About the job

Job summary

Please refer to Job Description

Job description

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.

Overview of role

Prisons and Probation Ombudsman Assessor (AO – Band E)

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) is an Arm’s Length Body of the Ministry of Justice and investigates:

• complaints made by prisoners, young people in detention, offenders under probation supervision and individuals detained under immigration powers 
• deaths of prisoners, young people in detention, residents in approved premises and individuals detained under immigration powers 
• deaths of recently released prisoners that occur within 14 days of release from prison (except homicide). 

The Ombudsman receives around 4,000 new complaints a year of which around half are assessed as eligible for investigation.  The assessment of new cases is carried out by Assessors, who are also responsible for preparing cases for investigation.  The target is to complete the assessment of 80% of new cases within ten days of receipt.

The post holder will be part of the Assessment Team and will be line managed by a EO (Band D), Senior Assessment Officer. The team is headed by a SEO (Band B), Head of Assessment Team who is responsible for the strategic management and direction of the team, allocation processes and quality assurance of the complaints received from prisoners, trainees in Secure Training Centres (STCs), immigration detainees and probation supervisees.  The post holder will work in a team with six other Assessors. 

This post offers an exciting opportunity to develop case working skills, make decisions and have first-hand experience of dealing with people in custody and offender supervision.  The post holder will need to have good judgement, an inquiring mind and require a flexible approach.  It will suit individuals that are self-motivated, well-organised and enjoy working within a team and with investigators. 

Previous experience of the Criminal Justice System is not required as training will be given on the job.

The PPO is based at the HM Government hub at 10 South Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London. Currently, staff are expected to attend the office two days a week (based on full time hours), with the rest of the time spent working at home or in commuter hubs.  However, the Civil Service Heads of Department have recently written to all departments, including the PPO, and confirmed that their expectation is that staff will attend the office for three days a week (based on full time hours).  We expect this to begin at some time in 2024. 

While you will usually have some flexibility to decide which days of the week you work in the office to enable you to manage your office attendance around your personal circumstances, there will be occasions when you will be required to attend the office (for example, team meetings, office or function-wide meetings).

Please note that the PPO are unable to offer home working contracts or allow you to permanently work at any other location, other than 10 South Colonnade, for the required office attendance days. 

If you are successful, you may need to attend the office more frequently in your first six weeks, to undertake key training and induction activity.  

The salary is £27,000 and there will be no opportunity to negotiate this amount. 

Job Description

The post holder will be responsible for the following;

• Assessing complaints, against agreed criteria, as to whether they are eligible for investigation by the PPO or not.
• Submitting decisions to senior managers about complaints that are not assessed as being eligible. 
• Signposting ‘pushback’ cases to the Senior Assessment Officers for consideration.
• Writing to complainants to clearly set out the assessment decision. 
• Making relevant and appropriate enquiries with our stakeholders. 
• Obtaining relevant paperwork from our stakeholders, where necessary. 
• Managing general correspondence to the PPO, received by post, email or telephone. 
• Processing cases appropriately and promptly on our case management system. 
• Maintaining case files, as and when required, and linking correspondence for complaints that have previously been submitted to the PPO.  
• Reviewing and processing messages left by callers to the PPO’s telephone line. 
• Helping to promote team and cross-office working and contributing fully to the team and office meetings. 
• Occasional prison visits to build and maintain relationships with prison, STC or immigration removal staff.

Essential requirements

• The ability to analyse and make a sound judgement based on multiple and sometimes conflicting evidence. 
• The ability to draft eligibility letters to complainants so that the message is clear, simple, accurate and well-evidenced, with realistic and meaningful conclusions.
• The ability to establish good working relationships with stakeholders in order to access information necessary to the assessment process. 

The Application and Interview Process

The PPO is a Disability Confident Committed Employer, and we ensure our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible. Please complete the application information on reasonable adjustments and disabilities if relevant.  Further information on the types of reasonable adjustment that can be provided can be found at https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/reasonable-adjustments/

This is a two-stage process. 

Stage 1:

 

• Submit a statement of suitability (250 words) setting out how your skills and experience match the essential requirements for the role as stated above.
• Provide an example of where you have demonstrated the skills required for the Civil Service Behaviours ‘Making Effective Decisions’ and ‘Delivering at Pace’.

To pass stage 1, a candidate will need to score a minimum of two out of three on their statement of suitability and four out of seven on each of the behaviours.  If we receive a high number of high scoring applications, we reserve the right to increase this minimum benchmark.

Stage 2: 

Those who meet the required level at the application stage will be invited to a short final interview.  During the interview, you will be asked questions about the Civil Service Behaviours ‘Making Effective Decisions’ and ‘Delivering at Pace’, as well as strength-based questions relating to the role.

You will also be required to complete a written test, following your interview, to demonstrate your ability to identify potential complaint issues. 

To be considered appointable, you will need to score a minimum of eight out of 14 for the behaviour questions, a minimum of four out of eight for the strength questions and a minimum of four for the written test.  If we receive a high number of his scoring interviewees, we reserve the right to increase this minimum benchmark. 

Recruitment across the Civil Service changed from July 2019 with the introduction of Success Profiles. Further guidance can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles.

Making Effective Decisions

Use guidance, analyse relevant information and ask colleagues for input to support decision making. Identify and deal with any errors or gaps in information before making a decision. Consider the diverse needs of those affected by decisions and how it will impact them. Provide advice and feedback to support others in making accurate decisions. Ask others to clarify decisions when confused and query any issues that arise constructively.

Delivering at Pace

Always work with focus and pace to get the job done on time and to a high standard. Follow the relevant policies, procedures and rules that apply to the job. Use own knowledge and expertise to organise work. Keep focused on delivery and take responsibility for the quality of work produced. Keep a consistent level of personal performance. Keep managers and stakeholders updated on how work is progressing.

When answering questions about the behaviours, you might want to use the STAR approach to help you to present your evidence more successfully.  This approach provides structure and focus to your answers.

The STAR approach stands for:

Situation – briefly describe the context and your role.

Task – the specific challenge, task or job that you faced.

Action – what you did, how and why you did it.

Result – what you achieved through your actions.

You should keep the situation and task parts brief, concentrating on the actions you took and the result. If the result was not entirely successful describe what you learned from this and what you would do differently next time. STAR may help you to cover all the points you need to make.

When using STAR, you should use one specific example per behaviour and you should explain what you did rather than others.

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made should further vacancies become available.

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £27,000, Ministry of Justice contributes £7,317 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.