Panel Chair Support Officer (Ref: 82836)
Parole Board
About the job
Job summary
These positions are based nationally.Job description
JOB DESCRIPTION:
EOI – Panel Chair Support Team & Hearing Support EO
About the Parole Board:
The Parole Board is an independent court-like body that carries out risk assessments on prisoners to determine whether they can be safely released into the community. It does that with great care and public safety is our number one priority. All Parole Board decisions are solely focused on whether a prisoner would represent a significant risk to the public after release. Not all decisions that Members make are popular, but they make these decisions fairly and objectively.
The Parole Board is made up of approximately 170 secretariat staff based in our London Head Office. There are approximately 320 Members who attend hearings across England and Wales.
The Parole Board is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Ministry of Justice. Staff who work for the Parole Board Secretariat are Public Servants, not Civil Servants.
About the role:
An exciting opportunity has arisen in the Operations team to work directly with Panel Chair members who have a high workload. The role is to support high sitting Chairs throughout with management of their reviews and to relieve them from some of the administration work. You will assist with all aspects of case management and administration and oral hearings. You won’t have a case load to manage in the usual way. You will provide administrative support to the member(s) on a 1-2-1 basis. They will also assist Parole Board Panel Chairs to ensure that where a video oral hearing has been directed, the hearing is ably supported and any issues are dealt with promptly.
The post holders will assist with improving the processes to maintain the efficiency and effectiveness of the Parole Board’s Chair relationships. You will be responsible for the day-to-day management of cases ensuring that all necessary steps are taken to ensure directions are complied with in a timely manner, all witnesses are in attendance at the Oral Hearings and take any additional actions to prevent hearings being adjourned or deferred.
Person specification:
The post-holder will need to be very organised and motivated and be able to work under pressure. You will be required to manage the facilitation of remote video hearings. Video hearings are held in a CVP (Cloud Video Platform). This differs from a video link in that no endpoint is required so all parties who have a camera-enabled device (laptop/tablet/smart phone) can connect fully remotely from any location, including their office or their own home.
You will apply judgement and discretion as appropriate and will develop a good working relationship with the member(s) that you are assigned. You will oversee the members caseload ensuring that all deadlines are met or appropriately escalated and will deal with sensitive material in line with laid-down guidance. You will have excellent typing, communication and organisational skills.
Main Duties:
• Provide a dedicated support who will oversee their listed cases and adjournments – case management would stay with the OH teams.
• To complete checks on listed cases at 8 weeks.
• To complete checks on listed cases before the hearing. Contacting the case manager if there are any issues.
• Work closely with case managers and other stakeholders to ensure successful progression of reviews.
• Diary management – including rescheduling adjournment OH’s.
• To monitor team inboxes and Inbox/E-mail Management of the Panel Chair(s) – panel chair to deal with the stuff they need to – push back to case managers if required.
• Delegated Authority – so the panel chair is making decisions on the matters that they need to.
• Population of Templates – with factual information – will need to be checked by the panel chairs.
• Sending adjournment notices on behalf of the Panel Chairs who are not going to submit the decision within 14 days.
• To ensure that all directed material is provided on time and the Panel Chair(s) decisions are issued or escalated in good time.
• To assist with emergencies arising from video hearings. For example, logistical and technical issues with attendance.
• Connection tests when required with hospitals for mental health cases.
• Record hearings to be arranged on a centralised spreadsheet;
• Update and monitor the Parole Board’s case management system (witness contact details for day and room numbers and guest pin);
• To develop and maintain relationships with this Chair and other panel members.
• To be available to the Chair during working hours.
• Send connection details to witnesses and the legal rep;
• You may be required to manage your Panel Chair(s) oral hearing cases.
• Set up any emergency remote video hearings, should they be directed at last minute;
• Streaming to victims during oral hearings
• Arrange hybrid hearings for cases when required.
• Ad hoc duties as directed by the team leader, where necessary.
Experience required for the post:
• Excellent organisational skills
• Excellent communicator
• Demonstrable relationship building
• Effective oral and written communication skills
• Case management experience of meeting deadlines
• Ability to adapt and embrace change
• Excellent IT skills and experience in using programmes including Microsoft Teams, Excell and Outlook,
• Ability to work well across several different teams and build supportive relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to work under pressure.
• Ability to tackle problems, offer solutions both solely and working with others.
• Ability to think ahead to anticipate and identify any risks or potential issues before they occur.
• You will be expected to work with the listings team to ensure that we utilise the availability of the panel chairs effectively to avoid diary clashes.
• Experience of handling sensitive information would be an advantage but is not essential.
Behaviours:
We will assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
• Delivering at Pace
• Working together
• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a quality serviceSecurity:
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed.
This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours and Strengths. At the sift stage you will be assessed against Behaviours.
Should a large number of applications be received, the initial sift may be conducted using a lead behavior. This will be the behavior which is listed first in the job advert.
This is a rolling recruitment campaign. The advert for this campaign may be closed earlier than planned if the desired number of successful applicants is achieved prior to the closing date.
The job advert also lists the deadline for applications and the dates in which interviews will be held.
If you are part of the Civil Service and are applying for a job in a non-departmental public body (NDPB) (or vice versa) by moving jobs this will involve a change of employer and you may break the statutory rules on continuity of employment.
Person specification
Please refer to job description.Benefits
Alongside your salary of £23,735, Parole Board contributes £6,432 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.https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJFeedback 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
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.