Senior Policy Adviser on Child Proceedings Policy
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Civil, Family, Tribunals, and Administration of Justice Directorate
The Civil, Family, Tribunals, and Administration of Justice Directorate is recruiting temporarily for SEO Senior Policy Adviser on Child Proceedings Policy. 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:
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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
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 Family Justice Policy Unit
The Civil, Family, Tribunals and Administration of Justice Directorate sits at the heart of the Department’s policy agenda. It is responsible for the cross-partner family and civil justice and tribunals systems as well as the administration of justice and irregular migration. We are areas of high ministerial interest and work ly with ministers and across-government to make sure that the government continues to deliver vital public services. The directorate is friendly, inclusive and supportive and has adopted flexible working practices designed to ensure personal wellbeing and a genuine work/life balance.
The Family Justice Policy Unit is responsible for the policy and legal framework for the family justice system, aiming to ensure that it is a safe and supportive environment for members of the public and is responsive to the needs of all those who go through it, in particular victims of domestic abuse including children. We are responsible for the private family law - resolving disputes within families (for example proceedings about divorce or child arrangements) and public family law (w the state, usually a local authority, intervenes to protect a child at risk of significant harm).
Senior Policy Adviser on Child Proceedings Policy - the role
Do you want to make a real difference to parents and children at one of the most difficult times of their lives? This role provides a unique chance for a high performing policy professional to work on a priority area for ministers and the department.
Our team works on various fast-paced and high-profile areas. We are reforming the family justice system through designing a new approach for public family law cases, w the state is intervening in the lives of vulnerable children. We are changing the legislation that underpins how decisions around child welfare are made to ensure that child welfare remains the priority. We are working through complex policy issues such as how to improve information sharing and transparency in the family courts.
We engage with a range of high-profile stakeholders from across the judiciary, operational organisations and the domestic abuse sector. Much of our work also involves engagement with ministers.
The exact job description will be decided in collaboration with the successful applicant but it will involve:
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Leading on repeal of the presumption of parental involvement throughout the remaining stages of the Courts and Tribunals Bill.
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Working with cross-system partners to identify and deliver changes to guidance and practice to support the objectives of repeal.
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Taking leadership over the aim of improving transparency in family courts.
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Developing complex policy at pace, working with analysts, lawyers, operational partners and external stakeholders.
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Drafting clear and well-written submissions for Ministerial decisions.
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Producing and delivering high-quality written and oral briefings and correspondence for senior officials and ministers.
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Proactively creating and maintaining positive, professional and trusting working relationships with a wide range of high-profile stakeholders and officials both within MoJ and people within and outside the organisation.
Skills and Experience
Essential:
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Experience of developing and delivering complex policy and working with lawyers.
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Ability to maintain keen attention to detail whilst keeping one eye on the bigger picture.
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Ability to identify and analyse relevant information from a range of sources.
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Ability to adapt to variations in work and situations and remain effective.
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Experience of drafting complex, high-quality written material.
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Experience of delivering within a fast-paced environment, meeting deadlines and escalating emerging issues and risks.
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Proven ability to lead as a ‘self-starter’ and to devise creative solutions to unforeseen challenges whilst dealing with ambiguity.
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Ability to quickly build positive relationships with cross-government colleagues, operational partners and stakeholders.
Desirable:
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An understanding of the family justice system.
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Experience of working on primary legislation.
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Experience working on vulnerable person policy.
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 500 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):
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Seeing the big picture
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Communicating and influencing
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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 communicating and influencing behaviour. 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:
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Seeing the big picture
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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
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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?
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 w/c 10 August.
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]
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.
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- are you?
Who was t- with you?
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What had happened?
Task - The job holder will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation you found yourself in.
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What was the task that you had to complete and why?
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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.
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What results did the actions produce?
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What did you achieve through your actions and did you meet your goals?
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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.
