Grade: Band B/SEO
Location: Royal Courts of Justice, London
The Sentencing Council for England and Wales is an independent non-departmental public body and part of the Ministry of Justice family of arm’s-length bodies. The Council produces guidelines that provide a sentencing framework for the judiciary throughout the courts in England and Wales. The Council also has a statutory remit to improve public confidence in the criminal justice system and sentencing in particular.
The sentencing of offenders is an issue of great public interest, with high-profile cases frequently attracting the attention of the media and Parliament, and the context is changing. The government is implementing reforms recommended by the Independent Sentencing Review and the Independent Review of the Criminal Courts that will make fundamental changes to the structure of sentencing and how the courts work.
The Council is chaired by a Court of Appeal judge and has 14 members, including judges from every level of the criminal court jurisdiction, the Director of Public Prosecutions, a barrister, a chief constable and other senior representatives from the fields of offender rehabilitation, victim welfare and the academic study of criminal law.
Our principal stakeholders are judges and magistrates, but the guidelines are also used by a range of other criminal justice professionals and are of particular significance to victims and witnesses.
The Sentencing Council is supported by the Office of the Sentencing Council, a high-performing, multi-disciplinary team of policy makers, lawyers, statisticians, researchers and communication professionals.
The communication team is responsible for managing all communication and reputation issues; planning and delivering high-quality communication activities to support the Council’s work to improve public confidence in sentencing; providing a strategic engagement function and a press office; and delivering digital reforms.
The Senior communication officer (public confidence) will take a leading role in developing and delivering communication and stakeholder engagement activities to support the Office of the Sentencing Council public confidence and communication strategy.
The post-holder will also provide support as required for the Council’s press office.
The post-holder is expected to acquire a thorough knowledge of the Council’s work and the environment within which we operate. They must be able to present complex legal information in a way that is engaging and easily understood by non-expert audiences.
The post reports to the Head of communication and digital and involves engagement with the most senior levels of the judiciary and senior criminal justice professionals.
Developing a thorough understanding of the Council’s guidelines, consultations, research, analysis and other work, and the context within which the Council functions, in order to communicate the Council’s work and key messages to non-experts accurately and completely.
Developing and delivering public confidence communication strategies and activities to improve knowledge and understanding of sentencing among criminal justice focused stakeholders and public audiences, including victims of crime, witnesses and offenders.
Contributing to the Council’s strategic engagement work, identifying engagement opportunities, developing briefs for stakeholder meetings, compiling content for presentations and speeches and working with stakeholders and partners.
Developing and maintaining an appropriate social media profile for the Council, planning and developing content and monitoring performance.
Supporting the Council’s press office when required, handling media enquiries and drafting news releases, articles, bulletins, briefings and lines for external media and internal, criminal justice channels. Occasionally providing an out-of-hours press contact.
Writing content for the Council’s website, blog and social media accounts.
Representing the Communication team at meetings and public engagements, as required, and contributing to the effective running of the office.
Excellent written, verbal and presentational skills, including the ability to assimilate complex issues quickly and draft clear, concise, engaging copy for a range of audiences and channels.
Experience of working on public-facing communication activities or campaigns, or experience of stakeholder engagement.
Sound news sense and an awareness of political context.
Ability to work autonomously and proactively to tight deadlines.
Experience of building credibility at a senior level, for example with senior judiciary, Ministers or senior officials.
Experience of working in a press office and handling enquiries from journalists.
Experience of working on communication within the criminal justice system would be an advantage, as would experience of working with the judiciary.
Membership of the Government Communication Service and/or the Chartered Institute of PR, Public Relations and Communications Association, Chartered Institute of Marketing or other professional body.
Please submit a personal statement (maximum 1,000 words) to communication@sentencingcouncil.gov.uk, telling us why you would be the best person for the post.
You will be assessed against the Civil Service Success Profiles Framework for:
Communicating and influencing
Managing a quality service
You will also be assessed for your professional competence. Please refer to the Government Communication Service Competency framework - technical specifications relevant to the grade of this post (SIO):
Insight
Ideas
Implementation
If you are invited for interview, you will be asked to complete a short, written exercise.
If you would like to talk to us about this vacancy, please contact Phil Hodgson, Head of communication and digital, on 020 7071 5788 or at phil.hodgson@sentencingcouncil.gov.uk.