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.
Recovery Strategy Adviser
SEO
Courts and Tribunals Recovery Unit
This is an exciting opportunity to join a high-profile and fast-paced team which sits at the heart of both MoJ and HMCTS to set the strategic approach to recovery across the justice system.
We are recruiting for up to four permanent SEO. If we receive applications from more suitable candidates than we have vacancies for at this time, we will 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.
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 Leeds and London 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.
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.
We welcome and 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
Courts and Tribunals Recovery Unit
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 build 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.
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, are able to communicate complex ideas clearly and can provide supportive leadership to those they line-manage. You will need to be confident working independently and comfortable working with ambiguity, leading the delivery of the complex and challenging recovery agenda.
The team has a wide range of experience and is comprised of people with a mix of backgrounds in both policy and operational roles. We work closely with other teams at both a working and senior level across the department and the wider government to deliver the strategic approach to recovery.
The Roles
There will be up to four roles in total:
- Up to two of these will be in the jurisdictional teams, which focus on either the criminal courts (Crown and Magistrates’ Courts), or the civil and family courts and tribunals - although the successful candidate may need to work across the breadth of the unit.
- Up to two of these roles will be in the data teams. In these roles successful candidates will work closely with analytical colleagues in MoJ HQ and HMCTS to bring insights from data and modelling to the work of the unit. You will cover a wide variety of exciting and challenging work in the role, from working at pace on high-profile commissions, to presenting data effectively and articulating the assumptions underpinning analytical models.
The individual will:
- co-ordinate and draft regular advice to ministers, the Permanent Secretary and other senior officials on various recovery related topics, often responding at speed to high priority complex commissions
- Be confident in absorbing and making sense of high volumes of complex information
- proactively create and maintain 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 develop and deliver recovery
- work well as part of a team and strive to ensure the team works together to deliver.
- be expected to provide leadership across the team to ensure an inclusive, collaborative and driven environment
- maintain and review CTRU processes to ensure quality delivery at pace
- Be able to think analytically and be confident in working with numbers
Personal Attributes & Skills
The individual will:
- have strong organisational skills and be capable of managing a high volume of work at pace
- have excellent judgement, combined with the ingenuity and independent ability to spot and manage risk and bring solutions to problems to CTRU SMT and other senior officials
- have strong communication and collaboration skills, particularly the ability to drive progress to get things done within CTRU and through external teams, ensuring high performance
- have excellent writing skills, 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
- be able to quickly build positive relationships with colleagues across HMCTS and MOJ as well as other key stakeholders in a complex and sensitive environment
- be confident in absorbing and making sense of high volumes of complex information at pace
- be engaging, trustworthy and unafraid to challenge peers and senior colleagues
Application process
You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework.
Experience
You will be asked to provide a CV and a Statement of Suitability of no more than 250 words during the application process in order to assess any demonstrable experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role
Behaviours
Please provide examples of how you have met each one of the behaviours listed below (see Annex A for more information):
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Making Effective Decisions
- Delivering at Pace
- Communicating and influencing
Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade (Level 3 – Band B 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 seeing the bigger picture. Successful applicants will then be invited to an interview, testing both behaviours and strengths.
Candidates invited to Interview
You will be required to carry out a short task at interview. Details of this will be sent to those candidates who are invited for interview.
Please note that interviews will be carried out remotely.
During the interview, we will be assessing you on Behaviours and Strengths from the success Profiles framework.
You can refer to the CS Strengths dictionary for more details: Success Profiles - Civil Service Strengths Dictionary (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Interviews are expected to take place in May 2022.
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 Jocelyn Butson (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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