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.

The Courts, Criminal and Family Justice Directorate is recruiting permanently for a Grade 7 courts and tribunals project team leader role. This campaign is being run externally and so is open to all who consider themselves suitable for the roles and meet the eligibility criteria in the wider advert within Civil Service Jobs. 

Location:

Successful candidates will have the option to be based at one of the following locations:

1. 102 Petty France, London
2. 5 Wellington Place, Leeds

Occasional travel between the two locations may be required.

In order for Policy Group to meet its evolving business needs all Policy Group staff are expected to attend their base location (102 Petty France or 5 Wellington Place Leeds) at least 2 days a week.  This hybrid working arrangement is not contractual and as a result staff could be asked to attend their base location more frequently.

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

Salary

New entrants to the Civil Service will be expected to join on the minimum of the pay range. 

If you are already a civil servant and are successful in an external recruitment competition for a role with us, your starting pay will be the better of:

• promotion terms or transfer terms, as appropriate; or
• pay on appointment arrangements (minimum of pay range)

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ)

MOJ is one of the largest government departments, employing over 90,000 people (including those in the Probation Service), with a budget of approximately £9.5 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

The Work of The Courts and Tribunals Joint Unit (CTJU) 

The Courts and Tribunals Joint Unit (CTJU) is a high-profile, friendly and supportive team that works across HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) and the Ministry of Justice to drive improvement in the way the courts and tribunals operate. 

We do this by providing high quality analysis and recommendations for priority, cross-cutting policy and operational issues relating to the courts and tribunals. We work across departmental boundaries and alongside the wider justice system in which the courts and tribunals are situated. 

We drive continuous improvement and solve complex problems, and work to the HMCTS leadership team, Policy Group and Ministers. We are a joint unit between HMCTS and MoJ Policy. We work collaboratively with both on our projects, cutting through barriers, building strong relationships and developing robust and innovative approaches to complex problems. 

The CTJU sits within the The Courts, Criminal and Family Justice Directorate. This Directorate is at the heart of MoJ’s policy agenda, working to reform complex systems that deal with some of the most vulnerable members of our society. The teams in the Directorate work to ensure that the criminal and family justice systems are straightforward, efficient, work for everyone, and are focused on solving people’s problems in a way that reserves court for the more complex issues. 

Courts and Tribunals Projects Team Leader - the role

We are looking for enthusiastic and highly motivated individual to lead a team in the Courts and Tribunals Joint Unit. This is a high-profile and fast-paced team, receiving extensive Ministerial interest. The unit is friendly and supportive and has adopted flexible working practices designed to ensure personal wellbeing and a genuine life/work balance.

The Courts and Tribunals Joint Unit undertakes project-based work to understand and improve performance across our courts and tribunals. The courts and tribunals project team lead on projects primarily across the Criminal courts. The team works closely with operational and policy partners to understand what is happening in the system, develop options to drive system improvement and inform advice to senior officials and Ministers.

This role comes with a high degree of autonomy, delivering MoJ Ministerial priorities in areas which carry a significant No.10 interest. The post holder will need to be able to build strong relationships with Ministers, senior officials, and colleagues from across the courts and tribunals including operational partners. This role therefore offers significant direct exposure to Ministers and the Senior Judiciary and the chance to build relationships and find consensus, often on difficult issues, across the courts and tribunals systems.

Skills and Experience

Responsibilities include:

• Leading projects across the Criminal courts to drive improvements in performance. These projects will usually sit across the policy and operational boundaries.
• Building effective relationships with high profile stakeholders and officials from across the justice system, including other Government departments, charities, the judiciary and operational partners
• Playing a leading role to develop solutions with justice partners across several complex and challenging issues affecting the system.
• Line management of approximately 3 SEOs and 1 HEO and contributing to the wider leadership of the unit.

Essential:

• Ability to build strong relationships and communicate effectively.
• Proven ability to lead as a ‘self-starter’ by using initiative to devise creative solutions to unforeseen challenges and often dealing with ambiguity.
• Be skilled at working with and through others to make change happen, bringing about new ways of working.
• Experience of delivering within a fast-paced environment, meeting deadlines and escalating emerging issues and risks. 
• Very high standard of accuracy and attention to detail, with strong writing and editing skills, grammar, spelling, and comfortable with handling numerical data.

Desirable:

• Experience or knowledge of working in the courts system.
• An understanding of the policy context and challenges facing the justice system.
• Previous line manager experience.

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.

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.

 

Application process

You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework.

Experience

You will be asked to provide a CV during the application process in order to assess any demonstrable experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role.

You will also be asked to upload a Statement of Suitability of no more than 500 words stating what you would bring to the role, with reference to the Skills and Experience listed above.

Behaviours

During the application process you will be asked to provide an example of how you have met the following behaviour (see Annex A for more information):

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing
• 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 Seeing the Big Picture. 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 panel interview, you will be asked behaviour-based questions to explore in detail what you are capable of, and strengths-based questions to also explore what you enjoy, and your motivations relevant to the job role.

In addition to the Behaviour(s) listed in the application form, you will also be asked by the interview panel to provide examples of how you meet the behaviours listed below.

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing
• Leadership
• Making Effective Decisions

There is no expectation or requirement for you to prepare for the strengths-based questions in advance of the interview, though you may find it helpful to spend some time reflecting on what you enjoy doing and what you do well.

You can refer to the CS Strengths dictionary for more details:  Success Profiles - Civil Service Strengths Dictionary (publishing.service.gov.uk)

A short presentation will be required. Details will be sent to candidates if invited to interview.

Interviews are expected to take place in early February 2024.

Contact information 

Please do get in touch with Emily Dibble (emily.dibble@justice.gov.uk) if you would like to know more about the role 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.

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £54,358, Ministry of Justice contributes £15,165 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 and Experience.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.