Proud to serve. Proud to keep justice going
Our Support Officers play a critical role, providing excellent customer service and administrative support to court and tribunal users, judiciary and management.
About us
HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is responsible for the administration of criminal, civil and family Courts and Tribunals in England and Wales. Our roles support our court users and colleagues within HMCTS, where people and businesses access potentially life-changing justice. Were looking for individuals who are committed to public service and making a difference in peoples lives to deliver justice. If you are interested in developing a career with a real purpose, please apply
Your role
Based in Liverpool, Preston or Carlisle this administrative role supports the rollout of Child‑Focused Courts (previously piloted as Pathfinder). Child‑Focused Courts operate with an emphasis on the childs voice and aim to improve the family court process and outcomes.
Working as part of a team, you will contribute to the overall operational, performance and service standard targets across your area of work. You will progress cases through the court/tribunal system and provide customer service and administrative support to functions within HMCTS. You will have regular contact with court / tribunal users, which could include members of the Judiciary and the legal profession.
You will be adaptable, able to multi-task and effectively carry out a variety of duties, which will include:
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Preparing papers and files for court, tribunals, hearings and meetings including processing and handling sensitive information and accurately resulting outcomes.
- Creating and updating records digitally, interpreting information accurately required on a court file.
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Communicating with the Public, the Judiciary, other Court and Tribunal Users and Representatives of other Agencies and Organisations
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When required, you will be an essential first point of contact for all the court users; meeting members of the public, which may include vulnerable witnesses, and their legal representatives.
- Prepare court /hearing rooms, as well as ensuring the court runs efficiently.
Your knowledge, skills and experience
- Customer service skills; ability to work in a service-led customer-facing environment.
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Digital and administrative skills; with excellent attention to detail.
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Communication and organisational skills. Able to communicate confidently in person, over the telephone, digitally and in written communications.
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Resilience and empathy to be able to deal with sensitive information and situations.
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A team player; able to work collaboratively and flexibly to deliver business objectives.
Please refer to the role profile attachment for more information.
Lead Criterion: Statement of Suitability. A sift based on the statement of suitability may be held if a large number of applications are received.
Further details:
These operational roles are customer facing, requiring successful applicants to be office based to provide HMCTS services to the public. Standard full time working hours are 37 hours per week. HMCTS welcomes part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns, where they meet the demands of the role and business needs and are agreed prior to appointment. All applications for part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns will be considered in accordance with the MoJs Flexible Working policy.
This is a business-critical role requiring full time hours but would also consider job share.
There are 3 posts available:
1 x Liverpool Civil and Family Court L2 2 BX
1 x Preston Crown Court and Family Court (Sessions House) PR1 2PD
1 x Carlisle Combined Court CA1 1DJ
Locational appointment.
The reserve list for this campaign will be managed in accordance with location preference/s, as indicated in your application. We will appoint in merit list order for each location outlined in the vacancy and hold a separate locational reserve list for each of these locations. After appointments have been made using this locational appointment process, any remaining candidates who met the benchmark for the role will remain on a locational reserve list in accordance with their preferences for 12 months. Please only indicate preferences where you are prepared to work. If you are subsequently offered a role from the reserve list for a location preference indicated in your application and decline it, you will be removed from the reserve list for the vacancy, across all locational preferences.
Fixed Term Appointments (MoJ Staff)
Before applying, employees must seek approval from their line managers to ensure they can be released for the duration of the FTA and can return to their substantive role at the end. If there is no role available at the end of the FTA, the employee will be subject to redeployment and potentially redundancy procedures.
Loans
The terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return. Prior agreement to be released on a loan basis should be obtained before commencing the application process.
Skilled Worker Visa
This role is not eligible for new Skilled Worker visas in accordance with the current immigration rules.
From 22 July 2025, the Government introduced changes to the Skilled Worker visa route. The department cannot consider sponsoring you for this role unless you have held a Skilled Worker visa prior to the 22 July 2025 changes. If you have held a Skilled Worker visa continuously, please raise this during your vetting checks and eligibility will be assessed in accordance with the immigration rules and transitional provisions in place.
If you are applying for this role and you have not held a Skilled Worker visa prior to the 22 July 2025 changes, you will need to consider your options for obtaining and/or maintaining your right to work in the UK in light of these changes. Successful applicants must ensure they have and maintain the legal right to live and work in the Civil Service and in the United Kingdom.
The Department will continue to comply with UK Immigration Rules applied in the UK and Civil Service. [1] You can read more about Skilled Worker visas and the eligibility criteria here.
References
Technical Skills
Using your CV as a reference, please provide a summary of the key responsibilities from your previous experience that is most relevant to the Operational Support Officer position. Begin with your most recent experience and work backwards. For each position, include the job title, duration of employment, and a concise overview of your main duties. (Maximum 250 words).
This section is intended to help us understand where and how you gained experience in: Customer service, administration, IT systems and applying attention to detail in your work
Please avoid repeating content from your Statement of Suitability. That section should focus on what you can do, supported by specific examples. This question, by contrast, is about what youve done and the context in which your experience was gained.
