About the job

Job summary

Please refer to Job Description

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.

Role title: Operational Support Officer, HR Operations

Team/Directorate: Judicial HR Team – HR Operations  

Overview of the Organisation:

Are you looking for a new challenge in the operational field? Do you want to work across a wider team, developing skills and specialist knowledge to build a career? You have come to the right place!  

The Judicial Office is an organisation of around 400 people which works in support of the Lady Chief Justice and Senior President of Tribunals. The team also supports and advises the Advisory Committees who carry out key functions in relation to the magistracy, on behalf of the Lord Chancellor.

The Judicial Office is a very collegiate place to work and there are opportunities to get involved in a range of activities, be it by becoming a member of the Shadow Board, joining the Learning & Development Group or work-shadowing colleagues.  

Summary of the roles:

Led by the Head of Judicial HR, the HR Operations team is accountable for delivering the right judicial office holders with the right skills, in the right place, at the right time in support of the Lord Chancellor, Lady Chief Justice and Senior President of Tribunals as set out in the Constitutional Reform Act 2005.

The Judicial HR Operations team comprises the Pre-Appointments, Post-Appointments, The Management Information and Insights Team and the Magistrates’ teams. 

The Pre-Appointment Team deals with the planning of recruitment campaigns all the way through to the deployment and appointment of judicial office holders who have been selected for appointment by the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) as well as Expression of Interest exercises. 

The Post-Appointments Team provide advice and support to the senior judiciary and are responsible for handling a variety of sitting in retirement appointments, for fee-paid and salaried judges.  

The Management Information and Insights Team deals with Judicial HR database holding all Judicial HR Data on every judicial office holder from a Magistrate to the Lady Chief Justice, from appointment to retirement.

Magistrates’ Team provides advice and support to the senior judiciary and are responsible for the appointment around of 2000 magistrates a year as well as dealing with transfers, reappointments and long service certificates 

As Appointments Support Officer you will provide support on a variety of judicial appointment related matters to the Lord Chancellor and the most senior judiciary including the Lady Chief Justice, the Senior President of Tribunals and the Senior Presiding Judge. This is an excellent opportunity to work closely with the judiciary, officials within the JO and across a range of Government departments and agencies, including the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Magistrates Advisory Committees and the Judicial appointments Commission; a Non-Departmental Public Body.

For more information, please see the Judicial Office website.  

Please note that the HR Operations Team are currently undergoing a review. Accordingly, some of the Teams may change. However, it will not impact the work you will be asked to undertake. You will be required to demonstrate flexibility when being deployed across any of the HR Operations Teams.

Responsibilities, Activities & Duties:

• Provide timely support to the Lord Chancellor, the Lady Chief Justice, the Senior President of Tribunals and the Senior Presiding Judge on JAC and advisory Committee reports that recommend candidates for judicial appointment, renewals, resignations and extensions of appointments.
• Handling the renewals of judges’ appointments and wider data inputting using the teams JHR, IT database system ensuring the integrity of our management information
• To support the HR Ops Team, manage the appointments process for Courts Judges, Tribunal judges and Magistrates in a timely and efficient manner.
• To collect Royal Warrants/Letters Patent and to draft correspondence and work with the wider team on public announcements, medical checks and Instruments of Appointment.
• To assist with swearing-in ceremonies for Circuit Judges and above. Ensuring that they run smoothly.
• Arrange the signing of long service certificates for Magistrates.
• To support and help to implement wider assurance protocols across the HR Ops team

The job duties are not exhaustive, and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks as may reasonably be expected within the scope and grading of the post whilst working across the HR Operations team. 

We are looking for candidates who are team players with good organisational skills and an eye for detail. You will need to have the confidence and ability to work under your own initiative from time to time and be able to manage competing priorities across the HR Ops team effectively. 

The successful candidates will have an induction period and support from their line manager throughout. They will also be supported by colleagues in the Judicial Office HR Teams on how the team works with senior judiciary and key stakeholders such as the JAC, MoJ, HMCTS, Advisory Committees and the Judicial College. 

Please contact mark.barford@judiciary.uk if you would like further information about the roles. 

Please note that the role is based in the Thomas More Building at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. 

The Judicial Office operates a Hybrid working approach which requires a presence in the office of at least 60% (three days FTE) of the week.

Behaviours (for Recruitment/Success Profiles):

At the application stage we will assess on the behaviours laid out below. Candidates invited to interview will be tested on behaviours and Civil Service Strengths. Please note strengths are not shared in advance of the interview. 

Behaviours
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace 
• Managing a Quality Service 
• Changing and Improving

Using the STAR method can help you give examples of relevant experience that you have. It allows you to set the scene, show what you did, and how you did it, and explain the overall outcome. 
Situation - Describe the situation you found yourself in. You must describe a specific event or situation. Be sure to give enough detail for the job holder to understand. 
• Where are you? 
• Who was there with you? 
• What had happened? 

Task - The job holder will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation you found yourself in. 
• What was the task that you had to complete and why? 
• What did you have to achieve? 

Actions - What did you do? The job holder will be looking for information on what you did, how you did it and why. Keep the focus on you. What specific steps did you take and what was your contribution? Remember to include how you did it, and the behaviours you used. Try to use “I” rather than “we” to explain your actions that lead to the result. Be careful not to take credit for something that you did not do. 

Results - Don’t be shy about taking credit for your behaviour. Quote specific facts and figures. Explain how the outcome benefitted the organisation or your area. Make the outcomes easily understandable. 
• What results did the actions produce? 
• What did you achieve through your actions and did you meet your goals? 
• Was it a successful outcome? If not, what did you learn from the experience? 

Keep the situation and task parts brief. Concentrate on the action and the result. If the result was not entirely successful describe what you learned from this and what you would do differently next time. Make sure you focus on your strengths. 

If a large volume of applications is received the sift will focus on Working Together.

Essential Knowledge, Experience and Skills:

• Good organisational skills with the ability to manage your own workload effectively.
• Proficiency in IT skills (should be able to work confidently in Word, Excel, Outlook including the ability to make formatting and layout changes to documents, manipulate data in Excel using basic formulae, sorting and filtering and be able to use databases confidently).
• Strong team player with the ability to support colleagues across HR Operations.
• Excellent attention to detail.

Desirable Knowledge, Experience and Skills:

• Knowledge of the work of the judiciary.  
• Experience of working as part of a team 

Security clearance required:

CTC

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £27,000, Ministry of Justice contributes £7,317 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%20MOJ

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). 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.