About the job

Job summary

This is an exciting opportunity to join our in-house Criminal Team as a D3/Grade 6 Senior Lawyer within the Legal Services Directorate, as it continues to grow. D3/Grade 6 lawyers have important leadership roles across the Directorate and will be responsible for the management of a small team of qualified lawyers. The in-house Criminal Team prosecutes a wide range of offences concerned with insolvency related crime and corporate misconduct. The team also provides operational advice across the agency, with particular focus on criminal and statutory investigations.

The Insolvency Service is a great place to work, learn and grow your career. Legal Services consists of approximately 82 staff who make up our Criminal, Civil Enforcement Teams, and a Paralegal Team. We provide legal services to the Service that includes advisory work and conducting criminal and civil litigation.

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.

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 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.

Job description

We are looking for experienced criminal prosecutors, who are intellectually capable and highly motivated with powerful communication skills. This is a senior lawyer role, leading a small team of qualified lawyers prosecuting insolvency related fraud and corporate misconduct. The senior lawyer role includes conduct of their own varied caseload, including complex matters. The post holder will be expected to provide strong professional leadership, inspire, and motivate their team.

All lawyers are expected to make a corporate contribution to the running and continuous improvement of the Legal Services Directorate. The crime team is friendly and welcoming, with a strong culture of collaborating and supporting one another. Training and support for those joining without experience in this area of law will be provided.

Responsibilities

Key responsibilities and activities will be:

• To lead a small team of qualified criminal lawyers, overseeing the team’s casework and professional development, as well as managing the team’s overall performance to achieve objectives.
• To manage your own varied caseload through to trial, including complex matters, instructing Counsel or agent solicitors where appropriate.
• To advise upon and prosecute other matters arising for the Department for Business and Trade’s regulatory functions, such as matters referred by the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate and Companies House.
• To build effective working relationships with colleagues involved in the Services enforcement work, particularly with our criminal investigators and Chief Investigation Officers, providing clear, accurate and timely advice where required on the conduct of investigations and developing focused 
  case strategies where required.

Person specification

We are looking for highly motivated lawyers with strong interpersonal skills, with experience of managing or developing others. You need to have good self- awareness and work well within a team. Post holders will demonstrate excellent legal ability, have sound judgement and good analytical skills.

Desirable Academic Qualifications

Applicants should have a minimum of a 2:1 degree in their first degree (in any subject). Where an applicant holds an overseas degree qualification this should be equivalent to a 2.1 degree.

However, the Insolvency Service will consider applicants who do not have a 2.1 degree (or above) (e.g. where a lower degree classification is held, or, where applicants have (under the rules of the professional bodies) qualified as a Solicitor/Barrister/ Chartered Legal Executives without a degree) but only where satisfactory evidence of equivalent high level academic and/or professional achievement can be provided (e.g. via relevant experience and results achieved for the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL)/CPE, Legal Practice Course (LPC), Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC)).

Chartered Legal Executives should note that the department will be willing to accept an, overall, average score of 65% or above across exams passed in the seven foundation subjects in law (where studied at CILEx Level 6) as demonstrating 2.1 degree equivalence (where a 2.1 degree is not held)

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £67,320, Insolvency Service contributes £18,176 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 Experience.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV,  1000 word personal statement and Behaviours. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form. 

Please provide a personal statement of no more than 1000 words demonstrating how you meet the following essential criteria:

Legal Professional Skills (750 words max)

• A sound knowledge and experience of criminal law, including evidence, disclosure and procedure.
• Reliable legal judgement and appreciation of legal risk.
• Sound legal analysis and research skills.
• Good understanding of public law

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience of fraud and financial crime litigation

In addition, your personal statement must include a statement of no more than 250 words demonstrating the following:

Motivational Fit (250 words max)

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

We will test your behaviours and experience as part of the sift process, if successful you will be invited to a short interview where we will test your behaviours and experience. You may also be tested by being asked to conduct a presentation at interview. Full details of the selection process will be made available to shortlisted candidates once the sift has been completed.

Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Location - London (Stratford Office 1 Westfield Avenue, London, E20 1HZ ). Please note that Virtual interviews will be accommodated only in exceptional circumstances and upon request.

Further Information

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

Any move to Insolvency Service from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk  

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Transforming Workplaces

The Insolvency Service is currently delivering an exciting five-year transformation project that started in April 2022 which will define our future direction supporting a gradual migration to a Regional Centre model combined with smarter ways of working. As part of this, transforming our estate will align us with the government modernisation programmes making The Insolvency Service a great place to work.  

We are letting you know about our future plans because if you are joining the Insolvency Service and are recruited into an office over the next five years that is not one of the Regional Centres, you will be expected to move to one of the Regional Centres in the future. This move would not attract financial assistance.   

The 11 Regional Centres are : Birmingham, Cardiff, Croydon, Edinburgh, Exeter, Ipswich, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Stratford.

Hybrid Working

Insolvency Service operates a hybrid working policy subject to business need, giving people the flexibility to choose when and where they work and collaborate with others.

Individuals are expected to work from one of the office locations stated in the advert to connect with their colleagues, as required by their role and business team needs. There is flexibility to split the working week, spending a minimum of 60% in the workplace, which includes the office, site visits, court etc.

Reasonable Adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. 

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: 

Contact Government Recruitment Service via insolvencyrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. 

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section in the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

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.