Important

You can’t apply for this appointment

The application deadline has passed or the appointment has been closed for applications.

Appointment details

Commissioners, Equality and Human Rights Commission

Summary

• Organisation: Equality and Human Rights Commission
• Sponsor department: Cabinet Office
• Location: Various
• Sectors: Public Administration
• Skills: Audit and Risk, Communication, Legal, Regulation
• Number of vacancies: 2
• Time commitment: 2 day(s) per month
• Remuneration: £400 per day
• Length of term: 4 years
• Application deadline: 4pm on 14 February 2024

Share this page

The following links open in a new tab

Timeline for this appointment

1. Opening date

   17 January 2024

2. Application deadline

   4pm on 14 February 2024

3. Sifting date

   8 March 2024

4. Interviews expected to end on

   28 March 2024

Timeline dates are only an estimate and can change

About the appointment

Introduction from the Minister

Thank you for your interest in becoming a Commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. 

The EHRC is an independent body responsible for promoting and enforcing the laws that protect fairness, dignity and respect. It contributes to making and keeping Britain a fair society in which everyone, regardless of background, has an equal opportunity to fulfil their potential. The EHRC uses its unique powers to challenge discrimination, promote equality of opportunity and protect human rights.

This website will tell you more about the purpose of the Commission and the nature of a Commissioner’s role.

Applications are welcomed from as diverse a range of applicants and mix of backgrounds as possible. We seek candidates with a practical mind-set, energy, insight and the ability to operate strategically. 

You should have a good track record of driving progress on equality and the credibility to challenge others. If you believe you have the experience and qualities we are seeking, we very much look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you again for your interest in this role and for taking the time to read through this advert. If you have the skills and experiences we are seeking, I hope you will apply.

The Rt. Hon. Kemi Badenoch MP

Minister for Women and Equalities

Appointment description

The Minister for Women and Equalities wishes to appoint at least two Commissioners to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

These appointments fulfil the requirements of the Equality Act 2006, that there must be between 10 and 15 EHRC Commissioners.

The roles and responsibilities of EHRC Commissioners are set out in the Commission’s Governance Manual

Commissioners are responsible for:

• Working with the Chair and Chief Executive to set the strategic direction of the EHRC;
• Scrutinising the EHRC’s performance, and supporting the Chair in holding the Chief Executive to account;
• Complying at all times with the Cabinet Office’s Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies (2011) and the EHRC’s Code of Conduct and Conflicts of Interest guidance (Part 4 of the EHRC’s Governance Framework).

Public Appointments to the EHRC are normally for 4 years dependent on the requirements of the Board. 

Organisation description

The EHRC is Great Britain’s national equality body and has been awarded an ‘A’ status as a National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) by the United Nations. Its role is to help make Britain fairer and it achieves this by safeguarding and enforcing the laws that protect people’s rights to fairness, dignity and respect.

As a statutory non-departmental public body established by the Equality Act 2006, the EHRC operates independently. It has a unique role in enforcing anti-discrimination law and helping individuals who are bringing claims of discrimination, harassment or victimisation under the Act. It aims to be a centre of excellence for evidence, analysis and equality and human rights law and an essential point of contact for policy makers, public bodies and business.

The EHRC uses its unique powers to challenge discrimination, promote equality of opportunity and protect human rights.

For further information about the Commission, please visit its website at www.equalityhumanrights.com

Board composition

The Board of Commissioners is the highest level decision-making body in the organisation, responsible for the strategic oversight of the Commission.

The current Board Members are listed below and biographical information for each Board Member can be found on the EHRC’s website.

• Baroness Kishwer Falkner (Chair)

• Dr Lesley Sawers OBE (Interim Deputy Chair and Scotland Commissioner)

• Cath Denholm (Interim Chief Executive)

• Jessica Butcher MBE

• Joanne Cash

• David Goodhart

• Alasdair Henderson

• Kunle Olulode MBE

• Akua Reindorf KC

• Su-Mei Thompson

The Board has a strategic oversight role. It does not directly manage the Commission’s operations, but delegates that role to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Commission’s staff. It holds the CEO and the staff to account by monitoring performance against the Commission’s strategic priorities and ensuring that resources are being used to good effect.

Further information on the EHRC and its activities, including its most recent annual report, can be found on the EHRC’s website.

Location

The Commission has offices in London, Manchester, Cardiff and Glasgow. Board meeting locations may vary, and so some travel may be required. The Commission supports flexible working practices. As a national organisation, video conferencing is available for day-to-day communication. It will be at the Board’s discretion to decide member working patterns.

Regulation of appointment

This post is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. For more information, please refer to the Commissioner’s website 

Person specification

Essential criteria

• The ability to work collaboratively, including the ability to bring a practical mind-set to discussions and the credibility to effectively challenge others; 
• The ability to build constructive relationships and influence at the highest level, and to act as an ambassador for the Commission, working with key stakeholders and promoting the organisation’s role and aims to the public and a wide range of partners;
• The ability to provide strategic, knowledgeable, impartial and balanced perspectives on a range of sensitive and complex issues and the ability to contribute to the development of strategic priorities, weighing up competing arguments capable of justification under close scrutiny;
• A commitment to and knowledge or experience of equality and human rights;
• An understanding of the context in which the Commission operates and knowledge of conditions across Great Britain;
• High standards of integrity, and commitment to public service values.

Applicants will be assessed against these criteria in their application and any subsequent interview.

For this post, a person cannot be appointed as a Board Member if he or she is employed in the civil service of the state, has unspent criminal convictions, or is subject to bankruptcy or disqualification as a company director. There must be no employment restrictions, or limits on your permitted stay in the UK.

Deputy Chair

Once Commissioner appointments have been made, the Minister will appoint a Deputy Chair from among current or newly-appointed EHRC Commissioners. This appointment fulfils the requirement of the Equality Act 2006, that one or more Commissioners shall be appointed as a Deputy Chair.

Please indicate in your covering letter if you would like to be considered as Deputy Chair.  

The Deputy Chair should:

• Work closely with the Chair and Chief Executive to form a leadership team by assisting the Chair in creating a cohesive and effective Board;
• Stand in for the Chair, when required, including presiding over meetings of the Commission;
• Support the Chair by forging good relationships with Ministers, the private, public and voluntary sectors, to enable a wide range of views to be taken into account in Board decisions;
• Assist the Chair in the formulation of the Board’s strategy for discharging the EHRC’s statutory duties and delivering its functions, including consultation on its strategic plan;
• Uphold good governance practice and support the development of a realistic, timely and fully costed annual business plan with clear success indicators and measure the organisation’s performance against it;
• Act at all times in accordance with the values of the EHRC, the Cabinet Office Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies and the Seven Principles of Public Life set out by the Committee on Standards in Public Life.    

Application and selection process

How to apply

In order to apply you will need to create an account or sign in.

Once you are logged into your account, click on 'apply for this role' and follow the on-screen instructions. To apply, all candidates are required to provide:

• a Curriculum Vitae (CV)
• a supporting statement
• equality information
• information relating to any outside interests or reputational issues

We will ask you to check and confirm your personal details to ensure your application is accurate.

You will also have the opportunity to make a reasonable adjustment request or apply under the disability confident scheme before you submit your application.

Overview of the application process

Public appointments are made on merit following a fair and open competition process which is conducted in accordance with the Governance Code for Public Appointments. We will deal with your application as quickly as possible and will keep you informed at key stages. We aim to conclude the appointment process within three months of the deadline for applications – this is in accordance with the Governance Code.

The assessment process

1. Ministers are responsible and accountable to Parliament for the public appointments made within their department. As a result, they must be consulted at every stage of the appointments process.

2. An Advisory Assessment Panel (“Panel”) is appointed by Ministers to assist them in their decision making. The role of the Panel is to decide, objectively, which candidates meet the eligibility criteria for the role.

3. At the shortlisting meeting the Panel will assess applications against the eligibility criteria and decide which candidates have best met the criteria, who should be recommended for interview. Ministers will then be consulted on the Panel’s recommended shortlist. If you have applied under the Disability Confident Scheme and you meet all the essential criteria, then you will also be invited for an interview.

4.  Once the shortlist has been agreed by Ministers, you will be advised by email whether you have been shortlisted. Those shortlisted will be invited to an interview.

5. The Panel will meet again to interview candidates and determine who is appointable to the role. The Panel may invite you to make a brief presentation at the start of the interview and will go on to question you about your skills and experience, including asking specific questions to assess whether you meet the criteria set out for the post. The Panel will also explore with you any potential conflicts of interest or any other issues arising from your personal and professional history which may impact on an appointment decision.

6. Details of the panel’s assessment of interviewed candidates are provided to Ministers, including whether they have judged a candidate to be appointable to the role. It is then for Ministers to determine merit and decide who should be appointed. In some circumstances, Ministers may choose not to appoint any candidates and re-run the competition

7. Ministers may choose to meet with candidates before deciding the outcome. Candidates should therefore be prepared for a short time gap between interview and a final appointment decision being made. Candidates who have been interviewed will be kept informed of progress.

8. Once the decision on the appointment has been made, interviewed candidates will be advised of the outcome of their application, including whom they may approach for feedback. Successful candidates will be issued with their Terms & Conditions and a letter of appointment should they agree to take up the position.

Further information about appointments, including tips on applying, can be found on our guidance pages on gov.uk.

Advisory Assessment Panel (AAP)

The Advisory Assessment Panel will consist of:

• Panel Chair: Baroness Kishwer Falkner, Chair of EHRC

• Departmental representative: Marcus Bell, Cabinet Office Director

• Independent Panel Member: Keith Fraser, Chair of the Youth Justice Board

Advisory Assessment Panels (AAP) are chosen by ministers to assist them in their decision-making. These include a departmental official and an independent member. For competitions recruiting non-executive members of a board (apart from the Chair), the panel will usually include a representative from the public body concerned.

AAP’s perform a number of functions, including agreeing an assessment strategy with ministers, undertaking sifting, carrying out interviews in line with the advertised criteria and deciding objectively who meets the published selection criteria for the role before recommending to ministers which candidates they find appointable. It is then for the minister to decide who to appoint to the role.

Eligibility criteria

In general, you should have the right to work in the UK to be eligible to apply for a public appointment.

There are a small number of specialist roles that are not open to non-British citizens. Any nationality requirements will be specified in the vacancy details.

The Government expects all holders of public office to work to the highest personal and professional standards. 

You cannot be considered for a public appointment if:

• you are disqualified from acting as a company director  (under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986);

• have an unspent conviction on your criminal record;

• your estate has been sequestrated in Scotland or you enter into a debt arrangement programme under Part 1 of the Debt Arrangement and Attachment (Scotland) Act 2002 (asp 17) as the debtor or have, under Scots law, granted a trust deed for creditors.

When you apply, you should declare if:

• you are, or have been, bankrupt or you have made an arrangement with a creditor at any point, including the dates of this. 

• you are subject to a current police investigation.

You must inform the sponsor department if, during the application process, your circumstances change in respect of any of the above points. 

When you apply you should also declare any relevant interests, highlighting any that you think may call into question your ability to properly discharge the responsibilities of the role you are applying for. You should also declare any other matters which may mean you may not be able to meet the requirements of the Code of Conduct of Board Members (see Outside interests and reputational issues section below)

If you need further advice, please contact: EHRC.publicappointments@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Security clearance

The successful candidate may be required to undertake Baseline Personnel Security Standard checks in line with the Civil Service guidelines. Additional Security Clearance may also be required for certain roles. However, where this applies, candidates will be notified during the appointment process. Further information on National Security Vetting can be found on the Gov.uk website here.

Additional information for candidates

Equality and diversity

We encourage applications from talented individuals from all backgrounds and across the whole of the United Kingdom. Boards of public bodies are most effective when they reflect the diversity of views of the society they serve and this is an important part of the Government’s levelling up agenda.

We collect data about applicants’ characteristics and backgrounds, including information about people’s educational and professional backgrounds, so that we can make sure we are attracting a broad range of people to these roles and that our selection processes are fair for everyone. Without this information, it is difficult to see if our outreach is working, if the application process is having an unfair impact on certain groups and whether changes are making a positive difference.

When you submit your application, your responses are collected by the Cabinet Office and the government department(s) managing your application. The data is used to produce management information about the diversity of applicants. You can select “prefer not to say” to any question you do not wish to answer. The information you provide will not be seen by the Advisory Assessment Panel who review applications against the advertised criteria and conduct interviews.

Disability confident

We are a member of the Government’s Disability Confident scheme. We use the Disability Confident scheme symbol, along with other like-minded employers, to show our commitment to good practice in employing people with a disability. The scheme helps recruit and retain disabled people. 

As part of implementing the scheme, we guarantee an interview for anyone with a disability whose application meets the essential criteria for the role, set out in the advert, and who has asked that their application is considered under the scheme. Indicating that you wish your application to be considered under the scheme will in no way prejudice your application. By ‘minimum criteria,’ we mean that you must provide evidence which demonstrates that you meet the level of competence required under each of the essential criteria, as set out in the job-advert.

When you apply you will have the opportunity to select if you would like your application considered to be under this scheme.

It is important to note that if we receive a higher volume of applications that far exceeds the number of those expected then we may need to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered. This will include the number of interviews offered to Disability Confident candidates that meet the minimum criteria for the role.

Reasonable adjustments

We are committed to making reasonable adjustments to make sure applicants with disabilities, physical or mental health conditions, or other needs are not substantially disadvantaged when applying for public appointments. This can include changing the recruitment process to enable people who wish to apply to do so.

Some examples of common changes are:

• ensuring that application forms are available in different or accessible formats;
• making adaptations to interview locations;
• allowing candidates to present their skills and experience in a different way;
• giving additional detailed information on the selection / interview process in advance to allow candidates time to prepare themselves;
• allowing support workers, for example sign language interpreters;
• making provision for support animals to attend.

When you apply you will have the opportunity to request reasonable adjustments to the application process.

Principles of public life

Holders of public office are expected to adhere to and uphold the Seven Principles of Public Life. These are:

1. Selflessness - Holders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest.
2. Integrity - Holders of public office must avoid placing themselves under any obligation to people or organisations that might try inappropriately to influence them in their work. They should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends. They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.
3. Objectivity - Holders of public office must act and take decisions impartially, fairly and on merit, using the best evidence and without discrimination or bias.
4. Accountability - Holders of public office are accountable to the public for their decisions and actions and must submit themselves to the scrutiny necessary to ensure this.
5. Openness - Holders of public office should act and take decisions in an open and transparent manner. Information should not be withheld from the public unless there are clear and lawful reasons for so doing.
6. Honesty - Holders of public office should be truthful.
7. Leadership - Holders of public office should exhibit these principles in their own behaviour and treat others with respect. They should actively promote and robustly support the principles and challenge poor behaviour wherever it occurs.

Code of conduct for board members

The Government expects all holders of public office to work to the highest personal and professional standards. In support of this, all non-executive board members of UK public bodies must abide by the principles set out in the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies. The Code sets out the standards expected from those who serve on the boards of UK public bodies and will form part of your terms and conditions of appointment.

Management of outside interests and consideration of reputational issues

Holders of public office are expected to adhere to and uphold the Seven Principles of Public Life and the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies. Before you apply you should consider carefully: 

• any outside interests that you may have, such as shares you may hold in a company providing services to government; 
• any possible reputational issues arising from your past actions or public statements that you have made; 
• and/or - any political roles you hold or political campaigns you have supported; 

which may call into question your ability to do the role you are applying for.

You will need to answer relevant questions in relation to these points when making an application. Many conflicts of interest can be satisfactorily resolved and declaring a potential conflict does not prevent you from being interviewed. If you are shortlisted for an interview, the panel will discuss any potential conflicts with you during that interview, including any proposals you may have to mitigate them and record that in their advice to ministers. Alongside your own declaration, we will conduct appropriate checks, as part of which we will consider anything in the public domain related to your conduct or professional capacity. This may include searches of previous public statements and social media, blogs or any other publicly available information. The successful candidate(s) may be required to give up any conflicting interests and their other business and financial interests may be published in line with organisational policies. 

Details of declared political activity will be published when the appointment is announced, as required by the Governance Code (political activity is not a bar to appointment, but must be declared).

Status of appointment

As this is an office holder appointment, you will not become a member of the Civil Service. You will not be subject to the provisions of employment law.

Appointment and tenure of office

Appointments are for the term set out in this advert, with the possibility of re-appointment for a further term, at the discretion of Ministers.  Any re-appointment is subject to satisfactory annual appraisals of performance during the first term in the post. There is no automatic presumption of reappointment; each case should be considered on its own merits, taking into account a number of factors including, but not restricted to, the diversity of the current board and its balance of skills and experience. In most cases, the total time served in post will not exceed more than two terms or ten years in any one post. 

Remuneration, allowances and abatement

Remuneration for this role is treated as employment income and will be subject to tax and National Insurance contributions, both of which will be deducted at source under PAYE before you are paid. 

You can claim reimbursement for reasonable travel and subsistence costs which are properly and necessarily incurred on official business, in line with the travel and subsistence policy and rates for the organisation to which you are applying. However these payments are taxable as earnings and will be subject to tax and national insurance, both of which will be deducted at source under PAYE before you are paid. 

Pension and redundancy

This is an office holder appointment and does not attract any benefits under any Civil Service Pension Scheme. You will not be eligible for redundancy pay as you are not an employee. No other arrangements have been made for compensation upon the end of your term of appointment because an office holder who is appointed for a limited duration would have no expectation of serving beyond that period.

Application feedback

We will notify you of the status of your application. We regret that we are only able to offer detailed feedback to candidates who have been unsuccessful at the interview stage.

How to complain

We aim to process all applications as quickly as possible and to treat all applicants with courtesy.

Please contact the public appointments team in the first instance if you would like to make a complaint regarding your application at EHRC.publicappointments@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. They will acknowledge your complaint upon receipt and respond within 15 working days.

How to complain to Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA)

If you are not content with the appointing department’s response you may wish to further complain to the Commissioner at publicappointments@csc.gov.uk.Further information on how the Commissioner handles complaints can be found on the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ website https://publicappointmentscommissioner.independent.gov.uk/regulating-appointments/investigating-complaints/

Data protection

The Cabinet Office will use your data in line with our privacy policy.

The Commissioners, Equality and Human Rights Commission will use your data in line with their public appointments privacy policy.

Contact details

If you need further advice, please contact additional information EHRC.publicappointments@cabinetoffice.gov.uk