People Business Partner – Education Catering
Wetherby | 3 days a week in the office, with occasional site visits | 12-month maternity cover
We’re recruiting for a People Business Partner to join a school catering business supporting around 2,000 employees across approximately 600 schools. Working in a small people team, you’ll partner with regional operations leaders and site managers to resolve employee relations cases and build managers’ confidence in handling day-to-day people issues.
This is a hands-on role for someone who enjoys carrying their own caseload. Complex employee relations and sickness absence will make up a significant part of your week, alongside TUPE and wider operational HR support.
What you’ll be doing
- Manage employee relations cases from initial advice through to resolution, including disciplinaries, grievances, investigations and capability matters.
- Support managers with short- and long-term sickness absence, including occupational health referrals, reasonable adjustments and return-to-work planning.
- Manage incoming and outgoing TUPE activity as catering contracts are won or lost, supporting consultation and employee communications.
- Coach regional and site managers to handle people issues confidently and consistently across a dispersed workforce.
- Use casework and absence data to spot recurring issues, prioritise support and help managers act early.
- Support restructures and other organisational changes while keeping day-to-day HR work moving.
What we’re looking for
- Experience personally managing a busy, complex ER caseload, including sickness absence.
- Practical TUPE experience, with examples of the stages you’ve owned.
- Experience supporting frontline employees and managers across multiple sites.
- The judgement to prioritise competing cases and give clear, practical advice to busy operational managers.
You might currently be a People Business Partner, HR Business Partner, People Consultant, Senior HR Advisor or Employee Relations Advisor. Contract catering or facilities management experience would be particularly relevant, and we’re also interested in backgrounds in cleaning, outsourced services, logistics, retail, hospitality, restaurants or leisure.
If you enjoy getting close to the operation and want a role where you can see the impact of your work on managers and frontline teams, apply with your CV or get in touch for an initial chat.