Policy Advisor (Up to 3 Roles)
HEO
Policy Directorate, Magistrate Uplift Programme
The Policy Directorate, Judicial Legal Services Policy Unit (Magistrate Uplift Division) is recruiting for an SEO Senior Policy Advisor. This campaign is open to current civil servants on level transfer and suitable candidates on promotion.
The role is being offered on Detached Duty for staff within the Ministry of Justice or Loan terms for staff in HMPPS or from other government departments.
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
Background
These are high profile and exciting policy roles, vital to the delivery of the MoJ’s court reform agenda. They sit within the Magistrates Uplift Programme Division – a cross MoJl team developed specifically to grow the size of the magistracy of England and Wales by around 50% over the next 3 years
The roles sit within the Judicial and Legal Services Policy Directorate (JLSP) in the MoJ Policy Group. JLSP is responsible for managing the relationship between the department, the government and the judiciary and legal services profession.
Magistrates are a vital part of the justice system who hear cases in crime, youth, civil and family jurisdictions. They and central to delivering the government’s reform priorities, including reducing the criminal court backlog. Following the Independent Review of Criminal Courts and measures set out in the Courts and Tribunals Bill strengthening the resilience and capacity of magistrates’ courts is a critical priority for Ministers and the MoJ Board.
Most criminal cases start and around 95% conclude in magistrates’ courts, making a sufficient, skilled and diverse magistracy essential. The Magistrates Uplift Division leads work to ensure we have the magistrates we need, working ly with the judiciary, Judicial Office, HMCTS, magistrates themselves and key partners such as the Magistrates Association.
Our highprofile programme aims to increase magistrate numbers by 50% to reach 21,000 by 2028/29. It is ly overseen by Ministers and the judiciary, including fortnightly ministerial review meetings, and is structured around three strands:
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Recruitment – improving and accelerating the recruitment process.
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Retention, Leadership and Training – strengthening onboarding and ensuring the offer to magistrates supports long‑term retention.
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Governance and Business of State – aligning with cross‑government reforms, including those arising from the Independent Review of Criminal Courts, and delivering a cohesive communications and engagement strategy.
This fast-paced programme reports to the Justice Board and Ministers. It offers the opportunity to work at the centre of a major justice reform initiative and contribute directly to ministerial priorities.
The Team
We are a friendly, high-performing cross-functional, cross-organisational team bringing together colleagues and expertise from across MoJ, HMCTS and Judicial Office to deliver this ambitious agenda.
The Role
We are recruiting up to three HEO posts within the Magistrate Uplift Team.
The successful candidate will report to a Senior Policy Advisor in the Magistrate Uplift Team.
The role will have responsibility to:
- Support the development, review and implementation of policy proposals aligned to ministerial priorities and MoJ strategic objectives.
- Develop policy components (e.g., evidence summaries, option appraisals, draft proposals).
- Produce clear first drafts of briefs/submissions/correspondence.
- Build relationships with key counterparts to progress policy objectives (e.g., HMCTS/ Judicial Office/ Judicial College)
- Support meetings, track progress against milestones, supporting reporting and assurance activity.
- Manage own workload effectively, delivering to deadlines in a fast‑paced environment.
Skills and Experience
Essential:
- Confident in collaborating with others across organisations to deliver a set goal.
- Ability to analyse and communicate complex information confidently to both colleagues and stakeholders, ensuring information is clear and takes account of other’s needs.
- Capable of working independently to progress and own tasks.
- Proven ability to deliver at pace whilst managing competing priorities.
- Excellent written and oral skills and confident in adapting style to the appropriate audience.
Desirable:
Policy Experience is desirable but not essential
Additional Information
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 your Work History during the application process 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 500 words stating what you would bring to the role, with reference to the Skills and Experience listed above.
Candidates invited to Interview
Please note that interviews will be carried out remotely.
You will be assessed against 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 and to provide a presentation to the panel.
Behaviours:
The following Behaviours will be tested at interview:
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Working Together
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Communicating and Influencing
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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
- 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
Interviews are expected to take place in July 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. Imke Djouadj: [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.
