About the job

Job summary

Diverse Perspectives and experiences are critical to our success, and we welcome applications from all people from all backgrounds with the experience and skills needed to perform this role. We look forward to receiving your application.  

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 Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is recruiting Paralegals to join the Paralegal Teams of our Legal Services Division (LSD). This is an exciting opportunity to be a part of significant strategic change within an organisation and to shape the creation of vibrant paralegal and business support teams which deal with some of the most complex and significant prosecutions in this area of regulatory law which, put simply, helps to save lives.

As Great Britain’s Health and Safety regulator, our enforcement powers are key not only to enforcing compliance with the wider H&S regime but also to backing-up our wider messages and ensuring that those responsible for causing death and serious injury are appropriately punished. This is a key role and one which will contribute directly to public confidence, both in HSE and in the wider justice system. Our legal teams cover a wide range of interesting and challenging work, including advising on policy and investigation matters across HSE, conducting criminal litigation and Notice Appeals in the Employment Tribunal, Inquests, and engagement with other regulators.

To underpin the expansion of LSD, the paralegal teams are being reorganised and expanded. There are 3 Band 4 Senior paralegals who head up two teams of Paralegal Officers (band 5) dealing directly with casework, and a business support team (including Paralegal Officers and Assistants at band 6) to underpin the whole Division.

You will report to a Senior Paralegal and be working in one of the paralegal teams above.

Job description

The responsibilities of the role will be varied and will include:

• Liaison with Counsel, Inspectors, witnesses, court staff and other Government Departments
• Arranging Court hearings, laying information and serving summonses, and preparing Court bundles
• Preparing Briefs and instructions to counsel, arranging and attending case conferences, as well as attending Court hearings and Employment Tribunals
• All general casework tasks, including maintaining accurate records, assisting with data collation, Collating evidence and dealing with correspondence
• Travel to various locations in England and Wales to cover Trials, Hearings, Conferences and LSD training events
• Overseeing workflows
• Assisting in relation to budgets
• Assisting with the Pandemic Inquiry and reviewing documents

Hybrid Working

At HSE, we are proud to be able to offer our people the opportunity to work in a hybrid way which combines working from home and the office. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your allocated office will be your contractual place of work. There will be a requirement to travel to the office for various activities e.g., collaborative working, supporting and training colleagues.

If hybrid working is suitable for you and your role, the arrangements will be determined primarily by business need, but personal circumstances and other relevant circumstances will also be taken into account. Therefore, we would encourage candidates to consider if the commute from home to the office is a feasible distance to travel before making an application. Please note that if you are successful, hybrid working will be discussed prior to taking up the post.  

Travel

We have flexible teams which are also based across the jurisdiction which will require regular travel to HSE’s headquarters in Bootle and, less regularly, to other HSE offices. In addition, regular travel to Court Centres across the jurisdiction will be required, to cover trials and other hearings. The majority of visits will be ones which can be planned in advance and aren’t routinely/by exception required at short notice. This will involve periods of working away from home.

Part time working hours are available for this role. We can accept part time applicants who can commit to working a minimum of 28 hours per week.

Person specification

To undertake this role, you will have:

• A good working knowledge of the Criminal Justice System and Criminal procedures in relation to prosecutions
• Knowledge of practice and procedure of the Coroners Court and Employment Tribunals is desirable
• Experience in reassessing workloads and priorities
• Experience of working as part of a team
• Experience in maintaining accurate records
• Experience of working to tight deadlines

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £28,271, Health and Safety Executive contributes £7,633 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, Ability and Experience.

Application

Upon submitting your short application form, you will be invited to complete a Civil Service Judgement Test. Please complete the online tests as soon as possible, within 24-48 hours is recommended, to allow time to complete your full application. If you successfully pass the test, you will then be invited to complete the final stage of your application.

You must complete your full application form and online tests by 12:00 (midday) on Friday 2nd February 2024. If you fail to complete the online test and full application form before the deadline, your application will be withdrawn. Guidance for the test will be available when you are invited to take the test. The tests are administered online and accessed via the CS Jobs website.

If you pass the Civil Service Judgement Test, you will then be asked to complete a CV which details your career history. Your CV will not be assessed and is requested for post matching purposes only. You will then be asked to complete a Personal Statement (up to 500 words) which details how you meet the Person Specification within this advert. The final part of your application form will ask you to complete up to 250 words on the Behaviour 'Delivering at Pace'.

Sift Information

The sift is due to take place week commencing w/c 5th February 2024. You will be assessed on your Personal Statement and the Behaviour 'Delivering at Pace'.

In the event of a high number of applications you will be assessed on the Behaviour 'Delivering at Pace' only. If you meet the benchmark set for the Behaviour, you will then be assessed on your Personal Statement.

Interview Information

The interviews are due to be held week commencing w/c 26th February 2024 and will be held virtually via Microsoft Teams. These dates are subject to change.

During the interview you will be assessed on the four Behaviours listed in this advert.

In the event of a high number of applications that pass the interview standard we will use the lead Behaviour 'Delivering at Pace' to determine merit order. 

Further Information

Please note that a reserve list will be held for the period of up to 12 months. 

It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the terms and conditions they will adopt should they be successful in their application. 

For a summary of HSE terms and conditions as part of Civil Service Reform, please see the attached document.  

Any move to HSE 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 here 

If you have a disability and you need an application form in an alternative format or you would like to know more about our recruitment process, please contact: hr.resourcing-team@hse.gov.uk  

Please note, if you are a current civil servant and you are currently undergoing any of the following formal actions your application will not be progressed any further; Formal discipline action, any formal action regarding attendance, poor performance or any restriction of duties as a result of disciplinary action.

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.