About the job

Job summary

This position is based Nationally

Job description

We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.

Senior Accessibility Specialist Location: National*

Closing Date: 26th January 2024
Interviews: w/c 5th February 2024

Grade: 7
(MoJ candidates who are on a specialist grade, will be able to retain this grade on lateral transfer)

Salary: London: £58,847 - £66,670 which may include an allowance of up to £4,828 National: £54,358 - £61,585 which may include an allowance of up to £2,517

Working pattern: full-time, part-time, flexible working
Contract Type: Permanent Contract Type: Permanent Vacancy number: 83306
*We offer a hybrid working model, allowing for a balance between remote work and time spent in your local office. Office locations can be found ON THIS MAP

The Role

We’re recruiting for a Senior Accessibility Specialist here at Justice Digital, to be part of our warm and collaborative Central Digital Accessibility team

The aim of the Digital Accessibility team is to enable the various parts of the UK justice system to be used by people with disabilities and access needs. To achieve this, we support digital teams in creating accessible digital products and services.

MoJ is one of the largest government departments. It employs 90,000+ people, and we also have many services for the general public. We support Digital teams in the Legal Aid Agency, Criminal Injuries and Compensation Authority, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, Office of the Public Guardian, and HQ.

To help picture your life at MoJ Justice Digital please take a look at our blog and our Digital and Technology strategy 2025
 
Key Responsibilities:

As a Senior Accessibility Specialist, you will be supporting the Digital Accessibility team in a variety of tasks across the organisation.

You will lead on our approach to strategic partnerships with teams. This involves building long term and effective relationships, with the aim of embedding accessibility thoroughly into product team processes. You will be creating and testing frameworks, to devise a strategic approach and process to this. You’ll also help develop processes for identifying and prioritising potential clients.

We are particularly looking for someone with expertise in accessible coding, to enable us to work with teams who create patterns and platforms used across the Digital estate. This could include teams such the MoJ Design System, who create common components and patterns, working with them to review and develop new and accessible design contributions. It could also include working collaboratively with other product teams that create website and form builders.

The role will also involve line management and mentorship, and engaging with third party suppliers on accessibility remediation.

Specific responsibilities would include:

●    Leading on strategic partnerships with teams like the MoJ Design System, to work collaboratively and ensure accessibility is baked into team processes.
●    Being the team’s knowledge lead on accessible code, and upskilling team members and the wider MoJ community on best practice.
●    Supporting mid-level specialists in delivering consultancy to teams: working collaboratively with teams to help them understand accessibility issues in their services, supporting them in approaches for fixing these issues, to meet their legal obligations under the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018 and the Equality Act 2010.
●    Line management of mid-level specialists and mentorship of people interested in the accessibility profession.
●    Engaging with third party suppliers to advocate for any required accessibility fixes.
●    Supporting and contributing to the accessibility communities of practise within the organisation and across government.
●    Inputting into our team’s strategy.
●    IAAP ADS, CPACC or WAS

If this feels like an exciting challenge, something you are enthusiastic about, and want to join our team please read on and apply!
 
Benefits

●    37 hours per week and flexible working options including working from home, working part-time, job sharing, or working compressed hours.
●    We are committed to nurturing our staff and provide lots of training and development opportunities with learning platforms such as: Linux Academy, O’Reilly, Pluralsight, Microsoft Learning, Civil Service Learning, GDS Academy, etc.
●    10% dedicated time to learning and development with a budget of £1000 a year per person
●    Generous civil service pension based on defined benefit scheme, with employer contributions of 26-30% depending on salary.
●    25 days leave (plus bank holidays) and 1 privilege day usually taken around the Kings’ birthday. 5 additional days of leave once you have reached 5 years of service.
●    Compassionate maternity, adoption, and shared parental leave policies, with up to 26 weeks leave at full pay, 13 weeks with partial pay, and 13 weeks further leave. And maternity support/paternity leave at full pay for 2 weeks, too!
●    Wellbeing support including access to the Calm app.
●    Nurturing professional and interpersonal networks including those for Carers & Childcare, Gender Equality, PROUD and SPIRIT
●    Bike loans up to £2500 and secure bike parking (subject to availability and location)
●    Season ticket loans, childcare vouchers and eye-care vouchers.
●    5 days volunteering paid leave.
●    Free membership to BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT.
●    Some offices may have a subsidised onsite Gym.

Person Specification

Essential

You would ideally be able to demonstrate knowledge and/or experience in:

●    Conducting informal, collaborative accessibility reviews in real-time, with multi-disciplinary teams
●    Writing accessible code and working on design systems
●    Building effective, collaborative long-term relationships
●    Line management of mid-level specialists and mentorship of people interested in the accessibility profession.
 
●    Supporting and contributing to communities of practise

Willingness to be assessed against the requirements for BPSS clearance

We welcome the unique contribution diverse applicants bring and do not discriminate based on culture, ethnicity, race, nationality or national origin, age, sex, gender identity or expression, religion or belief, disability status, sexual orientation, educational or social background or any other factor.

Our values are Purpose, Humanity Openness and Together. Find out more here about how we celebrate diversity and an inclusive culture in our workplace.

Person specification

Please refer to attached Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £54,358, Ministry of Justice contributes £15,165 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

Candidates must submit CV+ Statement of suitability (max 500 words) which describes how you meet the requirements set out in the Person Specification above.

Your statement of suitability will be assessed against your experience, of the following 3 criteria:

• Conducting informal, collaborative accessibility reviews in real-time, with multi-disciplinary teams
• Writing accessible code and working on design systems
• Building effective, collaborative long-term relationships

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.