Band 7 Attendance Lead

Job summary

You will lead five Attendance Support Advisors based across UHB in a pilot service supporting colleagues to return to work as early as safely possible, sustain their return and prevent further sickness absence. You will build a service where colleagues feel heard, supported and connected to work, setting clear standards for consistent, practical support. The pilot's key performance indicator (KPI) is reduced sickness absence.

Combining compassion, organisation and sound judgement, you will be visible, approachable and flexible, connecting with advisors in person and remotely, understanding local pressures and bringing them together as one team. Alongside leadership responsibilities, you will retain a case-management focus for the Facilities workforce.

Your team will focus on early-intervention sickness case management, coordinating support and progressing agreed return plans, rather than providing medical advice or owning formal long-term absence procedures. Working with colleagues, managers and specialists across multiple specialisms, you will draw on their expertise and a range of tools to coordinate bespoke return-to-work plans, address individual needs and barriers, and review plans as needs change.

You will bring calm judgement, persistence and a willingness to recognise and challenge your own assumptions and biases.

Main duties of the job

You will stay close to the team's day-to-day work, combining visible, approachable leadership with line management, professional supervision and case reviews. You will help advisors build confidence, develop skills and look after their wellbeing, going beyond emails and reports to create space to ask for help, share ideas and reflect on challenging situations.

You will measure and evaluate the pilot throughout, with reduced sickness absence as its primary KPI. Using agreed baseline data and measures, you will track sickness absence, how early colleagues return safely, whether returns are sustained and further absence prevented. You will turn case information into insight on barriers, growing demand and improvements, leading regular reporting and benefits reviews through oversight groups to adapt the service and demonstrate its impact.

This work can be emotionally demanding. You will support advisors working with distress, uncertainty and difficult workplace circumstances while balancing competing priorities, supported in turn by a wider community of site and corporate senior leads.

This is an opportunity to shape a service through the people you lead. By developing advisors and turning insight into improvement, you will combine care with clear direction and accountability, enabling consistent, compassionate support for safe, sustainable returns to work and making a difference for colleagues, teams and patients.

About us

University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust strives to have an inclusive culture where everyone feels like they belong, can thrive, knows that they add value and feels valued. We do this by developing compassionate and culturally competent leaders, being values driven in all that we do and by creating a welcoming and inclusive workplace that thrives on the diversity of our people. As such we want to attract and recruit talented individuals from all backgrounds, and for each of you to feel supported for the diversity you bring, to achieve your full potential. For those staff with a disability, including physical disability, long term health condition, mental health or neurodiverse condition, this also means being committed to making reasonable adjustments needed for you to carry out your role.

Details

Date posted

06 November 2026

Pay scheme

Agenda for change

Band

Band 7

Salary

£49,387 to £56,515 a year

Contract

Fixed term

Duration

2 years

Working pattern

Full-time, Flexible working

Reference number

304-1104645

Job locations

Trustwide

Mindelsohn Way

Birmingham

West Midlands

B15 2TH

United Kingdom