NHS Recruitment Services
The Workforce Optimisation Team supports NHS Recruitment Services by improving recruitment platforms and services. We began by helping over 7,500 organisations move to the new NHS Jobs system. This included running tailored training and onboarding sessions across the country. We also introduced robotic processing to support archiving for 70 organisations. This saved over £12,000 and helped manage more than 97,000 vacancies.
After this, we launched the NHS Jobs Optimisation Programme. This programme delivers discovery sessions and custom training to help organisations get the most from NHS Jobs. We work closely with the Training and Support team, and the Stakeholder Engagement team. We also lead the NHS Jobs Onboarding Programme, making sure new users have a smooth and personalised start.
Our work also supports NHS Volunteering. We help onboard Trusts, Charities, and Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprises (VCSEs) as part of NHS England’s national programme.
We are also helping expand NHS Jobs to the British Overseas Territories. This includes giving administrative support and advice to organisations as they begin using the service.
We partner with HR Shared Services (HRSS) to provide flexible, skilled support for delivering successful projects. Our work helps achieve key programme goals and ensures everything aligns with business priorities and performance targets.
NHS Recruitment Testimonials
Leeds Teaching Hospital NHSFT:
“Fantastic stuff, thanks Archie I must owe him a beer for that! 13.5 hours saving is absolutely huge, so I will be circulating such good news to our bosses here to highlight how good you are!”
Savings:
- Time – 13:51
- Cost - £443.20
- Vacancies – 2,493
Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals:
“We were delighted to form part of the RPA project pilot, we were behind with archiving of our vacancies and therefore welcomed the process to be completed so efficiently by a virtual worker. The robotic service took very little time to set up and has certainly saved the recruitment team from using a significant number of hours to carry out the same task. Whilst the work was being undertaken access to NHS Jobs remained the same and all vacancies are still visible in the archive section of the system. Huge thanks to the NHSBSA Team.”
Savings:
- Time – 08:54
- Cost - £285.16
- Vacancies – 1,604
MSI Reproductive Choices:
‘It’s really good to hear how much time has been saved. I have reviewed the below and can confirm all our vacancies have been moved to Archived.’
Savings:
- Time – 03:29
- Cost - £111.82
- Vacancies – 629
Ivan Barber: Programme Manager – Robotic Process Automation Team:
“Working with the NHS Jobs team on RPA was a pleasure, they quickly understood what RPA could do for them and saw the benefits and were fully engaged throughout the delivery lifecycle. The whole team work collaboratively with weekly updates to share instant communications and questions with the developers. The efforts were realised when we built the RPA process, tested and went live with the solution, providing the hours saved for organisations and the wider NHS.”
NHS Pensions
NHS Pensions
We engaged with internal and external stakeholders to support the onboarding and transition of NHS Pension members to the new ‘My NHS Pension’ online portal.
This involved:
- processing members’ data, maintaining both accuracy and confidentiality
- helping members to register and use the new portal
- solving various customer queries
From January 2023 to June 2024, we have onboarded over 616,000 members and contacted over 2 million members. The portal keeps members informed about their pension which reduces the pressure on contact centres.
The McCloud remedy
We support the NHS Pensions Service with their work on the McCloud remedy and business as usual (BAU) work streams. Our Support Team processed over 156,000 cases in 2024.
New Pensions Project
Currently, the Pensions Optimisation Project (POP) team are working on an initiative aimed at improving the operational processes across their BAU and priority processes. The team’s goal is to create streamlined, efficient procedures that ensure consistency and high-quality service delivery across all units.
This involves:
- designing and implementing standard operating procedures (SOP) across a broad range of work areas
- implementing a single point of knowledge (SPOK) for the operating procedures
- Lean review and operationalisation of all unit components
- Pathway to Pensions Administration Service Association Accreditation (PASA)
If you want to find out more about the NHS Pensions Service for employees, visit My NHS Pension - Welcome to your NHS Pension Portal
Pensions Testimonials
Heather Faulkner: Service Delivery Manager, NHS Pensions:
“The Optimisation team supporting Pensions has been fundamental in clearing work ahead of the McCloud judgement, which has been a great support for us.
Their recent work on Partial Retirement has enabled us to more clearly see requirements for that part of the project and facilitated Pensions to have the time and space to train our staff on more complex cases.
Without the assistance from the Optimisation Team we would not be in a position to deliver what is required of the service for McCloud and our members.
I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the Optimisation team and facilitating in the collaboration of these two vital teams.”
Electronic Staff Record (ESR)
For ESR we provide temporary people resource for the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) and external NHS organisations.
We help implement data input corrections and updates in ESR, to agreed project deadlines. The highly skilled team offer a range of services, from data input and quality checking to full project management experience depending on the required level of support. We offer a tailored service depending on the requirements of the organisation.
Some of the larger, full management projects we have completed include ESR Establishment Control and Manager Self Service projects. This includes:
- supporting the organisation in implementing processes to maintain the ESR data
- supporting with the creation of process maps and standard operating procedures
- supporting training for process managers in the organisation once the project is complete, to ensure great data quality in ESR is retained
If you’re interested in our support with ESR projects, contact your regional ESR Functional Account Manager to discuss your query and understand your support requirements.
If you have any other queries about the work of our ESR Optimisation team, you can contact us directly on esroptimisation@nhsbsa.nhs.uk
ESR Testimonials
Anne-Marie Howlett: HR Systems Manager – Barts Health NHS Trust:
“The support from the NHSBSA Optimisation Team has meant that we have been able to tap into a resource that is fully trained for the period of time that we needed it.
The operation ran smoothly from the initial preparation meetings through to final sign off. Communication and clear processes were key to its success and Alice and her team were approachable and engaged throughout, providing progress reports daily.
Set up was straightforward, the team already had smartcards that we associated to Barts Health. We agreed the presentation of data; a logical order for inputting, and we had a robust system in place for queries, that were relatively very few, which reflected the level of knowledge and experience of the team inputting.
We had been assured by the NHSBSA Optimisation Team throughout that quality checks were in place and although we were still encouraged to quality check the work ourselves, we found the level of accuracy high, with very few errors.
Our overall experience using the NHSBA Optimisation Team for support was a positive one. We benefited not only from a cost saving by not having to take on additional bank staff, but also by time we saved within our own team, not having to provide training and time spent on administrative and logistical tasks such as arranging new smartcards, building access passes and sourcing additional laptops etc.
It also took away the burden of finding solutions to any unplanned eventualities such as sickness during the tight inputting deadline.
It’s safe to say we are grateful for the support we have had."
Jo Milton: ESR Senior Account Manager, London region:
“In the past 18 months, the ESR regional team for London has seen increased interest from provider organisations to get their ESR foundations right, requiring a large amount of ESR organisational and supervisory hierarchy data cleansing and re-organisation.
Working alongside the ESR Functional Account Managers, the Workforce Optimisation Team have been pivotal in the success of projects ranging from Establishment Control, Manager Self Service roll out and the transition to ESR Learning Management from a 3rd party supplier.
Working against tight deadlines and varying data quality, the Workforce Optimisation Team have provided consistently robust data entry processes and project updates. Without their professional services and ‘can do’ attitude many organisations would have struggled to complete their projects and the monetary costs would have far exceeded those the Workforce Optimisation Team can provide.”
Stuart Inett, Isle of Wight NHS Trust:
“It has to be said that without the support, knowledge and understanding … we would not be in the position that we are today, the project would have certainly failed if it wasn’t for this very kind and hugely successful intervention.”
Karen Lyall, HR Information Specialist, South, Central and Western Commissioning Support Unit:
“The BSA Optimisation Team were able to support us at very short notice with the creation of approximately 1,000 positions. … The team were very professional and a dedicated team were able to complete the work swiftly and to a high standard. … We would not hesitate to use them again for future pieces of work and can highly recommend them.”