Advisory Lawyer – Central Legal Services

his 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role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected, and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

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

When thinking about what drives you every day in your job, what keeps you motivated and passionate about your work what comes to mind?  For 3000+ people at the CQC we end each day knowing that we have made a difference to the lives of those most in need in our communities.  We make sure health and social care services provide people with safe, effective, compassionate, high-quality care and encourage care services to improve.  We are looking for people who are caring, demonstrate integrity and work well as part of a team to join with us and share in this sense of achievement.  If you would like to help us make a positive impact to health and social care within England, then read on.

Why this could be a great role for you….

We are looking for an advisory lawyer to provide robust, responsive legal advice and support to CQC.

In the Central Legal Services (CLS) team responsibilities will include advising our policy colleagues and others on the change to or creation of policy on matters which effect all matters relating to CQC’s statutory framework. You will be advising and supporting on all general matters which come into the team from across the organisation. These will primarily be public law matters, legislative interpretation, financial matters, registration guidance and consultation. The work is fast paced and often involves liaising with many different people across the organisation from policy to finance to editorial and parliamentary engagement.

You will be responsible for developing strong relations with colleagues throughout the organisation and with external stakeholders, using your experience and knowledge to shape legal solutions.

What you will bring…

You will be a qualified Solicitor, Barrister or CILEx Fellow with either 2+ years post qualification experience or newly qualified with proven substantial experience providing legal advice in a public law advisory setting.
Your key skills will include:

Teamwork, and communication to build and maintain relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders at all levels.

An eye for detail whilst looking at the bigger picture, the ability to analyse risk and benefit within a fast-paced environment and the ability to reassess priorities on a continual basis.

Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written, Decision- making and Reasoning.

Adaptability and ability to advise and present complex legal information clearly and accessibly.

For an informal discussion or further information on the role, please contact Mel Rayner, Senior Lawyer at Melanie.Rayner@cqc.org.uk  

Accountabilities:

Provide legal advice across CQC as required in line with established quality and service standards. 

Providing coaching, support, supervision and line management (as required) to Legal Officers / Legal Trainees and Paralegals.

With involvement and/or support from Legal Managers and Senior Lawyers as appropriate, undertake complex casework and policy development work.

Undertake any contentious work, including pre-action protocol matters as required. 

Build strong relations with CQC colleagues and leaders in order to champion, prioritise and embed appropriate legal advice. Able to work as part of a multidisciplinary group.

Support the Legal Managers, Senior Lawyers and wider legal team to deliver directorate objectives, and provide an excellent legal service to CQC, including the delivery of training and legal awareness.

Identify legal issues and risks, and escalate them to Senior Lawyers or Legal Managers, as appropriate. 

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. 

Essential Skills and Experience:

Qualified Solicitor, Barrister, or Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, entitled to practice in England and Wales with 2 years post-qualification experience; or a newly qualified Solicitor, Barrister or Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal    

Executives with proven substantial experience providing legal advice in a health and social care regulation setting.

Established history of managing caseloads, advising on legal matters including policy creation and development.

Experience of advising on consultation matters.

Experience of advising on Public Law matters or an understanding of public law principles.

Able to present complex information in an easily understood, accessible format.

Strong communication and presentation skills and the ability to secure and maintain the confidence of a range of CQC stakeholders.

Able to analyse risk and benefit within a fast-paced environment, and to reassess priorities on a continual basis.

Ability to support and develop colleagues.

Effective networker and relationship builder.

Good working knowledge of IT systems including Microsoft Office packages (Teams, Outlook, Word, Powerpoint, Excel). 

What we can offer you…

Your health and wellbeing are important to us and are supported through generous annual leave (starting at 27 days and rising with service to 32.5days, plus 8 Bank Holidays), a cycle to work scheme, discounted gym vouchers and access to a free employee assistance service 24 hours a day. We also understand the importance of financial health and offer membership of the NHS pension scheme, contributing about 14% of basic salary. You will also be able to access discounts to supermarkets, high street stores, electronics, fleet cars, plus we also have an internal reward scheme which could see you earn yourself a voucher or two! All of our Homeworkers are also kitted out with everything they need to comfortably work from home.

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.  

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.

Job contact :

• Name : Recruitment Team
• Email : recruitment@cqc.org.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@cqc.org.uk