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 Advisors and Delivery & Implementation Managers
SEO (up to 8 posts may be available)
The Victims and Witnesses Commissioning and Implementation Unit
This government is committed to providing victims with the support they need to move on with their lives. We want more victims to have the confidence to come forward, so that more criminals can be prosecuted, and victims can get the justice they deserve. The Victims and Witnesses Commissioning and Implementation Unit plays a key role in meeting this ambition, ensuring access to the right support, at the right time.
We are recruiting permanently for up to 8 SEO roles. This campaign is open to external candidates, as well as current civil servants on level transfer and to suitable candidates on promotion.
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.
At the moment full time staff are required to work from the office twice weekly.
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
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ)
MOJ is one of the largest government departments, employing over 77,000 people (including those in the Probation Service), with a budget of approximately £9 billion. Each year, millions of people use our services across the UK - including at 500 courts and tribunals, and 133 prisons in England and Wales.
Further information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice
What we do
The Commissioning and Implementation Unit leads on the critical work to commission and fund quality and effective support services for victims and witnesses both nationally and locally. In 21/22 our budget was around £150m rising to £185m in 24/25. We use data and evidence to demonstrate impact of these services and use this information to improve and influence the system through setting standards, building capability and capacity, and making evidence-driven policy decisions.
It is an exciting time to join the team, multi-year funding has recently been announced, and our sister unit is delivering a groundbreaking Victims’ Bill which seeks to; amplify the voices of victims in the justice system, increase transparency of the performance of our criminal justice agencies, increase accountability when victims do not receive the right level of service and, ensure victims receive accessible, professional and well-coordinated services to support their recovery.
Key priorities across the Unit include:
- Delivering 4 main commitments from the Rape Review which are subject to intense Ministerial and stakeholder scrutiny, including the establishment of 24/7 support for victims of rape and sexual violence and increasing the number of Independent Sexual Violence Advisers (ISVAs) and Independent Domestic Violence Advisers (IDVAs) from 700 to over 1000 by 24/25.
- Delivery of two major national procurement programmes (circa £90m over 4 years) seeking to identify suppliers for the new national Witness and Homicide Services.
- Delivery and management of the MoJ Victims and Witnesses budget which will be allocated across national and local services including Police and Crime Commissioners and rape support centres across England and Wales.
- Delivering a pre-election commitment to increase the victim surcharge by 25% to ensure that offenders are making adequate financial reparation towards the cost of support for victims.
- Delivering a key commitment from the Prime Minister chaired Hidden Harms Summit to develop and implement a Victims Funding Strategy.
- Responding to unexpected situations in the aftermath of a serious crime which has caused high harm, ensuring a co-ordinated approach is taken across Whitehall.
The roles
All roles require effective partnership working with other policy and operational colleagues to deliver on the Unit’s priorities (listed above). They will be fast paced and rewarding roles, with significant opportunities for development and to make a real difference to the lives of victims and witnesses.
4 x SEO: Victim Support Senior Delivery and Implementation manager
You will be responsible for:
Overseeing MoJ’s relationships with partners who are delivering services for witnesses and victims, ensuring grant agreements / contracts are performing in line with agreed outcomes.
- Working closely with colleagues in commercial, legal and the Grants Centre of Excellence to ensure that services are commissioned through a robust and compliant process, which meet the ultimate aim of improving outcomes for victims and witnesses.
- Working closely with analysts to capture robust performance information, reviewing this data against targets to identify risks and monitor trends, and reporting to various oversight boards, ministers and other senior stakeholders on a regular basis.
- Ensuring proactive engagement with stakeholders, including Police and Crime Commissioners and service providers to unblock or escalate any emerging issues; maintaining strong cross-Whitehall links is also essential.
- Using both qualitative and quantitate evidence gathering through management of relationships / grants / contracts to advocate for policy changes and improvements.
- Ensuring activity and expenditure is managed in line with grant / contract conditions and the principles of Managing Public Money, and that there is a robust audit trail for payments.
- Ensuring ministers and senior officials are well briefed on progress against delivery milestones.
- Striving for continuous improvement in service delivery, advocating for the needs of victims, witnesses and our delivery partners and delivering changes that ensure value for money, efficiency and best practice at every appropriate opportunity.
- There may be the opportunity for line management – this will be role dependant.
4 x SEO Victim Support Senior Policy Advisor
You will be responsible for:
- Leading work to engage stakeholders to develop policy proposals which meet the needs of victims and witnesses and ensure they get the support they need; this includes policy initiatives to overcome delivery challenges / risks.
- Working with partners to implement, monitor and assess policy initiatives.
- Providing high quality advice and briefing to Ministers and senior officials on issues relating to victims policy.
- Developing and maintaining strong working relationships with a wide network of policy colleagues within MoJ and other government departments, in particular the Home Office.
- Representing the interests of MoJ Ministers across Whitehall and the sector, ensuring that MoJ priorities are being promoted and key interests are protected.
- Contributing to the progression of wider policy initiatives geared towards strengthening victim and witness policy.
- Contributing positively to an ambitious and forward-thinking team.
- There may be the opportunity for line management – this will be role dependant.
Skills and Experience
Essential:
- Effective stakeholder management
- A passion for improving outcomes for vulnerable individuals
- Confident at using data and evidence
- Ability to work flexibly and at pace
Desirable:
- Experience of the commissioning cycle (this could be for example Grant administration or contract management experience)
- Excellent written and oral briefing skills
Application process
You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework.
Experience
You will be asked to provide a Work History during the application process in order to assess any demonstrable experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role.
We would also like a short (max 250 words) Statement of Suitability where candidates should demonstrate their skills and experience relevant to the role. Please use this statement to state any preference between the two types of roles available.
Behaviours
Please provide examples of how you have met each one of the behaviours listed below (see Annex A for more information):
- Making Effective Decisions
- Managing a Quality Service
- Working Together
- Leadership
Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade:
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 Making Effective Decisions. Successful applicants will then be invited to an interview, testing both behaviours and strengths.
Candidates invited to 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 the week commencing 23 May 2022.
At interview stage, if candidates do not score high enough to be appointed to a SEO role but have passed the minimal requirements for a HEO role, they could be offered a role at the more junior level.
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.
Contact information
Please do get in touch if you would like to know more about the role or what it is like working in our team. (contact Nicola Simpson – Nicola.simpson1@justice.gov.uk.)
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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