Freedom To Speak Up Guardian Full Time

Grade A – £55,172 (National) or £61,028 (London – for London office based or home-based workers within the boundary of the M25) – There is also an additional homeworking allowance of £600 per annum for those working from home.

Contracted Hours: Full time 37 hours per week

Contract Type: Secondment opportunity until 30 September 2027

Location: Homebased

Closing date: Wednesday 13 May 2026 at 11.59pm

Please Note: Candidates who were previously interviewed for this role in the recent internal recruitment campaign are not eligible to reapply

Make a difference
Every role at CQC contributes to our mission, If you’re looking for a new role in the Chief Executive’s Office that gives a true sense of meaning and purpose, then you’ve found it. As a Freedom to Speak Up Guardian, you’ll help create a workplace where everyone feels safe to raise concerns, building a culture that supports learning, fairness and positive change across CQC.

Picture this
Imagine being the person colleagues turn to when they need a safe space to talk, helping them feel heard and supported while guiding leaders to learn and improve from what is shared. Each day brings chances to make speaking up easier and to shape a kinder, more open working culture.

As a Freedom to Speak Up Guardian in the Chief Executive’s Office, you might get the chance to work on:

• Designing new approaches that build psychological safety and help colleagues speak up, listen up and follow up well.
• Creating positive change by turning issues raised into learning and improvements that you share with senior leaders and the Board

The role
You’ll work closely with others to deliver shared outcomes. In this role, you’ll:

• 
  Lead our project for approval: In this post you will help deliver improvements in our approach to Freedom to Speak Up, including relaunching our Freedom to Speak Up process and working closely with our staff networks to ensure we create a safe space for all colleagues to raise concerns when needed.

• 
  Promote safe speaking up: Build awareness of Freedom to Speak Up, offer clear advice and support to colleagues, and help remove barriers so people can raise concerns confidently.

• 
  Use information to drive learning: Analyse themes from cases, prepare insights and case studies for leaders, and make practical recommendations that support improvement across CQC.

• 
  Develop systems and good practice: Lead work to embed a strong governance framework, keep case management processes effective, and support FTSU Champions with the tools and training they need.

Show us

We will be looking for specific skills, knowledge and experience in your application form. Please clearly evidence:

• 
  Experience supporting people with sensitive issues, including listening well, offering fair guidance and documenting information clearly.
• 
  Experience working with senior leaders, such as presenting findings, giving advice, or influencing decisions in a way that supports positive change.
• 
  Experience using information to improve practice, for example analysing themes, creating reports or helping shape new ways of working that support colleagues.

Compliance

Note for internal candidates:
This is a secondment/fixed term opportunity. Please read the recruitment and selection policy section on secondments. You must discuss your application with your line manager before applying.

To progress your application, you’ll need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK. Without valid right to work you won’t be eligible for the role. We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role. Some roles may also be subject to a satisfactory DBS check.

Next steps
If you apply, you’ll need to create a profile and complete an online application form. Your application will be completely anonymous. Please see our information for applicants for more details on the process. We contact every applicant to let them know the outcome of their application, so you will hear from us whether or not you are shortlisted.

You can read the full details of the role in the Job Description

If you’d like an informal chat about the role contact – Steph Tarrant, Chief of Staff at [email protected]. For general enquiries, please email [email protected].

The Benefits
We offer a wide range of benefits, including:

• Annual leave starting at 27 days per year, rising to 32.5 days with service, plus bank holidays (usually 8 days per year).
• Training and development opportunities.
• Wellbeing initiatives, such as gym discounts and meditation.
• NHS pension scheme, with around 14% employer contribution.
• Discount schemes (including eligibility for a Blue Light card, at a cost of £4.99 and valid for 2 years), reward vouchers, car leasing and more!

Please see our benefits page for the full list.

Equity for all
We know job descriptions can feel intimidating. Research shows they can cause some people to doubt whether they’re a good fit. This happens more often to people from underrepresented groups (e.g. ethnic minority backgrounds). If this role interests you, we encourage you to apply. Your unique perspective, skills, and experience could be exactly what we need.
We want every candidate to feel supported and able to do their best. If you need adjustments to our process, we’ll work with you to remove any barriers. Visit our accessibility page for more on this. If you’d like to chat, please contact [email protected]. Please note, if you have previously informed us of adjustments you need for interview or within your role these are not carried over and must be discussed for each individual application you make.
We promote a workplace where fairness, respect and inclusion are a priority. Diverse teams make our work better, help us deliver our mission and make our culture stronger. See our ED&I page for more about this.
We welcome applications from everyone, and colleagues can find support and community among our many employee networks. This includes people of any:

• Age
• Sex
• Gender identity or expression
• Sexual orientation
• Religion or belief
• Ethnicity
• Disability

Values and vision
We are guided by our core values, which shape our work and our culture.
Excellence – being a high-performing organisation.
Caring – treating everyone with dignity and respect.
Integrity – doing the right thing.
Teamwork – learning from each other to be the best we can.
We are a disability confident employer and a carer confident employer.

A Note on AI
AI tools can be great for research and refining ideas, but we want to learn about you. If you use AI or Chatbots to help you with your application, keep these points in mind:

• AI can support research, structuring and refining your writing, but your application must reflect your real skills and experience.
• Spell-checking and condensing word counts are great ways to use AI effectively.
• Do not copy and paste AI generated answers. These will not help you stand out; remember we want to hear about your skills and experience.
• Providing false and insincere examples goes against our core values of honesty and integrity and may lead to your application being withdrawn or termination of your employment.