Deputy Private Secretary to the Senior President of Tribunals (Ref: 79064)

We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.

Deputy Private Secretary to the Senior President of Tribunals
Details

•    Salary – £45,824 – £50,039
•    Grade – Senior Executive Officer/SEO
•    Contract type – Permanent
•    Type of role – Policy/Strategy
•    Working pattern – Full time/ Flexible working
•    Number of posts – 1

Location

This position is based at the Judicial Office, Royal Courts of Justice, London, WC2A 2LL

About the job

Overview

This is an exciting opportunity to work in a busy Judicial Private Office and would suit someone looking for a stretching role working with some of the most senior judiciary in the country. The post is in the Private Office of the Senior President of Tribunals, currently Sir Keith Lindblom. Based within the Royal Courts of Justice (RCJ), the postholder will work closely with the Senior President to provide policy, strategy, governance, and administrative advice and assistance in support of his statutory leadership responsibilities and strategic priorities.

Job description

The Judicial Office is a unique branch of the civil service, with around 350 people dedicated to supporting the judiciary in upholding the rule of law, promoting judicial independence, and administering justice impartially, speedily, and efficiently. The Judicial Office reports to the Lord Chief Justice and the Senior President of Tribunals,  and helps them fulfil their responsibilities to the judiciary, in an ever-evolving justice system.

The Judicial Office provides a wide range of operational support, policy, legal and handling advice to judges. This includes the senior judiciary and more than 20,000 judicial officeholders. Across diverse functions, the Judicial Office share a strong sense of common purpose: strengthening the rule of law and improving the administration of justice by supporting the leadership and governance of the independent judiciary.
For more information see www.judiciary.uk, https://www.linkedin.com/company/judicial-office, 
and follow us on Twitter.

We are recruiting a permanent Deputy Private Secretary to join the Office of the Senior President of Tribunals. The Senior President is the independent head of the tribunals judiciary, with responsibility for around 5,000 judicial office holders across a range of jurisdictions including employment, immigration and asylum, social security and information rights. He is supported by a Private Office of five staff, who together provide policy and legal advice, and general secretariat and administrative support to him, and to the most senior tribunals’ judges (including Chamber and Tribunal Presidents) across the United Kingdom.
The postholder will play a critical role in ensuring the Senior President receives high quality policy and legal advice. They will be expected to lead on policy projects, as well as supporting and deputising for the Private Secretary when necessary.
The postholder will need to build strong relationships across Judicial Office and the justice system more broadly, including HMCTS, MOJ, and with other Government Departments. They will need to be confident dealing with senior officials and able to gain the confidence and trust of the judiciary, whilst providing appropriate challenge.

They will be expected to: 

•    Provide high quality written and oral advice/briefing, sometimes within short timeframes, to the Senior President and other senior judiciary or JO officials; 
•    Act as an ambassador for the Senior President and the Chamber/Tribunal Presidents with other senior judges and senior officials from MoJ, HMCTS, and OGDs, and senior stakeholder organisations. Communicating with appropriate authority, accuracy and sensitivity views/concerns/questions as required.
•    Assist the Senior President with the preparation of articles, speaking notes, report forewords and other internal and external communications.

Person specification

The successful candidate must:

•    be able to influence and manage upwards and speak with authority when dealing with senior officials or judiciary;
•    have excellent communication and interpersonal skills;
•    be able to and work flexibly to manage changing priorities in a fast-paced environment;
•    be able to work independently to manage their workload and address unforeseen challenges professionally and quickly.
 Desirable Knowledge and Skills:
•    working knowledge of the reserved unified tribunals; 
•    experience of working closely with the judiciary, and an interest in the workings of the courts and tribunals system more widely.
The support provided by judicial Private Offices necessarily involves working before and after court in keeping with the judge’s diary commitments and sitting patterns. Some early mornings and late evenings can be expected though every effort will be made to accommodate flexibility where necessary.

Selection Process

You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework.

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.

Behaviours

During the application process you will be asked to provide an example of how you have met the following behaviours:

•    Communicating and Influencing 
•    Seeing the Big Picture
•    Working Together
•    Delivering at Pace
•    Making Effective Decisions
Should we receive a large number of applications we will sift primarily on the lead behaviour of Communicating and Influencing. Successful applicants will then be invited to an interview.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Candidates invited to interview 

Please note that interviews will be carried out in person. 

During the panel interview, you will be asked behaviour-based questions to explore in detail what you are capable of, and strengths-based questions to also explore what you enjoy, and your motivations relevant to the job role. 

There is no expectation or requirement for you to prepare for the strengths-based questions in advance of the interview, though you may find it helpful to spend some time reflecting on what you enjoy doing and what you do well.

You can refer to the CS Strengths dictionary for more details.

Interviews are expected to take place in October 2023.

Benefits

Things you need to know

Security

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check.

See our vetting charter.
People working with government assets must complete basic personnel security standard checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:
•    UK nationals
•    nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
•    nationals of the Republic of Ireland
•    nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
•    relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
•    relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
•    certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals
Further information on nationality requirements

Eligibility

This vacancy is open to all Civil Service employees and employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) who were appointed on merit following a fair and open competition; or were appointed to a permanent post through an exception in the Civil Service Commissioners’ rules.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s recruitment principles.
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. I you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles and would like to raise this, please contact SSCL (Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com) in the first instance. If the role has been advertised externally (outside of the Civil Service) and you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitment/complaints/
https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/appcentre-1/brand-2/candidate/so/pm/1/pl/3/opp/58164-58164-Senior-Executive-Officer-Judicial-Office-various-posts/en-GB

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions

• Access to learning and development
• A working environment that supports a range of flexible working options to enhance your work life balance
• A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
• Annual Leave
• Public Holidays
• Season Ticket Advance

For more information about the recruitment process, benefits and allowances and answers to general queries, please click the below link which will direct you to our Candidate Information Page.

Link: https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

Job contact :

• Name : SSCL Recruitment Enquiries Team
• Email : Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com
• Telephone : 0845 241 5359

Recruitment team

• Email : Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com