Employee Relations; ER) Lead

We're looking for an experienced and proactive Employee Relations Lead to join our People and Culture Team
. This is an exciting opportunity for a confident HR professional with strong employee relations expertise who enjoys coaching managers, influencing best practice and driving continuous improvement.

At Cartrefi
, we're dedicated to supporting people with learning disabilities and their families across Wales, helping people live fulfilled and enriched lives in their communities.

As our Employee Relations Lead
, you'll play a key role in creating a positive colleague experience and supporting managers to confidently and effectively manage employee relations. Your expertise will help ensure fair, consistent and legally compliant practice across Cartrefi, enabling our colleagues to make #Everyday Remarkable for the people we support.

Role: Employee Relations Lead
Location: Cardiff, covering the full Cartrefi geography, with hybrid working available
Hours: 37 hours per week
Salary: £39,000 – £40,000 per annum
Contract: Permanent

As our Employee Relations Lead, you'll be the lead point of contact and subject matter expert for Employee Relations
, providing specialist advice and guidance to managers and senior stakeholders across the organisation.

You'll proactively manage and oversee ER cases, ensuring they progress effectively, consistently and in line with employment legislation and best practice. You'll also use ER data and insights to identify trends, improve processes and support the ongoing development of our People Strategy.

You will:

• Provide expert advice and guidance on complex employee relations matters, including disciplinary, grievance, capability and absence management.
• Coach and support People Managers and Senior Managers through complex HR cases, helping them build confidence and capability.
• Oversee the volume and distribution of ER cases, ensuring workloads are managed effectively and cases are progressed in a timely manner.
• Keep up to date with employment legislation and ensure HR policies and procedures reflect current best practice.
• Review and develop HR policies and procedures, particularly in relation to Employee Relations.
• Produce and analyse regular ER reports and metrics, identifying trends and opportunities for improvement.
• Support managers through organisational change, including service redesign, reorganisation and consultation processes.
• Work closely with Learning & Development to identify and deliver opportunities to strengthen managers' HR knowledge and skills.
• Lead and manage the ER workload across the HR Advisory and Administration team.
• Contribute to People Strategy projects and use ER insights to help shape future People initiatives.
• Work collaboratively across the People Team to ensure effective HR processes and compliance.

We're looking for someone who combines strong technical HR knowledge with excellent judgement, communication and relationship-building skills. You'll be confident working with complex and sensitive situations, influencing stakeholders at all levels and providing practical, solutions-focused advice.

You'll bring:

• CIPD Level 5 qualification or equivalent.
• Experience delivering an effective HR service within a high-volume Employee Relations environment.
• Strong generalist HR experience, including disciplinary, grievance, absence management and capability processes.
• Thorough knowledge of current UK employment legislation.
• Experience developing and implementing HR policies and procedures.
• Experience developing, analysing and reporting HR and ER data.
• Strong organisational, planning and prioritisation skills.
• Excellent communication, influencing and stakeholder management skills.
• The ability to exercise sound professional judgement and make informed decisions using available information and data.
• A proactive, self-motivated approach with a passion for continuous improvement.
• Experience leading and managing a team.

• Experience working within the Not-for-Profit sector.
• Experience of TUPE.
• Experience supporting organisational change, service redesign or reorganisation.
• Experience contributing to HR or People Strategy projects.

You'll be a people-focused and results-driven HR professional who can build credibility and trust at every level of the organisation. You'll enjoy working collaboratively, developing others and finding practical ways to improve the colleague experience.

Most importantly, you'll share our commitment to Honesty, Trust,…