About the job

Job summary

Our Mission

We are known as IfATE, we are a group of passionate people who work with employers to develop, approve, review and revise apprenticeships and technical qualifications.

We are transforming and improving the skills system by putting employers at the heart and making it easier to navigate for all.

You will be part of an organisation that works to help people of all ages and backgrounds have the opportunity to maximise their potential, contribute to improving social mobility and the UK’s productivity.

Find out more about the work of IfATE in the ‘What we do’ page on our website. 

We are building an inclusive culture to make IfATE a brilliant place to work where our people feel valued, have a voice and can be their authentic selves. We value difference and diversity, and actively welcome applications from everyone including those from underrepresented groups.

Job description

The purpose of this role is to lead IfATE’s legal team in the provision of high quality and timely legal advice across all areas of the business. The legal team is a high-performing team that works across all areas of IfATE to ensure it carries out its statutory functions in an effective and legally sound manner. The workload is varied, novel and interesting. The team is lead by the General Counsel and Company Secretary, who was the GC of the Year at the 2021 British Legal Awards. It is a small and friendly team and lawyers have a high degree of autonomy and flexibility. 

In this role, you will supervise, support and develop members of the legal team, ensuring their output is thorough, legally sound and solution focused. You will support General Counsel and Company Secretary in the development and provision of an expert professional legal service which gives strategic and risk-based advice to senior leaders and others in the organisation. You will develop and deliver appropriate legal strategies to help ensure IfATE can meet its objectives and work effectively with internal and external stakeholders in order to achieve this. You will organise the legal team and its work in a way that maximises efficiency (including by monitoring workflow and maintaining and developing systems and processes to accurately capture the nature and extent of advice given by the team).

The legal team consists of 1 apprentice solicitor, 3 senior legal counsel, the head of legal role and the general counsel and company secretary (who also leads the governance function).

Legal advice – with support from the General Counsel and Company Secretary, you will provide legal advice, and oversee the provision of legal advice, on all aspects of IfATE’s functions, with a particular focus on:

• Public and regulatory law (advising on IfATE decision making in the context of technical education approvals, statutory interpretation, process/policy design and development across all areas of IfATE’s activities).
  
• Procurement and commercial (advising in respect of T Level procurement and approval and supporting in connection with other general procurement, contractual and commercial matters).

Strategic sounding board – act as a strategic sounding board and key advisor as the IfATE delivers on its current functions and seeks to operationalise its new powers.

Actively contribute to IfATE as a senior manager and take responsibility for the recruitment, management and development of members of the legal team.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

• Legal Technical Skills - You must be a qualified lawyer with substantial post qualification experience of public/regulatory law and/or procurement and commercial law and have the proven ability to approach legal issues applying sound analysis, secure legal research and reliable legal judgement, and to appreciate legal risk. You must be able to think strategically and creatively, see legal issues in their wider context and advise accordingly.
  
• Excellent communication skills - Ability to consistently deliver accurate and engaging messages. You will also be able to demonstrate strong negotiation and influencing skills.
• Leadership and Management - Experience of being an effective manager who is able to appropriately supervise the output of team members in respect of complex and sometimes sensitive legal matters. 

Applicants should have an appropriate amount of Post-Qualified Experience with substantial experience as a qualified lawyer and manager which will enable them to undertake the role. 

They must understand the legal professional requirements imposed on qualified lawyers and the context in which lawyers in the public sector operate.  

Candidate must be able to demonstrate strong knowledge of legal issues faced by public organisations, having advised either in-house or in private practice, on the lawful exercise of public functions.

Candidates should have deep knowledge and understanding of either:

• a) Public and regulatory law and the types of legal issues which arise in policy and process design and implementation (ideally in connection with education policy).
• b) Public procurement law and the types of legal issues which arise in policy and process design and implementation (ideally in connection with education policy). Candidates with this experience will have some knowledge of public law.

It is desirable for candidates to have deep knowledge and understanding of each of (a) and (b) above.

Desirable criteria will only be assessed in the event of a tie between candidates.

Working flexibly is important to the success of the IfATE, and while you will have specific responsibilities as set out above, you will be part of a ‘one team’ approach and may be asked to be involved in a range of other activities.  As new areas of work progress, you may be asked to move between teams to deliver the IfATE’s key priorities.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £65,484, Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education contributes £17,680 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 Experience.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement.

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Please use your personal statement (in no more than 1000 words) to cover the "Essential Criteria" in the advert.

Please note - the CV incorporated into the application form is for information purposes only and will not be scored.

The personal statement will be assessed at sift stage. If we receive high volumes of applications, we will sift only on the first essential criteria, so please ensure that the first 150-200 words of your statement are aligned to this criterion (Legal Technical Skills).

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

Candidates eligible for the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) will be invited to interview if they meet the minimum criteria at application stage. Please refer to the Candidate Information Pack for more details.

Interview

The interview will involve a discussion around your experience based on the adverts’ criteria, your CV, and your personal statement.

You may be required to undertake a written assessment and/or presentation at interview stage (either before the interview or as part of the interview process).

Further details will be provided in your invitation to interview.

Interviews are likely to be in person in London and/or Manchester and date to be confirmed.

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 IFArecruitment.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 interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

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 to 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.

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

Further Information

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education does not cover the cost of travel to your interview/assessment unless otherwise stated.

A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made.

Any move to IFATE 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

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.