About the job

Job summary

The Insolvency Service is a leading Government agency which plays a crucial role in providing essential services to the public and to business. The work we do is important to the proper functioning of markets, the economy in general and support for thousands of people each year who are in financial difficulty. The Legal Services Directorate undertakes both criminal enforcement work and civil litigation arising from director miscinduct. Legal Services undertakes both criminal enforcement work on a range of offences that underpin the insolvency regime and civil litigation work arising from director misconduct. The purpose of this post is to manage a team of Paralegal Officers who are responsible for providing support and assistance to the in-house legal team.

Inclusive and diverse teams are important to us. We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups underrepresented in our workforce. The Insolvency Service strives to ensure that the agency is a safe, inclusive and welcoming place for everybody to bring their true self to work and to help the agency to achieve its diversity objectives. We have 10 active employee network groups available to join or become an ally, these include LGBT+, FACES, Disability & Health, Break the Stigma, Women’s, The Shed, Carers, Part Time Workers, No Limits and Grass Roots. We offer full-time, part-time, job share and flexible ways of working. We value capability, technical skills and experience and we place great emphasis on lifetime development to support our people. We encourage our employees to become more involved in areas they feel strongly about, whether it be for the benefit of the agency, though our Engagement network or in their own local communities via volunteering opportunities.

The Insolvency Service is a great place to work, learn and grow your career.

Job description

This is an exciting role within our Legal Services Directorate. As a Paralegal Officer Manager you will manage a team of Paralegal Officers (EO grade) who are responsible for providing support and assistance to the in-house legal team and for the administration of both criminal and civil cases. this

Responsibilities

As a Paralegal Officer Manager you will:

• Provide effective case supervision to direct report staff ensuring consistency and fairness as well as effective and efficient progression of cases;
• Be responsible for providing assurance of consistency and quality of casework to the Head of Paralegal and LSD Senior Management Team through regular audits;
• Lead on the development, support and training of the Paralegal Officer team to build capability;
• Collaborate with colleagues to monitor workload and performance across the team to assist resource planning and ensure deadlines are met; Drive performance across the team to ensure that key KPIs are achieved through the regular review of management information
• Act as a Police National Computer Auditor to ensure proper and effective use of the Police National Computer database by those completing checks.
• Support the Deputy Head of Paralegal with wider LSD and Agency initiatives

Further Information

Any successful candidate will be subject to further security checks and clearance at NPVV level 2.
If candidate is to be based at a location other than Manchester or Stratford then frequent travel to these offices will be required.

Person specification

The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate:

• You will have strong interpersonal skills, and ability to work flexibly, effectively and across teams
•  You will have the ability to work as a team player managing dynamics inclusively when working across team, departmental and other boundaries
• You are able to keep your own and the team’s efforts focused on the goals that really matter and successfully manage, support and stretch yourself and your team to deliver agreed outcomes by being proactive and taking ownership and accountability for decisions and commitments.
• You will have strong organisational skills, with an ability to prioritise caseloads and tasks and work to tight deadlines;
• You will have a willingness to adapt to change and promote the positive benefits of a culture of continuous improvement.
• You will have the ability to build and establish positive relationships and a keen focus on the development of your staff. You will have experience of working in an operational civil or criminal litigation team

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £28,842, Insolvency Service contributes £7,787 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 and Strengths.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete Behaviours. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form. 

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the lead behaviour 'Delivering at Pace'. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview. 

We will test your behaviours as part of the sift process, if successful you will be invited to a short interview where we will test your behaviours and strengths. Full details of the selection process will be made available to shortlisted candidates once the sift has been completed.

Expected Timeline (subject to change) 

Sift – w/c 12 02 24

Interview – w/c 26 02 24 

Location - MS Teams

Candidates are asked to note the above timetable, exercising flexibility through the recruitment and selection process 

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. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.