Freedom To Speak Up Guardian

Homebased - Flexible, United Kingdom

Grade A - £55,172 (National) or £61,028 (London - for London office based or home-based workers within the boundary of the M25) – There is also an additional homeworking allowance of £600 per annum for those working from home.

Contracted Hours: Full time 37 hours per week

Contract Type: Permanent

Location: Homebased

Closing date: Wednesday 13 May 2026 at 11.59pm

Please Note: Candidates who were previously interviewed for this role in the recent internal recruitment campaign are not eligible to reapply.

Make a difference: Every role at CQC contributes to our mission. If you’re looking for a new role in the Chief Executive’s Office that gives a true sense of meaning and purpose, then you’ve found it. As a Freedom to Speak Up Guardian, you’ll help create a workplace where everyone feels safe to raise concerns, building a culture that supports learning, fairness and positive change across CQC.

Picture this: Imagine being the person colleagues turn to when they need a safe space to talk, helping them feel heard and supported while guiding leaders to learn and improve from what is shared. Each day brings chances to make speaking up easier and to shape a kinder, more open working culture.

As a Freedom to Speak Up Guardian in the Chief Executive’s Office, you might get the chance to work on:

• Designing new approaches that build psychological safety and help colleagues speak up, listen up and follow up well.
• Creating positive change by turning issues raised into learning and improvements that you share with senior leaders and the Board.

The role: You’ll work closely with others to deliver shared outcomes. In this role, you’ll:

• Lead our project for approval: In this post you will help deliver improvements in our approach to Freedom to Speak Up, including relaunching our Freedom to Speak Up process and working closely with our staff networks to ensure we create a safe space for all colleagues to raise concerns when needed.
• Promote safe speaking up: Build awareness of Freedom to Speak Up, offer clear advice and support to colleagues, and help remove barriers so people can raise concerns confidently.
• Use information to drive learning: Analyse themes from cases, prepare insights and case studies for leaders, and make practical recommendations that support improvement across CQC.
• Develop systems and good practice: Lead work to embed a strong governance framework, keep case management processes effective, and support FTSU Champions with the tools and training they need.

Show us: We will be looking for specific skills, knowledge and experience in your application form. Please clearly evidence:

• Experience supporting people with sensitive issues, including listening well, offering fair guidance and documenting information clearly.
• Experience working with senior leaders, such as presenting findings, giving advice, or influencing decisions in a way that supports positive change.
• Experience using information to improve practice, for example analysing themes, creating reports or helping shape new ways of working that support colleagues.

Compliance: To progress your application, you’ll need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK. Without valid right to work you won’t be eligible for the role. We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role. Some roles may also be subject to a satisfactory DBS check.

Next steps: If you apply, you’ll need to create a profile and complete an online application form. Your application will be completely anonymous. We contact every applicant to let them know the outcome of their application, so you will hear from us whether or not you are shortlisted.

The Benefits: We offer a wide range of benefits, including:

• Annual leave starting at 27 days per year, rising to 32.5 days with service, plus bank holidays (usually 8 days per year).
• Training and development opportunities.
• Wellbeing initiatives, such as gym discounts and meditation.
• NHS pension scheme, with around 14% employer contribution.
• Discount schemes (including eligibility for a Blue Light card, at a cost of £4.99 and valid for 2 years), reward vouchers, car leasing and more!

Please see our benefits page for the full list.

Equity for all: We know job descriptions can feel intimidating. Research shows they can cause some people to doubt whether they’re a good fit. This happens more often to people from underrepresented groups (e.g. ethnic minority backgrounds). If this role interests you, we encourage you to apply. Your unique perspective, skills, and experience could be exactly what we need. We want every candidate to feel supported and able to do their best. If you need adjustments to our process, we’ll work with you to remove any barriers.

We promote a workplace where fairness, respect and inclusion are a priority. Diverse teams make our work better, help us deliver our mission and make our culture stronger.

Values and vision: We are guided by our core values, which shape our work and our culture. Excellence – being a high-performing organisation. Caring – treating everyone with dignity and respect. Integrity – doing the right thing. Teamwork – learning from each other to be the best we can.

We are a disability confident employer and a carer confident employer.