We are seeking an experienced and commercially minded Head of Legal and Company Secretary to take ownership of our legal and company secretariat function. This is a high profile role where you will be working closely with the UKGlobal Board, UK Executive Team and key UK stakeholders across the business, providing strategic UK legal advice while ensuring the highest standards of corporate governance.
You will play a pivotal role in supporting Board effectiveness, ensuring robust governance practices, and delivering practical legal guidance that enables business success.
What You Will Do
Company Secretariat & Governance
Act as Company Secretary, supporting the Board and Committees in delivering effective governance.
Lead all aspects of Board administration, including agenda planning, governance processes, minute-taking and action tracking.
Advise Board and Committee Chairs on governance matters and regulatory requirements.
Manage Companies House filings and statutory records.
Lead Board induction, development and evaluation activities.
Drive continuous improvement and innovation within the Secretariat function, including the use of AI and technology to enhance processes.
Work closely with our parent organisation and key governance stakeholders to maintain strong subsidiary governance arrangements.
Legal Leadership
Provide clear, practical and commercially focused legal advice to senior leaders and the Board.
Draft, review and negotiate a wide range of commercial contracts and agreements.
Identify and mitigate legal risks through effective policies, procedures and governance frameworks.
Manage relationships with external legal advisers where specialist support is required.
Advise on a broad spectrum of legal matters, including commercial contracts, litigation, regulatory developments, property matters and corporate transactions.
Deliver legal training and promote best practice across the business.
What We’re Looking For
We're looking for a qualified legal professional who combines technical expertise with strong commercial judgement and exceptional stakeholder management skills.
You will bring:
Qualification as a Lawyer or equivalent legal professional.
Experience working within financial services or a regulated environment.
Previous Company Secretariat or corporate governance experience.
Experience supporting Boards and senior leadership teams.
Excellent drafting, negotiation and communication skills.
Strong organisational skills with meticulous attention to detail.
Confidence building relationships and influencing stakeholders at all levels.
A proactive, collaborative approach and the ability to work independently while managing multiple priorities.
Strong technology skills, including experience of Board management platforms and emerging AI tools
What We Offer
Basic salary up to £75,000 per annum
Discretionary annual bonus, based on individual and company performance (subject to eligibility)
28 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays
Life assurance (based on pensionable earnings)
Generous contributory pension scheme
Healthcare cash plan
This role is based on a 35 hour working week, Monday to Friday. Start times are flexible. There is the option to work a few days a week from home but flexibility is required.
Ready to Apply?
If you're a strategic legal professional with a passion for governance and the confidence to operate at Board level, we'd love to hear from you.
Apply now and help us deliver strong governance, sound legal guidance and positive outcomes for our members and colleagues.
Foresters Financial is committed to fostering an inclusive workplace where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. The role holder is expected to support these principles in their day-to-day work and interactions.
About us
Foresters Financial is not your typical financial services provider. Those who join our purpose-driven organisation enjoy a culture of collaboration, creativity, and mutual respect and are challenged to do their best to make a difference every day. We help everyday families achieve their financial goals and make a lasting difference in their lives and communities.
What we do
We help everyday families achieve their financial goals and make a lasting difference in their lives and communities. We will continue to do this by employing enthusiastic and talented Financial Advisers working across the country and equally talented people to be based at our Head Office in Bromley.
Our Benefits
Work/life balance
Competitive benefits
Flexible/Hybrid working
Pension plan
Bonus
Staff savings
Testimonials
Myra O'Neil
“I’ve been supported by Foresters in both my professional and career development for over 30 years, from Administrator to Manager. I feel all employees have a strong sense of belonging and take pride in providing excellent customer service.”
Andrew Jones
"Foresters Financial is a special place to work because of the people and their passion to deliver our purpose. I love the fact that the customer is at the heart of everything we do, and I am proud of the charity work Foresters do in the communities that we serve."
Pattern N’Guessan
"I am surround by positive and mindful people; whilst regular social activities promote good dynamics amongst staff. There is also ample opportunity for professional development in the form of training as well as exciting projects."
We are Foresters Financial. Foresters Financial and Foresters are trade names and trademarks of The Independent Order of Foresters (a fraternal benefit society) and its subsidiaries. Our registered office is: Foresters House, 2 Cromwell Avenue, Bromley, BR2 9BF. Foresters is a Data Controller according to General Data Protection Regulations (EU-GDPR).
Data Protection Officer: data.protection@foresters.co.uk or Data Protection Officer, Foresters, Foresters House, 2 Cromwell Avenue, Bromley, BR2 9BF.
The recruitment software we use via this website is supplied by Net-Worx (2001) Ltd (trading as networx) and they are defined as a Data Processor under the GDPR. They will only process your data in accordance with our instructions.
networx can be contacted at: The Engine House, Wharfebank Business Centre, Ilkley Rd, Otley LS21 3JP.
As part of any recruitment process, Foresters collects and processes personal information relating to job applicants. Foresters are committed to being transparent about how it collects and uses information and to meeting its data protection obligations.
What is personal information
Personal information is information that identifies you and is about you. It includes information such as your name, address, contact details and date of birth. Sensitive personal information known as special categories of data includes details such as health, race or ethnic origin and criminal offences.
What we collect
Foresters collects information that is specifically provided by you as part of an application process. We will collect the following (but not limited to):
your name, address and contact details, including email address and telephone number;
details of your qualifications, skills, experience and employment history;
equal opportunities monitoring information (defined as special categories data) used for statistical analysis and equality monitoring purposes;
answers to application questions and any other information you provide in support of your application;
information about your current level of remuneration, including benefit entitlements;
whether or not you have a disability for which the organisation needs to make reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process;
information about your entitlement to work in the UK;
information about any spent or unspent convictions (applicable to the position).
By agreeing to this privacy notice, you are allowing us to form a contract that will mean we can use your details and information presented so we can assess your suitability for employment with us and carry out our statistical analysis.
How we collect your information
We collect this information in a variety of ways. For example, information might be contained in your application form, CV or resume, received via a recruitment agency, obtained from your passport or other identity documents, or collected through interviews or other forms of assessment including online tests.
Foresters will request information from third parties only once a job offer has been made to you and accepted and will inform you that it is doing so. We will seek references supplied by former employers, information from employment background check providers, credit checks and Disclosure and Barring checks as applicable to the role.
Information will be stored in your online candidate account, and/or within the networx system. Should you be offered and accept a position we the system will upload process and transfer your details (including salary, job title and working hours) from the networx system, in addition to information you provide on our onboarding portal (including bank details and national insurance number) to our HR and Payroll system and relevant data to other Foresters IT systems (including email). As a member of staff you will sign a contract of employment and agree to the terms of our Employee Privacy Notice.
Why does Foresters process personal information
Details you provide in this application:
will be held on our computer systems and may be downloaded or printed by us;
will be used to deal with your application;
will be made available to us and our processors;
will be used for communication with you regarding the vacancy;
will be used to satisfy legal requirements;
will be used for statistical analysis;
will be held and may be used to contact you about other vacancies
will be used to process your contract of employment if your application is successful.
Foresters needs to process information prior to entering into a contract with you. We also need to process your information to enter into a contract with you.
In some cases, Foresters needs to process information to ensure that it is complying with its legal obligations. For example, it is required to check a successful applicant's eligibility to work in the UK before employment starts or to process information from job applicants to respond to and defend against legal claims.
Our recruitment processes use limited automated decision-making. For example where driving is a pre-requisite to a position an automated decision will be made based on whether you have the legal right to drive in the UK.
Foresters processes health information if we need to make reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process for candidates who have a disability. This is to carry out our legal obligations and exercise specific rights in relation to employment.
For some roles, the organisation is obliged to seek information about criminal convictions and offences. Where the organisation seeks this information during the recruitment process, we do so because it is necessary to assess an applicant’s overall suitability for the position.
Equality data collected is pseudo-anonymised (kept separate and hidden providing extra protection and safeguards) to ensure the data cannot be attributed to an identifiable person. If your application is successful we will use your equality data for equality monitoring purposes.
Who has access to information
Your information will be shared internally for the purposes of the recruitment process. This includes members of the HR and recruitment team, interviewers involved in the recruitment process, managers in the business area with a vacancy and IT staff if access to the data is necessary for the performance of their roles. Your information will be shared externally with an online testing provider where relevant to the role.
If you are offered a position a minimum amount of data will be passed to a third party, DocuSign, to process your contract of employment and associated documentation. Please click on the link to view their privacy policy https://www.docusign.co.uk/company/privacy-policy
We will not share your information with any other third party, unless your application for employment is successful and Foresters makes you an offer of employment. We will only then share necessary information with a third party to produce your contact of employment, with your former employers for the purposes of assessing your suitability for the position, employment background check providers to obtain necessary background checks, credit checks either directly or indirectly through credit reference agencies and a Standard or Basic disclosure via the Disclosure and Barring Service to obtain necessary criminal records checks as applicable to the role.
Should you be successful in your application for employment your information would be shared with the Forester Group of Companies including outside of the European Economic Area, namely our headquarters in Canada, for HR and training processing purposes.
How does Foresters protect information
Foresters takes the security of your information seriously. We have internal policies and controls in place to ensure that your information is not lost, accidentally destroyed, misused or disclosed, and is not accessed except by our employees in the proper performance of their duties.
How long does Foresters keep information
If your application for employment is unsuccessful, we will hold your information on file for thirteen months after the end of the relevant recruitment process, it will then be destroyed.
If your application for employment is successful, personal information gathered during the recruitment process will be transferred to your electronic HR file and retained during your employment. The periods for which your information will be held will be provided to you in an employee privacy notice.
Your rights
Foresters and our third party recruitment system provider, networx, are dedicated to providing reasonable access to visitors who wish to review the personal information retained when they apply via networx website site and correct any inaccuracies it may contain. If you choose to register, you may access your profile, correct and update your details, or withdraw your details at any time. To do this, you can access your personal profile by using the secure login. In all cases both Foresters and networx will treat requests to access information or change information in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
As a job applicant, you have the right to:
access and obtain a copy of your information on request;
require Foresters and the data processor to change incorrect or incomplete information;
require Foresters and the data processor to delete or stop processing your information, for example where the information is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing;
withdraw your consent with regards to the handling of your personal data;
object to the processing of your information where Foresters or the data processor is relying on its legitimate interests as the legal ground for processing; and
ask Foresters and the data processor to stop processing information for a period if information is inaccurate or there is a dispute about whether or not your interests override the organisation's legitimate grounds for processing data;
transfer your information to another data controller;
Post: The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF
Within your candidate account, you can download the current data we hold which you provided and/or have access to within the account.
Where you exercise your right to object or withdraw your consent Foresters and the data processor may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent where we are permitted or required by law or regulatory requirements to do so. In such a case, we will not process more personal data than is required under the circumstances.
What happens if you do not provide personal information
You are under no statutory or contractual obligation to provide information to Foresters during the recruitment process. However, if you do not provide the information required, we may not be able to process your application fully or at all.
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