Prisons Digital & Workforce Policy
HEO Policy Advisor
Prisons Directorate
The Prisons Directorate is recruiting permanently for an HEO Policy Advisor in the Prisons Digital and Workforce team. This campaign is open to current civil servants on level transfer and suitable candidates on promotion.
Location:
Successful candidates will have the option to be based at one of the following locations:
- 102 Petty France, London
- 5 Wellington Place, Leeds
Occasional travel between the two locations may be required. We offer a hybrid working model, allowing for a balance between remote work and time spent in your base location (102 Petty France or 5 Wellington Place Leeds).
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
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
Existing Civil Servants will have their salary calculated in accordance with the Department’s pay on transfer / pay on promotion rules.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ)
MoJ is the largest government department, employing over 90,000 people 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 Unit
The Prisons Directorate plays an important part of achieving MoJ’s aims, shaping policy to ensure the system protects the public and delivers better outcomes. We are responsible for developing policy that supports prisons to operate safely and securely, while also tackling the drivers of reoffending through rehabilitation and reform. We work right at the heart of an important area of social policy and make a meaningful difference to the lives of prisoners, staff, and the public.
The Workforce, Estates and Digital policy unit forms an important part of the Prisons Directorate, taking a strategic view of a number of prison issues, from setting the long-term vision for the prison estate, to managing strategies to boost recruitment and retention of prison staff, and how best to leverage digital technology to transform and modernise the services we deliver.
The role
We are recruiting for an HEO Policy Advisor to work jointly and flexibly across the Prisons Digital Policy team and the Joint Workforce Policy Unit. This is a stretching and varied policy role, supporting both teams to deliver their priorities. The postholder will tfore benefit from a breadth of work and the opportunity to shape the role.
The Prisons Digital Policy team is focused on supporting the expanded use and transformative potential of digital services and technology in our prisons, in a way that is secure and robust. Working ly with HMPPS and Justice Digital, we are centrally involved in shaping and supporting the use of digital technology across the prison estate to:
- Improve workforce productivity by equipping staff with modern IT tools and applications, such as Digital Prisons Services (DPS) which hosts a suite of offender management services used by a range of staff;
- Support prisoner rehabilitation through digital tools like Launchpad (our in-cell technology programme which provides prisoners with access to digital services and rehabilitative content) and in-cell telephony; and
- Enable future innovation by developing digital infrastructure such as Wi-Fi and piloting new technologies.
The Joint Workforce Policy Unit (JWPU) is a joint-HMPPS funded team which drives key ministerial priorities on prison workforce and supports delivery for HMPPS senior leaders on key issues by:
- Supporting a consistent “single version of the truth” across MoJ and HMPPS in our narrative, data and evidence base on prison workforce, through working collaboratively across policy, people group and HMPPS operational colleagues.
- Coordinating the strategic approach to workforce policy to support a stable prison workforce, with staff who are empowered within their roles, supported by an effective leadership culture, and made up of an inclusive talent pool that meets the evolving needs of prisoners.
This policy function provides a strong collaborative space to work in – working with key operational and technical specialists to set strategic direction, reach consensus and drive progress. It is a post which supports the development of strong stakeholder engagement skills, with the policy function providing a key role in facilitating consensus between competing interests. The work across the teams is likely to vary subject to priorities and workloads but will be primarily focused on leading cross-cutting issues to strengthen links between digital innovation and prison workforce.
The successful candidate will be expected to:
- Work flexibly and independently, effectively supporting the SEO in their workstream.
- Develop and build strong partnership working with colleagues in HMPPS and MoJ, as well as external stakeholders.
- Collect a wide range of sources of data and evidence to inform policy development.
- Analyse, interpret and present evidence to form sound policy options for wider discussion.
- Effectively organise and prioritise their own policy development work e.g. agree aims, scope, plan and deliver key strands of work and activities.
- Provide high-quality briefing to senior officials and Ministers, showing excellent oral and written communication skills.
- Actively contribute to higher level decision making for business planning, policy and project implementation to progress strategic objectives.
- Identify relevant linkages across the department to ensure a joined-up approach.
- Respond flexibly to competing and complex demands.
We are a friendly, enthusiastic and collaborative team with a strong emphasis on ensuring members feel happy, supported and engaged in their work. We are committed to delivering high-quality and impactful projects, through working ly with partners and bringing together different areas of expertise. We have a strong commitment to personal and career development, helping everyone to grow and fulfil their potential.
Skills and Experience
Essential:
- Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, and an ability to explain information clearly and concisely.
- Demonstrate confidence and skill to work independently and quickly get to grips with a complex area to drive forward work, whilst ensuring colleagues and stakeholders are engaged as appropriate.
- Strong organisational skills and the ability to plan and deliver outcomes according to agreed priorities.
- Ability to make sound judgments and provide well-articulated advice, using and interpreting data and evidence in decision-making.
- Experience collaborating with a range of colleagues or stakeholders to achieve tangible outcomes.
Desirable:
- An interest in or knowledge of prisons.
- An understanding of the governmental and parliamentary processes.
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, statement of suitability 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.
You will also be asked to upload a Statement of Suitability of no more than 250 words stating what you would bring to the role, with reference to the Skills and Experience listed above.
Behaviours
During the application process you will be asked to provide an example of how you have met the following behaviour(s) (see Annex A for more information):
- Communicating and influencing
- Making effective decisions
Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade:
Success Profiles: Civil Service behaviours - GOV.UK
Should we receive a large number of applications, we will sift primarily on the Statement of Suitability and/or the lead behaviour of Communicating and Influencing. 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.
You will be assessed against the following behaviours at the interview stage w you will be asked to provide examples of how you have demonstrated them. In addition, you will also be asked strength-based questions.
Behaviours:
- Communicating and influencing
- Making effective decisions
- Working together
- Delivering at pace
It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain:
- WHO - What it was? How you approached the work/situation? What the Outcomes were, what did you achieve? Or
- STAR - What was the Situation? What were the Tasks? What Action did you take? What were the Results of your actions?
Strengths:
It is difficult to prepare for strength type questions. However, you can think through your answers, focus on your achievements and aspects you enjoy and decide how these can be applied in the organisation and role. While strengths questions are shorter and we do not expect a full STAR response, the panel is interested in your first reaction to the question and information or reasoning to support this. Further information on Civil Service Strengths can be found via this link Success Profiles: Strengths - GOV.UK
Interviews are expected to take place in August 2026.
Contact information
Please do get in touch with Josh if you would like to know more about the role or what it is like working in our team: [email protected]
Annex A - The STAR method
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.
- W are you?
- Who was t 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.
