We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.
Policy Adviser (Up to 2 Posts Available)
HEO
Court Recovery, Criminal and Family Justice Directorate
This is an exciting opportunity to join a high-profile and fast-paced directorate which sits at the heart of MoJ.
We are recruiting for up to two permanent HEO roles.
This campaign is being run externally and open to all who feel they meet the requirements within this job description as well as the eligibility criteria for joining the Civil Service. New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.
Successful individuals will be recruited on MoJ HQ Terms and Conditions and existing civil servants will be expected to take up post according to the civil service transfer guidance.
Location
Successful candidates will have the option to be based at one of the following locations:
- 102 Petty France, London
- 5 Wellington Place, Leeds
Occasional travel between the two office locations may be required.
Our staff who have an HQ building as their base location are expected to work in an office at least 2 days per week.
Ways of Working
At the MoJ we believe and promote alternative ways of working, these roles are available as:
- Full-time, part-time or the option to job share
- Flexible working patterns
- Flexible working arrangements between base locations, MoJ Hubs and home.
We welcome and strongly encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice. To find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity
Reserve List
If we receive applications from more suitable candidates than we have vacancies for at this time, we may hold suitable applicants on a reserve list for 12 months, and future vacancies requiring the same skills and experience could be offered to candidates on the reserve list without a new competition.
Court Recovery, Criminal and Family Justice Directorate
The Directorate sits within the Ministry of Justice’s Policy Group and at the heart of the Department’s policy agenda. It is responsible for recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic in courts and tribunals, policy on criminal courts, the criminal justice system, and family justice. We have a varied policy portfolio and work closely with Ministers and senior officials to make sure that the Government continues to make progress on its priorities.
The Directorate is friendly, inclusive and supportive and has adopted flexible working practices designed to ensure personal wellbeing and a genuine work/life balance.
The directorate is made up of three units:
Family Justice Policy Unit
The unit is responsible for the policy, governance/oversight, and legal framework for family private law to resolve disputes within families (e.g., divorce and child arrangements) and family public law (where the state, usually a local authority, intervenes to protect a child at risk of significant harm). Project professionals in the unit help to provide a more effective, transparent and responsive family justice system for the public.
Do you want to make a real difference to parents and children at one of the most difficult times of their lives? These posts provide a unique chance for high performing policy professionals to work a priority area of work for Ministers and the department. The work is fast paced, and the roles provide an opportunity to work closely with ministers and senior officials on a policy agenda which will make a tangible difference to families and children.
Courts and Tribunals Recovery Unit (CTRU)
The Court and Tribunals Recovery Unit (CTRU) is a high-profile, friendly and supportive team, established in December 2020 to lead the MoJ and HMCTS strategic approach to recovery across all our court jurisdictions.
The pandemic has created a once in a generation challenge for the courts, with significant implications for the administration of justice in England and Wales and the experience of all users of the justice system, not least victims, vulnerable groups and all those who need swift access to justice. Ensuring that our courts can continue to hear the cases coming in is essential to maintaining the rule of law and public confidence in the justice system.
This work is a ministerial and No.10 priority and is subject to significant interest from partners in the justice system from across government. It is our role to ensure ministers across government receive the best possible advice on a range of important operational and policy issues, to help the department make better and more coordinated decisions, plan for the long-term and set out a clear ambition and plan for delivering recovery.
Our work focuses on three key areas:
- Providing coherence and coordination across the department. As a joint unit that sits across both the operational and policy side of the MoJ’s approach to recovery, we set the strategic direction on recovery for all jurisdictions in line with ministerial priorities. We ensure there is join-up across the department wherever teams are working on issues that may impact on our ability to recover and provide support and constructive challenge as needed as we deliver a coherent plan for recovery across the courts and tribunals.
- Supporting ministers to make quality decisions. We work closely with policy, operational, and analytical colleagues to ensure ministers are seeing the best quality advice and evidence possible, to allow them to make informed, evidence-based decisions on the overall approach to recovery across the department. We share the quality advice and evidence-based insights we have gathered with other government departments and agencies involved in the justice system to ensure we are taking a cross-Whitehall approach to recovery.
- A strategic focus on future resilience. As we recover, it is critical that we continue to hold on to innovation where new ideas have emerged as a result of the pandemic, and that we continue to closely monitor and assess the impacts of the actions we are already taking. We want to allow the justice system to build back better and more resilient than before, to allow us to work more flexibly and efficiently in future and safeguard the ability of the system to respond flexibly to future pressures.
Criminal Justice Strategy & Criminal Courts Process and Procedure Unit
The unit is responsible for leading work across the Criminal Justice System (CJS) to tackle strategic risks and drive evidence-based improvements on a national and local level. The teams also enable Ministers to provide firm leadership in the CJS through cross-system governance structures.
The unit leads on monitoring, developing and delivering better criminal court procedures and processes to maximise court efficiency and effectiveness. This work is wide-ranging but covers points such as forensics and evidence, jury policy, unrepresented defendants, disclosure of material and reporting restrictions.
The Role
Criminal Justice Strategy & Criminal Courts Process and Procedure Unit
We are looking for HEOs to lead specific policy workstreams as well as providing support to others across the unit. The roles are varied and, as a unit which works closely with ministers and No.10, subject to change. The unit covers a range of work: from projects to drive change across the Criminal Justice System (CJS); improving the way we use data to identify issues and implement solutions across the CJS; professional running of governance groups with national oversight of the CJS; to bespoke and focused policy projects which support the efficient functioning of the criminal courts including delivering high profile legislative change.
Whilst the exact tasks may change, the nature of the work will not. These roles come with a high degree of autonomy, delivering MoJ Ministerial priorities in areas which carry a significant No.10 interest. Post holders will need to be able to build strong relationships with officials and colleagues from across the CJS including operational partners. These roles therefore offer significant direct exposure to seniors and the chance to build relationships and find consensus, often on difficult issues, across the CJS.
Courts and Tribunals Recovery Unit (CTRU)
We are looking for motivated, resilient and adaptable individuals who can get to grips with new subject areas quickly, have strong analytical and problem solving skills and are able to communicate complex ideas clearly. You will get the opportunity to take forward research pieces to further understanding of the policy agenda, using data confidently whilst doing so.
You will need to be confident working independently and comfortable working with ambiguity, proactively creating and maintaining positive, professional and trusting working relationships with a wide range of people within and outside of the organisation.
The team has a wide range of experience and is comprised of people with a mix of backgrounds in both policy and operational roles.
Personal attributes and skills
For roles in any of the teams, responsibilities will include:
- Co-ordinating information from a variety of sources to ensure advice to Ministers and senior officials on various recovery related topics is relevant and up to date.
- Using policy making, problem solving and strategic thinking skills to play a leading role across a number of complex and challenging issues affecting the justice system.
- Responding at speed to support high priority complex commissions
- Proactively creating and maintaining positive, professional and trusting working relationships with a wide range of people within and outside the organisation, identifying effective connections and reaching out to bring people together to deliver shared objectives.
- Maintaining and reviewing processes to ensure quality delivery at pace
Successful candidates will demonstrate the following skills and experience:
- Excellent organisational skills and be capable of managing a high volume of complex work and information at pace.
- Strong communication and collaboration skills, particularly the ability to drive progress to get things done internally and through external teams, ensuring high performance.
- Ability to present complex analysis and messages clearly, visually and in a compelling way to enable effective decision making.
- Ability to be a ‘self-starter’ by using initiative to devise creative solutions to unforeseen challenges and leading on progressing pieces of work, including in ambiguity.
- Ability to critically engage with and challenge information provided to ensure the highest quality advice with relative information is provided to Ministers, senior officials, stakeholders and the wider public.
- Ability to quickly build positive relationships with colleagues across HMCTS and MOJ as well as other key stakeholders (e.g., police, Home Office, Crown Prosecution Service, Judiciary, etc) in a complex and sensitive environment
- A team player, and supporting the team across a variety of projects and workstreams
- High standard of accuracy and attention to detail, with strong writing and editing skills, grammar, spelling and comfortable with handling numerical data.
Application process
You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework.
Behaviours
Please provide examples of how you have met each one of the behaviours listed below (see Annex A for more information):
- Delivering at Pace
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Communicating and Influencing
Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade (Level 3 – Band C or equivalent):
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717275/CS_Behaviours_2018.pdf.
Should we receive a large number of applications, we will sift primarily on the lead behaviour of Delivering at Pace. Successful applicants will then be invited to an interview, testing both behaviours and strengths.
Candidates invited to interview
Please note Interviews will be carried out remotely
During the interview, we will be assessing you on Behaviours and Strengths from the success profiles framework. We will assess you against the following Behaviours:
- Delivering at Pace
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Communicating and Influencing
You can refer to the Civil Service Strengths Dictionary for more details: Success Profiles - Civil Service Strengths Dictionary (publishing.service.gov.uk).
Interviews are expected to take place in February 2023.
The MoJ is proud to be Level 3 Disability Confident. Disability Confident is the approach through which we offer guaranteed interviews for all people with disabilities meeting the minimum criteria for the advertised role as set out in the job description.
Candidates applying from HMPPS should note that the Ministry of Justice does not have the same conditions of employment as HMPPS. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the terms and conditions they will adopt should they be successful.
Contact information
Please do get in touch with Nishat Tasnim (Criminal Justice Strategy & Criminal Courts Process and Procedure Unit - nishat.tasnim@justice.gov.uk) or Jocelyn Butson (Courts and Tribunals Recovery Unit - jocelyn.butson1@justice.gov.uk) if you would like to know more about the roles or what it is like working in our team.
Annex A - The STAR method
Using the STAR method can help you give examples of relevant experience that you have. It allows you to set the scene, show what you did, and how you did it, and explain the overall outcome.
Situation - Describe the situation you found yourself in. You must describe a specific event or situation. Be sure to give enough detail for the job holder to understand.
- Where are you?
- Who was there with you?
- What had happened?
Task - The job holder will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation you found yourself in.
- What was the task that you had to complete and why?
- What did you have to achieve?
Actions - What did you do? The job holder will be looking for information on what you did, how you did it and why. Keep the focus on you. What specific steps did you take and what was your contribution? Remember to include how you did it, and the behaviours you used. Try to use “I” rather than “we” to explain your actions that lead to the result. Be careful not to take credit for something that you did not do.
Results - Don’t be shy about taking credit for your behaviour. Quote specific facts and figures. Explain how the outcome benefitted the organisation or your area. Make the outcomes easily understandable.
- What results did the actions produce?
- What did you achieve through your actions and did you meet your goals?
- Was it a successful outcome? If not, what did you learn from the experience?
Keep the situation and task parts brief. Concentrate on the action and the result. If the result was not entirely successful describe what you learned from this and what you would do differently next time. Make sure you focus on your strengths.
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