EDI Business Partner

We have an exciting opportunity within our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Team.
We are seeking an experienced EDI Business Partner to support colleagues across Barnardo's by providing expert advice, insight and guidance that will help us meet our Public Sector Equality Duty and achieve our organisational EDI objectives.

• This is a hybrid post
• Full time – 36.25 hours per week
• Salary range - £39,642 - £43,392 per annum (plus office at Home Allowance £312 per annum)

About the role:

In this role, you will contribute to key EDI initiatives, help strengthen our culture of belonging, and support the delivery of training and events that promote EDI awareness. As an EDI Business Partner, you will provide a proactive, high‑quality and business‑focused EDI service across Barnardo's by offering expert advice and guidance that enables colleagues to embed EDI into everyday decision‑making and support the delivery of our Corporate Strategy.

You will act as a subject matter expert, supporting major projects, ensuring compliance with UK equality legislation, driving progress against our EDI objectives, and championing our commitments to anti‑racism and disability equality. You will also support colleagues with lived experience and help foster a culture of inclusion and belonging across the organisation.

Some of the qualities that you will bring:

• Proven track record of advising, supporting and influencing at a senior level.
• Successful development, management and delivery of EDI projects, initiatives and programmes in a complex organisation.
• High level expertise in Equality Impact Assessment/Risk Management
• A commitment to working collaboratively, sharing information proactively and fostering good relationships with colleagues, external services, and networks to establish credibility.
• Delivery of EDI related training
• Ability to quickly identify the core elements of any issue raised, proactively identifying, and supporting the implementation of solutions.

Our EDI ambition is to nurture a culture where everyone belongs. EDI underpins every aspect of our work, and we take a collaborative, enabling approach across all teams and departments. Key areas of focus include compliance, culture, participation, belonging, the colleague experience, recruitment, development and progression. We use data-driven insights to measure our impact and shape our future plans. Our EDI objectives are central to our work on anti-racism, disability equality, LGBT+ inclusion and gender equality.

Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.

If this sounds like the right opportunity for you, we encourage you to apply.

Please note: Due to the high volume of applications we receive for some posts, this advert may close earlier than the published closing date. We recommend submitting your application as soon as possible.

We know that our colleagues go above and beyond in delivering our vital work, driven by their passion and commitment to Barnardo's values.  We also know that we can only realise our ambitions and achieve better outcomes for more children, thanks to the talent, hard work and creativity of our people. 

For all these reasons, we are committed to a new approach to pay and reward, to ensure it is fair, attractive and progressive, which was rolled out in April 2023. This is a positive change for the charity, and a part of our People & Culture Strategy. It will assist us in supporting colleagues to belong, thrive and grow in their colleague journey at Barnardo's and in time will offer clear routes of progression for colleagues in both their career and their pay. 

Whilst the full pay band and salary range is advertised, our approach to starting salaries is to appoint between the minimum to mid-point of the pay band – this ensures that pay steps are available to reward our colleagues annually based on their contribution to excellence and alignment to our values and behaviours.  More details on Barnardo's pay framework can be found upon application. 

Workplace Offer: What it means for you

Our hybrid working initiative is based on trust, flexibility and empowerment. We understand our workplace offer means different things to different people, and we encourage those conversations. This may mean working at one of our stores, services, working at home, in the community, at one of our Collaboration Hubs or depending on the role any combination of these. Please read through the advert carefully to understand the remits of hybrid working that will be specific to the role.

• Barnardo's believe in creating equality of opportunity in the workplace and supporting people to manage their work-life balance; we are therefore open to offering flexible working arrangements.
• Annual Leave entitlement for full-time colleagues is 26 days per annum, increasing to 27 days per annum, after 3 years Barnardo's service, 29 days per annum, after 5 years Barnardo's service and 30 days per annum, after 7 years Barnardo's service. Those working less than full time are entitled to the same level of holiday pro rata
• The ability to buy up to another 5 days annual leave via our Buy Your Leave scheme
• A host of family friendly leave options including company Maternity Paternity and Adoption pay; together with all family additional leave options
• Service related sick pay from day 1
• Access to a Group Personal Pension with a matched 4% or 6% contribution from Barnardo's. Ability to pay via salary sacrifice to garner both tax and NI savings on your own contribution
• Death in service cover of 4x annual earnings for all staff contributing to our Group Personal Pension
• Cycle2work scheme
• Interest free season ticket loans
• Discounts and cashback from at high street shops including major supermarkets, cinemas, gyms, leisure/theme parks, holidays and much more via our Benefit Portal
• 20% discount at Barnardo's stores
• Opportunity to purchase a health cash plan to claim towards dental, glasses, therapy etc
• Free access to round the clock employee assistance program for advice and support
• Access to Barnardo's Learning and Development offer

*T&C's apply based on contract

We are committed to being an inclusive employer and cultivating a culture where everyone can belong and thrive through inclusion and connectivity. We want our workforce to be reflective of the communities we work with, and for equality, diversity and inclusion to be embedded in everything we do. We are a Disability Confident Leader, are progressing our ambition to be an anti-racist organisation with Anti-Racism Commitments and actions in place and have networks for colleagues who are disabled, LGBT+, Black and Minoritised Ethnic and Women. We particularly encourage applications from Black and Minoritised Ethnic and/or disabled candidates who are currently underrepresented in our workforce. For disabled applicants, we offer reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.

• Reference number:22583
• Job Title:EDI Business Partner
• Location:Workplace offer: Hybrid working, Barnardo's hub/office or home address
• Contract type:Permanent
• Hours:36.25
• Salary:£39,642 - £43,392 FTE (plus office at home allowance £312 per annum)
• Closing Date:11 March 2026