The Freedom to Speak Up Guardian role has become an integral part of building healthy, safe, and inclusive cultures across our health and care systems. Guardians create the space for speaking up and listening well – and they do so with professionalism, empathy, and courage.
As the role has grown, so too has the need for greater consistency and clarity in how it is understood, supported, and implemented. That’s why we undertook a comprehensive review of the universal job description – a document that has underpinned the role since its inception.
The review is now complete, and the National Guardian’s Office has published a framework to support leaders, organisations, and guardians alike, to clarify expectations, standardise recruitment, and ensure the role is understood, supported, and effective within organisations
These include:
- Requirements for Freedom to Speak Up guardians: a framework for leaders and organisations, designed to help create the conditions, such as the necessary support, structures, and culture to enable Freedom to Speak Up guardians to be effective in their role.
- A clear and updated role specification, setting out the essential knowledge, skills, and attributes to look for when recruiting a Freedom to Speak Up Guardian.
- And four sample job descriptions to be used as a practical framework to support consistent and thoughtful recruitment and embedding of the role. We are grateful to the organisations that have shared their guardian job descriptions for use as part of this suite of resources.
Why consistency matters in guardian recruitment
Guardians have a unique role in their organisations; the role serves a distinct, impartial, and people-focused function that sits outside traditional organisational hierarchies. Yet the National Guardian’s Office has seen variability in how the role is defined, resourced, and recognised across the health and care system. Inconsistency in what a guardian does and how they do it can lead to confusion, under-resourcing, and at times, isolation for the guardian.
By providing this framework, the National Guardian’s Office aims to support:
- Guardians with clarity around expectations, responsibilities, and professional boundaries.
- Leaders and organisations to better understand what effective guardian support looks like in practice.
- System-wide consistency, so that wherever someone works, they can expect the guardian role to be clear, credible, and embedded.
Shaped by the system
These updated tools are grounded in what the National Guardian’s Office has heard from the people who know the role best, guardians themselves, alongside organisational leaders, policy colleagues, and human resources professionals.
The four job descriptions included have been used over the past 18 months. They represent a spectrum of guardian roles across different settings, offering adaptable templates that can be tailored to local needs while maintaining national standards.
The accompanying guide and role specification give leaders and organisations a practical framework to ensure guardians are supported not just in title, but in action.
What’s next?
The framework available to download and use, and we ask all organisations to reflect on how the guardian role is positioned and supported in their workplace.
Whether you’re recruiting a new guardian, reviewing existing arrangements, or simply looking to strengthen the culture of speaking up in your organisation, these resources provide clarity, inspiration, and support.
The National Guardian’s Office will continue to listen, learn, and evolve. The guardian role is vital – and we’re committed to ensuring it remains both resilient and responsive to the needs of the people it serves.
In closing
This is an important milestone in the National Guardian’s Office’s journey to embed speaking up as business as usual. A stronger, more consistent guardian role means better support for workers, better insights for leaders, and ultimately, safer and more open organisations.
Thank you to all the guardians and leaders who contributed to this work. Your insight, experience, and commitment continue to shape this movement.