Ministry of Justice

HM Courts and Tribunals Service – Strategy, Analysis and Change Directorate, Strategy and User Insight Division 

Pay Band: Grade 7 

Job Title: Head of Judicial Strategy and Workforce Planning  

Appointment Term: Permanent 

Overview 

Courts and tribunals underpin justice and affect the lives of millions every year. We process more than four million legal cases a year, ranging from serious crimes to traffic offences, civil claims and family law cases as well as appeals against decisions made by employers, public bodies and other organisations. We are exceptionally proud of the services we provide and of the important part they have played in our history as a nation founded on justice, human rights and fairness. We are now transforming to meet the changing demands of a changing justice system. You can find out more about what we do and how we work here. 

We are looking for someone who can lead delivery of a complex programme, who is used to working across multiple teams or organisations, and who has the strategic awareness to operate in a complex environment that brings together policy change and operational delivery. This role will involve working closely with teams across HMCTS, MoJ, Judicial Office and the Judicial Appointments Commission to lead workforce planning and deliver a high-quality Judicial Recruitment Programme. You will be confident engaging with senior officials and judges, as well as operational teams.  

About the role 

The Strategy and User Insight Division sits at the heart of HMCTS, working across the whole organisation to use expert insight on the needs of our users and business, the policy context, operational priorities and wider strategic trends to develop and drive organisational strategy. We work with senior leadership and engage with colleagues across HMCTS, the Ministry of Justice and wider justice system to help the organisation to meet strategic challenges and innovate.   

The work of the Strategy Unit includes: 

• Working with senior leadership to set out future priorities and shape the strategic vision and direction of HMCTS in the medium to long-term.   

• Leading HMCTS engagement on judicial strategy and policy development. 

• Carrying out research and generating insight on both domestic and international trends that may impact on the future shape and direction of the justice system and feeding this into strategy development and decision making.  

• Working with analytical colleagues to understand and use data in driving decision making across a wide range of topics including capacity, performance and productivity. 

• Developing relationships across the justice system to ensure that HMCTS is engaged in policy and legislative development that may impact delivery of services.   

You will be part of a small but high performing group of Strategy Leads within the Division, working to one of two G6 joint heads of the Strategy Unit and as part of a wider G7 leadership team covering Strategy and User Insight. This role will lead a critical function within the Unit responsible for managing the Judicial Recruitment Programme as well as leading workforce planning for the judiciary and magistrates and leading engagement with MoJ and the Judicial Office on judicial policy and strategy. Having the right capacity of judges and magistrates is essential to the functioning of the system and informs all financial and operational planning, as well as policy advice to ministers. In a context of major reform across the justice system, this role is more critical than ever.  

This is a leading role in an inclusive, welcoming, people-oriented team. We are looking for someone who can think strategically, understand and use data, build strong and effective relationships across teams and organisations and can work through others to drive delivery.  

Job description 

You will be one of two G7s working to the G6 senior team leader covering the full range of strategy and planning for the recruitment of the judiciary. You will work collaboratively across HMCTS, with policy teams in MoJ and with partners across the justice system in the Judicial Office, Judicial Appointments Commission and Judicial College. You will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the Judicial Recruitment Programme and combining this with strategic thinking about how wider changes to the justice system affect the future of our judiciary. You will need to have a practical understanding of the operational constraints we work within and come up with solutions that can work. 

We don’t expect candidates to bring this knowledge with them to the role. Instead, we want someone with the passion, curiosity and intellectual depth to quickly build relationships, understand the system and start thinking creatively.   

The key responsibilities of the role include: 

• Set the strategic priorities for how HM Courts and Tribunal Service drives the next phase of judicial recruitment, working with partners across the Ministry of Justice family, and having a clear and strong lead on the operational opportunities and implications for the Agency.  

• Lead a small team responsible for management of the Judicial Recruitment Programme, working with counterparts across the MoJ, Judicial Office and Judicial Appointments Commission to plan and manage delivery of c.1000 judicial appointments each year that meet the priorities of the Lord Chancellor and Lady Chief Justice/senior judiciary and inform magistrate recruitment plans.  

• Provide the secretariat function to the key senior official and judicial governance group (Judicial Complement Group), ensuring good decisions and recommendations are made from a basis of robust analysis, evidence and options. 

• Work across the team and with partners across the judicial system to develop medium and long-term plans for how we ensure we have the right judges and magistrates, in the right place at the right time and feed this insight into financial and operational planning. 

• Work with the G7 lead Analyst for judicial capacity and G7 Strategy Lead responsible for analytical insight to ensure capacity forecasts are informed by workforce planning. 

• Depending on the candidate there will be other responsibilities and opportunities across the team. 

Essential criteria 

You will: 

• Be skilled at working with and through others to make change happen, bringing about new ways of working, ideally in an operational environment 

• Experience leading programmes, ideally in a policy context. Formal project management qualifications are not required, but an understanding of the principles of good programme leadership are 

• Show an ability to effectively operate through uncertainty; proactively identifying and solving complex problems  

• Have strong relationship building and communication skills, both at senior and operational level 

• A track record of leading diverse, high performing teams and creating an inclusive environment 

• Have the ability to take evidence from a range of sources (including data and analytics) to draw out key insights, make reasoned recommendations and decisions, plan, put into action and deliver at pace 

Desirable criteria 

• Have a broad understanding of the policy environment and civil service and, if new to justice, a keenness to quickly develop your knowledge on courts, tribunals and the judicial system.  

Application process 

To apply for this role, please submit a CV and statement of suitability of no more than 750 words setting out how you meet the criteria in the person specification of the role. Please ensure you cover both ‘what’ you do but also ‘how’ you do it. (i.e., the effective skills, knowledge & experience needed to undertake the role) 

We will aim to sift the CV and statement of suitability but, in the event of a large number of applicants, an initial short sift may be conducted on the statement of CV only. Candidates who pass the initial sift of the CV will either:  

• ⁠progress to a full sift where all application assessment criteria is then assessed. 

• or progress straight to further interview. 

Interview  

If successful at sift you will be invited to attend an in-person interview in 102 Petty France, London SW1H 9AJ. Candidates can request an online interview if this is not possible. Please note that travel fares to the interview will be the responsibility of candidates and are not reimbursable. 

Shortlisted candidates should expect questions relating to the following ‘success profiles’ Civil Service Behaviors pr 

• Seeing the Big Picture 

• Delivering at Pace 

• Communicating and Influencing 

You will also be assessed on your experience against the essential criteria set out for this role through a presentation, followed by panel questions.  

The presentation brief will be sent to the shortlisted candidates in advance of your interviews.  

Further information on the Civil Service Success Profiles and required standards for this post (Grade 7), can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles    

Further details 

Occasional travel to 102 Petty France, SW1H 9AJ and other HMCTS sites will be required, subject to business need.  

About our benefits 

We reward our people for their hard work and commitment. We have a number of family friendly and flexible working polices that will help you achieve a healthy work-life balance. In addition, we offer a range of employee benefits which include generous annual leave, a highly competitive contributory pension scheme, childcare benefits, season ticket and bicycle loans.