About the job

Job summary

• Do you want to work on high-profile policy and casework issues impacting the charity sector?
• Can you provide high-quality legal advice with strategic judgment, innovation and versatility, ensuring the Commission’s decisions can withstand challenge in the First-tier Tribunal?
• Are you interested in directly influencing the formation, interpretation and application of charity law and policy on a national level?

The Charity Commission is seeking two new lawyers to join its Legal Services Directorate. You will support the Commission’s strategic aims and operational goals by providing high quality professional legal advice across the Commission.  This is an exciting opportunity to provide high impact legal advice, directly influencing the formation, interpretation and application of charity law and policy at a national level.

The Legal Directorate has 18 Legal Advisers in total, split into five teams: Legal Policy, Charitable Status, Legal Compliance and Enforcement, Legal Charity Services and Litigation.  The teams operate as a tight peer group, guiding and supporting each other where their different disciplines overlap.

Job description

• Providing authoritative legal advice on a range of issues, including advice to case working colleagues on the use of the Commission’s extensive regulatory powers to ensure decisions can withstand challenge in the First-tier Tribunal, and the development of new policy positions.
• Using strategic judgment, innovation and versatility to provide legal advice to a range of stakeholders from internal caseworkers to the Commission’s Board.
• Assessing risk and advising on mitigation in highly-sensitive and high-profile casework and policy areas – taking into account a rapidly changing environment.
• Delivering training and developing or advising on guidance, templates and standard letters to enable casework colleagues to make robust regulatory decisions.
• Assessing and engaging with developments affecting charities, which can include government consultations, policy proposals and draft legislation.

Person specification

Ability:

• Strong legal advice-giving skills. Excellent written and oral communication skills including ability to explain complex information tailored to the needs of the audience.
• Strong legal research and analytical skills including the ability to interpret and advise on unfamiliar areas of law. Ability to think strategically, and creatively, to understand legal issues in their wider context, to identify and assess risks to support effective decision making.
• Ability to plan and prioritise competing demands to ensure performance targets and deadlines are met.
• Ambassadorial skills to represent the legal function internally and externally.

Experience:

• Applying one or more of the following:

Charity law, public administrative law, regulatory law, trust law, company law

• Effectively managing a workload/task throughout its lifecycle.
• Delivering accurate, effective, and timely legal advice.
• Maintaining a professional approach when presented with a challenging discussion by understanding needs, managing expectations, and progressing issues to a constructive outcome.

Technical:

• Solicitor or Barrister or equivalent legal qualification qualified to practice in England and Wales or an equivalent jurisdiction.
• Ability to handle data and information sensitively in accordance with the business procedures and the law.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office Applications.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £56,764, Charity Commission contributes £15,326 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.

To apply for this post, you must complete an online application with the following: 

• A blind CV setting out your Job History/Full Qualifications/Previous skill and experiences.
• A Personal Statement (maximum 750 words) demonstrating how you meet the essential criteria for the role outlined on the Job Description.

At interview you will be asked to do a presentation on a prepared topic and assessed on your technical knowledge and experience, and the behaviours outlined above in the advert.

Interview Arrangements

Interviews will be taking place Face to Face in our Liverpool, Newport and London office.

The sift is due to take place on 09/04/2024.

Interviews will be held:

• London 19/04/2024
• Newport 22/04/2024
• Liverpool 23/04/2024

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates. 

At the interview, the panel can then probe further and ask applicants to provide further specific examples that show how they best demonstrate their skills.

We reserve the right to raise the score required at any stage of the process to manage numbers.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment.

Behaviours:

The distinguishing Behaviours (the required skills, knowledge, and behaviours) for this role are set out in the Civil Service Behaviours Framework 2018 (Success Profiles - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)) and should be referred to when making this application.

You are required, under the Behaviours approach, to describe how you have dealt with a specific situation.

You must give evidence of your knowledge, skills, and behaviours and how you have applied this, such as what you did or said and how you interacted with other people.

When you are giving your examples, do not spend too many words on description and background information. Avoid using general or unspecific statements. Instead say what the situation was, what you did, what your thought process was and what was the result.

Reasonable Adjustment:

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled persons, 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 Charitycommissionrecruitment.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.

Reserve Lists

If we have more successful candidates than available vacancies, we will hold a 12-month reserve list as standard.

During that time, we may use the list to fill the same, or similar roles with closely matching essential criteria, without further testing of merit. Any appointments from the Reserve list will be made in strict merit order.

Applying

We recognise everyone as an individual, accepting people for who they are and treating everyone fairly

All applications for these vacancies must be made online. There are limited exceptions to this. Paper applications will only be considered if you have a disability that will prevent you from applying online. If this is the case, please email Charitycommissionrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Once you have submitted your application it cannot be amended; only submit your application when you have completely finished and answered all the relevant questions.

Please note that late applications will not be accepted.

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

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

Concerns/Complaints

The Charity Commission’s recruitment processes are underpinned by the Civil Service Commissioner’s Recruitment Principles, which outlines that selection for appointment is made on merit based on fair and open competition.

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the values in the Civil Service Code and/or if you feel the recruitment has been conducted in such a way that conflicts with the Civil Service Commissioner’s Recruitment Principles, and wish to make a complaint, then you should contact in the first instance hrselfservice@charitycommission.gov.uk.

If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web page here.

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.