About the job

Job summary

Please refer to Job Description

Job description

Senior Policy Adviser in the Criminal Law Team

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Victims, Vulnerabilities & Criminal Law Directorate 

The Victims, Vulnerabilities and Criminal Law Directorate is recruiting for one permanent SEO policy adviser. This campaign is being run externally and so is open to all who consider themselves suitable for the roles and meet the eligibility criteria in the wider advert within Civil Service Jobs. 

Location:

Successful candidates will have the option to be based at one of the following locations:
1.    102 Petty France, London 
2.    5 Wellington Place, Leeds

Occasional travel between the two locations may be required.

In order for Policy Group to meet its evolving business needs all Policy Group staff are expected to attend their base location (102 Petty France or 5 Wellington Place Leeds) at least 2 days a week.  This hybrid working arrangement is not contractual and as a result staff could be asked to attend their base location more frequently.

Ways of Working

At the MoJ we believe and promote alternative ways of working, these roles are available as:
•    Full-time, part-time or the option to job share
•    Flexible working patterns
•    Flexible working arrangements between base locations, MoJ Hubs and home.
If we receive applications from more suitable candidates than we have vacancies for at this time, we may hold suitable applicants on a reserve list for 12 months, and future vacancies requiring the same skills and experience could be offered to candidates on the reserve list without a new competition.

We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice. To find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity 

Salary

New entrants to the Civil Service will be expected to join on the minimum of the pay range.  
If you are already a civil servant and are successful in an external recruitment competition for a role with us, your starting pay will be the better of:
•    promotion terms or transfer terms, as appropriate; or
•    pay on appointment arrangements (minimum of pay range)

The Ministry of Justice

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is one of the largest government departments, employing over 90,000 people (including those in the Probation Service), with a budget of approximately £10 billion. Each year, millions of people use our services across the UK - including at 500 courts and tribunals, and 133 prisons in England and Wales.
Further information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice

The Work of Victims, Vulnerabilities and Criminal Law Directorate

The Victims, Vulnerabilities and Criminal Law Directorate (V,V&CL) are recruiting for one senior policy adviser in the Criminal Law Policy team.  
The directorate sits at the heart of MoJ’s policy agenda. We work closely with Ministers, No10, the Crown Prosecution Service, as well as a wide range of other Whitehall departments, to tackle a range of complex issues. 

Senior Policy Adviser in the Criminal Law Policy Team 

The Criminal Law Policy team is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the criminal law and managing its development. It is also responsible for certain specified criminal offences, and within the team there are three sub-teams covering violent offences, sexual offences and non-violent offences. This role will sit within the violent offences team, though members of this team are expected to be flexible and adapt according to demand across the criminal law portfolio. The role of this team is to advise ministers and other Government departments on proposed changes to the criminal law, to protect the integrity of the criminal law and to ensure that the law is effective and clear. 
The Criminal Law Policy team is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the criminal law and managing its development. It is also responsible for certain specified criminal offences, and within the team there are three sub-teams covering violent offences, sexual offences and non-violent offences. This role will sit within the violent offences team, though members of this team are expected to be flexible and adapt according to demand across the criminal law portfolio. The role of this team is to advise ministers and other Government departments on proposed changes to the criminal law, to protect the integrity of the criminal law and to ensure that the law is effective and clear. 

Working in a high-profile and busy team, this role will lead the delivery of complex policy solutions across a range of areas. The portfolio has significant public, Ministerial and Parliamentary interest, and any successful candidate will need to be able to get to grips with complex policy issues and legislation. Applicants should note that the Criminal Law Policy team deals with a range of difficult and sensitive policy issues and criminal offences that cover areas involving abortion and assisted dying, sexual crimes, crimes against children and violence. 

Successful candidates in any of the roles can expect to:

·    Lead on complex policy areas with significant interest from stakeholders. 
·    Build good working relationships with a range of stakeholders – particularly Other Government Departments.
·    Draft high-quality advice and briefing to ministers on high-profile policy areas.
·    Support corporate activities to continue to make the Directorate a great place to work.
·    Lead on drafting Parliamentary Questions, FOIs, correspondence, and similar pieces of work.
·    Lead on measures in primary legislation. 

Skills and Experience

Essential:
•    Exceptional attention to detail. 
•    Ability to shape the direction of work confidently and proactively. 
•    Effective stakeholder management including working across organisational boundaries. 
•    Exceptional communication and drafting skills, including the ability to understand complex issues and communicate them effectively to a range of audiences.
•    Experience of working in a fast-paced environment and prioritising effectively while delivering high quality work. 
•    Confident using evidence and data to inform decision making. 

Desirable:
•    Previous experience of working in policy
•    Previous experience of working with criminal law 
•    Knowledge of the criminal justice system. 

Candidates applying from HMPPS should note that the Ministry of Justice does not have the same conditions of employment as HMPPS. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the terms and conditions they will adopt should they be successful.

The MoJ is proud to be Level 3 Disability Confident. Disability Confident is the approach through which we offer guaranteed interviews for all people with disabilities meeting the minimum criteria for the advertised role as set out in the job description.

Application process

You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework.

You must ensure that any evidence submitted as part of your application, including your CV and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note that plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

Experience
You will be asked to provide a CV during the application process in order to assess any demonstrable experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role.

Behaviours
During the application process you will also be asked to provide an example of how you have met the following behaviours (see Annex A for more information):

•    Making Effective Decisions
•    Communicating and Influencing
•    Delivering at Pace
•    Seeing the Big Picture 

Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717275/CS_Behaviours_2018.pdf

Should we receive a large number of applications, we will sift primarily on the lead behaviour of Making Effective Decisions. Successful applicants will then be invited to an interview, testing both behaviours and strengths.

Candidates invited to interview 

Please note that interviews will be carried out remotely. 

During the panel interview, you will be asked behaviour-based questions to explore in detail what you are capable of, and strengths-based questions to also explore what you enjoy, and your motivations relevant to the job role. 

There is no expectation or requirement for you to prepare for the strengths-based questions in advance of the interview, though you may find it helpful to spend some time reflecting on what you enjoy doing and what you do well.

You can refer to the CS Strengths dictionary for more details:  Success Profiles - Civil Service Strengths Dictionary (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Interviews are expected to take place in August 2024. 

Contact information   
Please do get in touch with Neil Stevenson Neil.Stevenson@Justice.gov.uk if you would like to know more about the role or what it is like working in our team.  

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £39,868, Ministry of Justice contributes £10,804 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, Strengths and Experience.https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

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.