Drug And Alcohol Recovery Team Leader
Grade 7
Probation and Reoffending Directorate
The Probation and Reoffending Directorate is recruiting permanently for Grade and job title. 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 Work of Reducing Reoffending Unit
The Reducing Reoffending team sits within the Probation and Reducing Reoffending Policy Directorate. Our work both for offenders in the community and within prison, is critical to improving rehabilitation and reducing the chances of reoffending.
As a Directorate, we make a real difference: our policy has a tangible impact on the services provided for people who come into contact with the criminal justice system, whether that’s at court, in custody or in the community. This is a big part of why we’re so engaged in the work we do.
Reoffending is one of the big social policy challenges of our time. 80% of offences are reoffences and reoffending is estimated to cost society £23 billion a year. The Reducing Reoffending Policy division leads work across Government to address the factors that can help to rehabilitate and improve outcomes for people in the criminal justice system, for example through supporting access to mental health support and drug and alcohol treatment; securing accommodation; and helping them find employment.
We work ly with policy, operational and analytical teams across MOJ and HMPPS and with our partners in DHSC, the Home Office, MHCLG and DfE to shape and deliver policies aimed at transforming the life chances of people at every stage of the “offender journey”, including early intervention and prevention; support for those serving sentences in the community and in prison; and help for prison leavers to resettle and reintegrate into the community on release.
Our team is friendly, supportive, and high-performing, and includes colleagues based in London, Leeds, and Liverpool. We are looking for a talented new team member to help drive these efforts further. These are stretching roles that involve tricky, complex, and important issues.
Job Title - the role
You will lead a team responsible for driving improvements to rehabilitation and reducing reoffending across the entire criminal justice system for those with drug and alcohol needs. This includes leading a high-profile programme of policy development, working ly with Ministers and colleagues across HMPPS and other government departments including the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Home Office (HO) to deliver the cross government strategy for drugs.
This includes delivering priority work that improves our understanding of the issues and what works in both the CJS and in treatment/interventions for those with drug and alcohol and mental health needs throughout their journey through the criminal justice system.
This is an exciting opportunity to lead and deliver on a high-profile policy area that contributes to Government commitments to make our streets safer and improve health and wellbeing outcomes. This is a challenging and rewarding, fast-paced role with significant interest from ministers across departments and senior leaders. The role also includes building and maintaining relationships with prominent external stakeholders, including the Government’s Independent Advisor for Drugs Dame Carol Black.
Responsibilities include:
- Leading the Drug and Alcohol Recovery team, including line management of 2-3 staff, maintaining an inclusive and development-focused team culture.
- Setting direction and clear priorities for ministerial priority projects; managing resource to ensure delivery and protect the team’s capacity; providing expert advice on the policy challenges; and using a range of evidence to develop robust solutions
- Establishing, building and maintaining positive relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including other government departments, senior leaders and ministers, and overseeing delivery of our Drug and Alcohol Expert Recovery Panel
Working - ly, and often at speed, with senior officials and Ministers, as well as press and private offices, including meetings and submissions on key issues
- Working with analytical, legal and communications colleagues to ensure our policy is informed by the best evidence and insight possible
- Being a key part of the unit’s leadership team – contributing to our plans to make the directorate the most effective, efficient and enjoyable place to work
Skills and Experience
Essential:
- Outstanding end to end policy development skills, including problem definition, understanding of the evidence base, identification and appraisal of options, evaluation of impact; and a proven ability to set direction in a fast-paced and complex policy environment.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, as well as the ability to assimilate new information quickly, with experience of communicating complex and high-profile issues, including briefing Ministers.
Excellent leadership skills, with an ability to plan and deliver a broad and challenging work portfolio, while fostering an inclusive and positive atmosp- , including during periods of change and uncertainty.
- Strong collaboration skills, building inclusive and mutually beneficial relationships with a wide network of internal and external stakeholders, to define and achieve common goals.
Desirable:
- Experience of working in the criminal justice field or related services.
- Experience of working in a policy environment
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 1,000 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):
- Working together
- 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 working together. 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:
- Working together
- Making effective decisions
- Seeing the big picture
- Leadership
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 beginning of September 2026.
Contact information
Please do get in touch if you would like to know more about the role or what it is like working in our team. Sarah Palmer [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.
