HR Assistant

Transformationunitgm; Oxford; On-site; GBP 27,000 - 31,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading healthcare organization is seeking an HR Assistant to provide essential support to the HR department. This full-time role is based in Oxford and offers a chance to gain hands-on experience while working closely with HR Advisors. The ideal candidate will possess strong communication skills and some HR knowledge or be a CIPD student. The organization promotes career progression, and benefits include 27 days annual leave, NHS discounts, and a competitive pension scheme.

Benefits

27 days annual leave plus bank holidays

NHS discounts

Competitive pension scheme

Cycle to work scheme

Qualifications

• Ability to produce high-quality notes and correspondence.
• Experience in HR Advisory or Enquiry Services.
• Capable of minute-taking in meetings.

Responsibilities

• Act as primary contact for HR queries via telephone and email.
• Assist with recruitment, onboarding, and contract changes.
• Contribute to specific HR initiatives or audits.

Skills

Excellent communication skills

Customer service experience

HR knowledge

Organizational skills

Education

Certificate in Human Resource Practice (CIPD foundation standard) or equivalent

Tools

Microsoft Access

HR databases

Job description

Main area HR Grade Band 4 Contract 10 months (Fixed term appointment initially) Hours Full time - 37.5 hours per week Job ref 267-CS7575587

Employer Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust Employer type NHS Site Littlemore Mental Health Centre - The White Building Town Oxford Salary £27,485 - £30,162 Per annum | pro rata Salary period Yearly Closing 03/02/2026 23:59

HR Assistant

Band 4

Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust has been rated as Good by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

We are a responsive and innovative Foundation Trust that places our values of Caring, Safe and Excellent at the heart of everything we do. We take great pride in our staff and believe that investing in you is key to us achieving our vision of outstanding care delivered by outstanding people.

We work with a wide range of partner organisations to deliver care and support to people in their own homes and from a number of hospitals and community bases. We focus on delivering care as close to home as possible for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset.

We actively support anti‑racism, equality, diversity, and inclusion so, if you’re excited about this job opportunity and you meet our Trust values, but feel unsure about applying, then please get in touch and we will be happy to have a conversation with you.

We are also committed to increasing diversity in the workforce, that is why we actively encourage applications from those groups of people who are currently under‑represented, which include amongst others: people with disabilities; men from all socio‑economic backgrounds; people from diverse ethnic backgrounds; and people from the LGBTQIA+ community.

Good luck and we hope to hear from you.

Job overview

An opportunity has arisen for a motivated HR Assistant to join our team of HR Advisors at Oxford Health Trust on a fixed‑term basis.

This is a fantastic chance to gain high‑volume, hands‑on experience within a busy HR environment. As the first point of contact for all HR queries, you will be the “face” of the department, providing essential support to our staff and helping the Advisor team deliver a seamless service across the Trust.

Your Impact

Your Impact
In this fixed‑term role, you will hit the ground running by:

• Managing Inquiries: Acting as the primary contact for telephone and email queries, providing consistent and accurate advice on HR policies.
• Supporting the Employee Lifecycle: Assisting Advisors with the administration of recruitment, onboarding, and contract changes.
• Systems Management: Ensuring employee data is handled with care and precision within our HRIS (Human Resources Information System).
• Ad‑Hoc Projects: Contributing to specific HR initiatives or audits occurring during your tenure.

Main duties of the job

We seek an excellent communicator with first‑hand customer facing experience. This would suit an individual who has some experience of HR and/or CIPD student willing to learn. The role will appeal equally to an individual at the outset of their HR career or a more experienced specialist adviser, wanting to gain a broad knowledge and experience of all HR disciplines; you will triage queries that come into the HR Advisors’ inbox providing initial advice and support and escalating to the right area as necessary.

The ideal candidate will have a good level of general education, competent written skills to respond to helpdesk queries, effective telephone query handling. The candidate will be well organised and able to manage and prioritise their own work effectively. You will need strong teamwork and collaborative working style to provide a joint level of service to this HR Advisory service.

Personal development opportunities within the HR career path/field will be supported.

Working for our organisation

Oxford Health is a great place to work and to be able to showcase the best of yourself when making an application please read the ``candidate guide to making an application'' and ensure your supporting statement is tailored to the role you are applying for and addresses any essential criteria.

As a Trust we provide physical, mental health and social care for people of all ages across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Swindon, Wiltshire, Bath and Northeast Somerset. Our services are delivered at community bases, hospitals, clinics and people’s homes, delivering care as close to home as possible. Our vision is that no matter who you are or where you are, you will tell us that you receive: “Outstanding care delivered by an outstanding team”

Our values are: “Caring, safe and excellent”

We offer a wide range of benefits designed to support your career and wellbeing. These include:

• Excellent opportunities for career progression
• Access to tailored individual and Trust wide learning and development
• 27 days annual leave, plus bank holidays, rising to 33 days with continuous service
• NHS Discount across a wide range of shops, restaurants and retailers
• Competitive pension scheme
• Lease car scheme
• Cycle to work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Mental Health First Aiders
• Staff accommodation (please note waiting lists apply)
• Staff networking and support groups hosted by our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We hope that the advert has given you a clear understanding of the skills we are seeking and the opportunity at hand. You will need to use the ``supporting statement'' element of your application form to demonstrate your suitability for this role and you should refer to the job description, person specification and the guidance notes attached to this role to help you tailor your application.
We are aware that some candidates may choose to use AI tools to support their application. We kindly remind applicants that submissions should remain an honest and accurate representation of their experience and must take care to ensure the use of AI tools does not generate an application that does not accurately reflect their knowledge, skills and values.

Person specification

Shortlisting sift

• Ability to produce good quality notes (note-taking) and correspondence
• Ability to minute meetings
• Able to use Microsoft Access - Database/employee records familiarity
• Experience in supporting and preparing case work papers (ie Employment Tribunal)

Experience

• HR Advisory/Enquiry Service experience

Keyskills & attributes

• Certificate in Human Resource Practice (CIPD foundation standard) or equiv knowledge and experience
• Knowledge of a range of administrative ad HR procedures
• Ability to liaise with all professionals/levels in a confident and effective manner
• Experience of using HR databases & systems
• Effective written and oral communication skills for a variety of formal and informal purposes
• All new starters have a thorough induction process, both local and Trust wide, which aims to create a positive supportive working environment allowing new employees to learn key elements of their role over a reasonable timescale.
• Appointment to this post is subject to the trust receiving satisfactory references covering 3 years of employment or study. Please ask your referees to respond promptly to reference requests.
• We’re advocates of flexible working and many of our roles offer a range of employment options to help you balance your work and personal life.
• Employees are expected to undertake mandatory and statutory training related to their role.
• We are ambitious in our pursuit of excellence, driven by the belief that a fair, just and fully inclusive organisational culture enables our teams to deliver the best quality of care and services possible and we work hard to ensure that our diverse workforce reflects the communities that we serve.
• We welcome applications from all sections of the community, are an Equal Opportunities employer with a number of internal networking groups to support our employees and where possible will always look to make reasonable adjustments in order that you can fulfil the role to recognise your full potential. All our employees are committed to demonstrating through their behaviour our core values – safe, caring and excellent.
• We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and vulnerable adults, we expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.
• Oxford is a world‑renowned centre of excellence for research. Oxford Health works closely with the University of Oxford department of Psychiatry and the Department of Primary care, has a Biomedical Research Centre dedicated to improving mental health and the NIHR Clinical Research Facility at the Warneford site. The Trust also hosts the NIHR Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) which carries out applied research that directly impacts patient health and wellbeing