Specialisms
I specialise in the following areas:
- HR Consultancy
- Organisational Development
Claire is an accomplished strategic leader with a proven track record of driving organisational change and strengthening people management capability across complex public sector environments. She is highly skilled at rapidly building and sustaining trusted relationships, enhancing her credibility and influence by quickly developing a deep understanding of an organisation’s culture, workforce, service demands and customer needs.
Her strong interpersonal and communication skills enable her to navigate challenging conversations with confidence and sensitivity, consistently achieving constructive and positive outcomes. Claire brings extensive experience across all aspects of HR and change management, including the development and implementation of people strategies, complex employee relations matters, organisation-wide cultural transformation, and large-scale integration projects with partner organisations.
Claire is recognised for her ability to lead with clarity, authenticity and insight—creating the conditions for organisations to improve performance, strengthen leadership capability and embed sustainable change. Her breadth of expertise and adaptable approach mean she is able to deliver meaningful impact quickly, even in demanding, fast‑paced or politically sensitive environments
Key Strengths/Area of Expertise
- All aspects of HR
- HR Consultancy
- Strategic Leadership
- Working at a Director Level
- Organisational Change
- Organisational Development
- Equal Pay
- LGR
- Employee Relations (inc. Investigations)
Professional Qualifications
Member of the Professional Associate Network – The Staff College – Oct 2022
ILM Level 5 – Coaching & Mentoring – 2012
Certified Practitioner – Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) – 2010
Associate Member – Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) – 2006
Post Graduate Degree – HR Management – 2006
Graduate Member – Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) -2003
Certificate – Personnel Practice (CPP) – 2003
Notable Achievements/Value Added
- Developed and implemented a ‘HR Improvement Plan’ to transform the HR Service from one that is reactive and operational with minimal customer focus to a proactive, strategic and customer focused service; this included designing a new HR structure that was fit for purpose and reflected the council’s Target Operating Model (TOM)
- Senior Responsible Officer for Transformation Programmes with a collective saving of over £20m in staffing costs, including organisational design and TOM, Unitisation, ‘new ways of working’, reducing agency spend and sickness absence (reduced long-term sickness by 81% in 6 months)
- Lead for the Job Evaluation & Grading (JEGs) and Allowances Programme
- Lead on equal pay issues, including working with Trade Unions to resolve equal pay concerns without the need for litigation to maintain good working relationships, reduce costs and reduce the political and reputational impact on the council
- Advised the Chief Executive on senior exits while ensuring value for money
- Accountable for people aspects of a multimillion-pound Waste Services Review Transformation Programme
- Implemented a new HR/OD structure that was fit for purpose and reflected the council’s Target Operating Model (TOM) whilst maintaining a motivated HR/OD team and developing a new HR/OD team from four previous teams, following LGR
- Developed and implemented a HR/OD strategy to deliver the people needs of the council over the next 4 years, with buy-in from members, Trade Unions, SLT and employees
- Developed and implemented a HR/OD Service Plan, whilst making savings against the HR/OD budget
- Led the development and implemented of the council’s approach to embedding the organisational culture and values, including inductions for all employees post Local Government Review (LGR), three separate development programmes for managers (SLT, Assistant Directors and Managers), implementation of ‘Change Champions’, Pulse Surveys, Values Based Recruitment and a review of all training to ensure that key areas were prioritised, e.g. EDI
- Reduced absence management by 22% in 5 months through targeted supported to services with high sickness absence, implemented a plan to proactively manage all long-term and complex short-term absence cases, piloted a new approach to reducing absences due to musculoskeletal issues and reviewed the provision on the Occupational Health Service
- Successfully led negotiations which resolved ongoing industrial action in both Waste Service and the Urgent Care Teams
- Senior Responsible Officer for a Transformation Programme (including Programme Management) to save over £10m in staffing costs, including reducing agency spend and sickness absence, international recruitment and partnering with a Strategic Partner to develop new organisational design principles
- Led on the onboarding of 6 district payrolls to the ex-County Council payroll, whilst planning for the implementation of a new HR/Payroll System
- Developed and maintained a good working relationship built on openness and honesty with Trade Unions, whilst resolving long-standing legacy employee relations cases, ET’s including a mass equal pay claim, industrial action, implementing new ways of working and consulting on the development and implementation of new policies for Cumberland Council
- Led on the people aspects of the Local Government Review (LGR) including (in relation to the two new unitary authorities and the Fire Service
- Led a Directorate wide restructure in Adult Social Care (ACS), resulting in a £1.5 million saving and services being aligned to the Health and Social Care Agenda
- Led the integration of Health and Social Care in the East and the West of acounty, resulting in integrated teams in Health and Social Care, improved efficiency and better care for customers
- Developed and implemented an inhouse bank for the Home First service and reviewed the systems used within Home First for allocating work and implemented a new system, these resulted in improved efficiencies which reduced the agency spend by over 50%
- Led the development and implementation of a Recruitment and Retention Strategy for ACS, resulting in a 10% reduction in Social Worker vacancies and improved retention rates
- Led the development and implementation of regular webinars with all staff in ACS during the pandemic to ensure ongoing communication, these remain in place and have resulted in improved staff satisfaction, engagement and feeling valued
- Led the return of the Section 75 staff to the Council, including cultural and structural integration, and worked with the Assistant Director to develop a new operating model
- Successfully developed and implemented a new strategic approach for organisational development across the council which resulted in improved buy-in and support for the councils’ priorities and savings agenda and better relationships between councillors and officers
- Led equality work across the council using my relationships and knowledge of services to secure the agreement of the Staff Network Leads, the Directors and Cabinet Members to implement different approaches for different equality strands, to ensure that staff were adequately informed on relevant legislation and cultural awareness
- Developed and implemented a new operating model for how the HR Service supported the council and ensured resource was allocated where needed
- Developed and implemented a HR Capacity Plan to ensure work was prioritised/resourced in line with organisational requirements and service priorities; this resulted in an improved understanding of organisational priorities across HR, a proactive approach to prioritising work, increased ownership across the service of all HR work, a reduction in silo working and enabled multiskilling to be more easily embedded
- Led and shaped organisational culture through the development and implementation of the councils values; this resulted in a more engaged and motivated workforce with higher satisfaction levels and helped to raise the profile and credibility of the new Chief Executive (CEX) with staff across the Council
- People lead for the exit of a statutory postholder, providing complex advice on employment law/statutory requirements to Councillors and taking into account political insight to achieve the right outcome for the Council and ensuring maximum value
- Led the development and implementation of the Reward and Recognition Strategy, including negotiations with Trade Unions to successfully agree and implement a four-year collective agreement, saving the council over £5 million on staffing costs
- Led the people aspects of divestments, developed and delivered TUPE masterclasses for partner organisations across a county and made policy decisions on TUPE related employment tribunal outcomes, taking into account financial and service implications and the wider impact on other staff groups, to ensure fairness and support the Council’s savings agenda
- Delivered a 15% reduction in the cost of the staff benefits contract through effective negotiations whilst improving the offer for staff
- Led on the TUPE transfer of Public Health (PH) services into the council, including cultural integration and developing and implementing Hybrid Contracts of Employment for non-medical Consultants
Relevant Sector Knowledge
- All council services
- LGR
Training/Coaching Programs/Workshop offers
- Coaching
- HR Practices
- TUPE
LGR Experience & Expertise
- Led on all people aspects of the Local Government Review (LGR) including (in relation to the two new unitary authorities and the Fire Service –
- Advising the Chief Executive and Members on all matters relating to HR, OD and the people aspects of LGR
- Overseeing the implementation of senior structures
- Ensuring a fair and transparent allocation process of employees, taking into account caseloads/workloads, demographics, deprivation, budget allocation and other priority factors
- Advised the Chief Executives and the Chief Fire Officer of the two new unitary councils and the new Fire service on all people related matters in preparation for LGR being implemented, including how work that would continue post LGR implementation, and therefore subject to TUPE regulations, would be managed after the County Council ceased to exist
- Led the development and implemented of the council’s approach to embedding the organisational culture and values, including inductions for all employees post Local Government Review (LGR), three separate development programmes for managers (SLT, Assistant Directors and Managers), implementation of ‘Change Champions’, Pulse Surveys, Values Based Recruitment and a review of all training to ensure that key areas were prioritised, e.g. EDI
- Led on the onboarding of 6 district payrolls to the ex-County Council payroll, whilst planning for the implementation of a new HR/Payroll System
- Developed and maintained a good working relationship built on openness and honesty with Trade Unions, whilst resolving long-standing legacy employee relations cases, ET’s including a mass equal pay claim, industrial action, implementing new ways of working and consulting on the development and implementation of new policies for Cumberland Council
- Oversaw the disaggregation of ‘Hosted Services’, ensuring they were ‘safe and legal’ and resourced sufficiently
- Implemented a new HR/OD structure that was fit for purpose and reflected the council’s Target Operating Model (TOM) whilst maintaining a motivated HR/OD team and developing a new HR/OD team from four previous teams