• Experience supporting or coordinating organisational change activities.
• Experience producing accurate reports, letters and case documentation for internal and external use.

Qualifications and Training

• CIPD Level 5 (or equivalent experience) with a commitment to continuous professional development.

Other

• Full driving licence, and ability to travel to AFG sites across the Northwest.

We're Alternative Futures Group, a health and social care charity providing specialist support for people with a learning disability or mental health condition. We're proud to have been positively changing lives and enabling people to achieve amazing outcomes for over 30 years. We have a vision to create a world where amazing people do amazing things every day. Our skilled and experienced teams work with every person we support to create personalised, outcome‐focused plans to achieve their aspirations. As a 'values based' employer, the people that work for us genuinely care about the people they support, and we are seeking likeminded people to join our team. If you are passionate about working in Health and Social Care and have a real desire to make a positive difference to the lives of the people we support then we would love to hear from you. At AFG we also recognise the contribution and value that our staff make. We would not be able to provide the life changing support that we do without people like you! In return for your contribution we will support you throughout your career and we provide a wide range of employee benefits, career development and lifestyle support services to ensure that you too feel supported, fulfilled and valued from day one of your employment with us.