The Health and Care Professions Council is a UK-wide regulator, committed to delivering high quality, efficient regulation in order to protect the public.  We regulate 15 professions, including paramedics, radiographers, occupational therapists, and biomedical scientists.

HCPC’s vision is to be a high performing, adaptable and caring regulator that ensures public protection through strong, evidence-based regulation. Our purpose is to promote excellence in the professions we regulate and champion high-quality care that the public can access safely and with confidence.

We have as one of our goals to build a resilient, healthy, capable and sustainable organisation and therefore, the HCPC is full of talented and committed people with a shared purpose of protecting the public. And while we’re all unique, we share something in common. It’s the values by which we live and work: Fair, Compassionate, Inclusive, Enterprising.

About the Fitness to Practise Department

The Department consists of six case management teams that receive and investigate concerns about Registrants’ fitness to practise and protection of title offences, and the HCPC Tribunal Service (HCPTS), which is the adjudication service of the HCPC. We employ around 130 people, who are collectively responsible for the delivery of the HCPC’s fitness to practise and adjudication work. We manage an open caseload of approximately 1,900 fitness to practise cases.

Fitness to practise, in this context, describes the process we use to investigate concerns that are raised about our Registrants’ conduct, competence, health or character. You can learn more about the process here.

About the role

This is an exciting time to be joining the team, as we are changing the way we deliver fitness to practise so that we are ready for regulatory reform. This includes developing a more front-loaded approach to our investigations by obtaining final witness statements, expert opinions and reports before the case is considered by our Investigating Committee. Last year we adopted this way of working with our external legal providers, but we now want to build our capability and capacity to do this in-house. Our focus is on delivering better quality and more timely investigations, with, with our ambition to be a compassionate regulator at the centre of what we do.

You will join us at time when we deliver a programme to embed sustainable improvements to the way we work, establish a learning and development culture, and cultivate a human centred approach to regulation. Our priority for the coming year is to deliver a new operating model for our fitness to practice process so that we are ready for regulatory reform. This means gathering all the required evidence, such as witness statements and expert reports, earlier in the investigation process.

We are recruiting Fitness to Practise Case Management Lawyers to form our new legal team and lead the delivery of this new investigating model. You will play a central part in developing and establishing our new investigation approach. You will share with others your sound knowledge of professional regulation, investigations, rules of evidence and disclosure.

Your role will be to:

• Work as part of a legal team and wider FtP department to ensure the HCPC conducts timely, quality, proportionate and fair investigations.
• Plan, investigate and prepare fitness to practise investigation to our quality and timeliness standards. Determine the evidence required accurately and proportionately.
• Lead on the development of key policies and guidance that develop our case investigation approach, including the development of a front-loaded investigation approach.
• Analyse information and make sound, evidence-based decisions on the progression or conclusion of cases, ensuring any changes in risk are quickly identified as the case progresses and develops.
• Build good relationships and work constructively with relevant internal and external stakeholders to ensure that cases are proactively progressed in line with policies, guidance and key performance indicators.
• Ensure that you adopt a compassionate approach to the regulation of our professions by adapting your communication method and frequency and using a compassionate tone when communicating with parties to a case.

You will be a strong team player with the ability to coach and support colleagues as they begin to front-load their investigations. You will have experience of practising within professional regulation or other regulatory environments and hold a current practising certificate.

Further information on this role is detailed in the job description and person specification.

Find the Job Description here

Closing Date: 19 February 2024 (All vacancies will close at 1pm)

Interview Date: From 4 March 2024

HCPC’s vision is to be recognised as an actively anti-discriminatory organisation that upholds and promotes best practice in equality, diversity and inclusion and an active ally for change. We are a Disability Confident employer and aspire to have a diverse and inclusive workplace and strongly encourage suitably qualified applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply and join the HCPC. We will make reasonable adjustments and adaptations to ensure the recruitment process is inclusive and barrier-free and will offer an interview to disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria for the role. If you would like to have a confidential discussion on how we can support you, please contact recruitment@hcpc-uk.org.

Our values underpin what we do and how we do it, to help us operate to high standards and effectively as a regulator and employer. In addition to the core competencies for this role, we will also assess you against our values during the selection process: Please refer to the HCPC Values and Behavioural Framework.