Senior Policy Adviser, Criminal Courts Efficiency
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Criminal Courts and Victims Directorate
The Criminal Courts and Victims Directorate (CCV) is recruiting permanently for a SEO Senior Policy Adviser in the Criminal Courts Efficiency Team.
This campaign is open to current civil servants on level transfer and suitable candidates on promotion.
Candidates are reminded that to be eligible for this campaign; you must still be employed as a civil servant at the point of accepting the role. If you resign or your FTA contract ends before you are made and accept an offer, you will become ineligible and you will be withdrawn from the process.
Location:
Successful candidates will have the option to be based at one of the following locations:
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102 Petty France, London
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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:
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Full-time, part-time or the option to job share
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Flexible working patterns
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 the Criminal Courts Efficiency Unit
Criminal Court Reform is an exciting, fast-paced, and challenging policy area which has significant interest from No10, MoJ’s Ministerial Team, the Permanent Secretary, HM Treasury and the Judiciary, as well as a highly engaged and vocal stakeholder base. Following Sir Brian Leveson’s Independent Review of the Criminal Courts (2025-26), the MoJ is implementing a series of major reforms across the criminal courts to reduce the Crown Court backlog, improve access to justice for victims of crime, and secure the future stability of the criminal justice system. This includes delivering structural reforms to change how and w cases are heard in the criminal courts via the Courts and Tribunals Bill that is currently progressing through Parliament, as well as identifying and driving forward a wider programme of modernisation initiatives targeted at improving the efficiency of the criminal courts and enhancing users’ experience.
This is a new role within a newly established Division, which consists of c. 15 staff (1 x DD, 2 x G6s, 6 x G7s, 6 x SEOs and 1 x FS) across both Policy and Project Delivery. The Division’s purpose is to establish and drive forward the delivery of a cont portfolio of work to improve the efficiency of the criminal courts (both Crown Court and magistrates’ courts) — including assessing the feasibility of Ministers’ current ambitions to achieve a 5% improvement in the Crown Court over this Parliament and a further 5% over next Parliament.
Senior Policy Adviser - the role
The postholder’s key responsibilities are listed below and these will adjust and expand over time as the modernisation programme develops:
Leading on designing innovative policy proposals to drive efficiency across the criminal courts, building on the 130+ recommendations made by Sir Brian Leveson in Part II of his Review and working
- ly with lawyers, operational colleagues from HMCTS, HMPPS and the Judiciary.
- Working with No10, HMT and the Cabinet Office, as well as MoJ Strategic Finance colleagues and analysts, to evaluate the impact of these reforms on court backlogs, timeliness and wider performance metrics.
- Liaising with criminal justice system parters in the Home Office, Police, and Crown Prosecution Service to understand dependencies with the wider system and ensure strategic alignment with wider reforms.
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Building a compelling public narrative on court efficiency and engaging with key external stakeholders to secure buy-in for key reforms.
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Working with HMCTS to support the implementation of agreed measures at pace, including ensuring the robust evaluation of any pilot activity to support future roll out.
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Shaping a cross-criminal justice system efficiency bid for the next Spending Review
Skills and Experience
The postholder should be able to demonstrate the following skills:
Essential
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Ability to navigate and adapt to changing and ambiguous circumstances.
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Proven ability to deliver at pace.
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Strong relationship building skills and stakeholder engagement experience.
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Strong attention to detail and an ability to understand complex policy areas swiftly.
Ability to see the big picture and bring together different data and viewpoints into a co- nt whole.
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Strong written and verbal communication skills and confident in briefing senior officials.
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Experience of delivering within a fast-paced environment, meeting deadlines and escalating emerging issues and risks.
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Ability to draft complex, high quality written material with strong attention to detail.
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Comfortable dealing with complex data.
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A commitment to role-model continuous self-learning and development.
Desirable
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A good understanding of the operation of the criminal courts and of the key strategic issues facing the criminal justice system.
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Experience of developing and implementing policy in the criminal courts space.
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Operational experience in the criminal courts.
Additional Information
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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.
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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.
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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 Work History 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 750 words stating what you would bring to the role, with reference to the Skills and Experience listed above.
Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade:
Success Profiles: Civil Service behaviours - GOV.UK
Candidates invited to Interview
Please note that interviews will be carried out remotely.
At interview you will be assessed against behaviours 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:
The following Behaviours will be tested at interview:
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Working Together
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Seeing the Big Picture
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Making Effective Decisions
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
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STAR - What was the Situation? What were the Tasks? What Action did you take? What were the Results of your actions?
Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade:
Success Profiles: Civil Service behaviours - GOV.UK
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
You will also be asked to complete a presentation as part of the interview. Should you be invited to interview, we will provide further detail of what this will entail.
Interviews are expected to take place August 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. [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected].
