Senior Policy Adviser in the Criminal Law Team

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Victims, Vulnerabilities & Criminal Law Directorate

The Victims, Vulnerabilities and Criminal Law Directorate is recruiting permanently for an SEO senior policy adviser. This campaign is open to current civil servants on level transfer and suitable candidates on promotion.

Location:

Successful candidates will have the option to be based at one of the following locations:

1. 102 Petty France, London

2. 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:

• Full-time, part-time or the option to job share

• 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 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 Victims, Vulnerabilities and Criminal Law Directorate

The directorate sits at the heart of MoJ’s policy agenda. We work closely with Ministers, No10, the Crown Prosecution Service, as well as a wide range of other Whitehall departments, to tackle a range of complex issues.

Senior Policy Adviser in the Criminal Law Policy Team
The Criminal Law Policy team sits within the Victims, Vulnerabilities and Criminal Law Directorate and is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the criminal law and managing its development, and advising ministers and other Government departments on proposed changes to the criminal law. We have a general responsibility for maintaining the integrity of the criminal law, ensuring it is fit for purpose. We are also responsible for certain specified criminal offences, and within the team there are three sub-teams covering violent offences, sexual offences and non-violent offences.

The vast majority of our work is delivered through changes to Primary Legislation. Criminal law Bill work is fast-paced and high-profile. It often requires significant engagement with Ministers and other government departments on rapid policy development, and engagement with Parliamentarians and stakeholders.

The portfolio has significant public, Ministerial and Parliamentary interest, and any successful candidate will need to be able to get to grips with complex policy issues and legislation. We work extremely closely with our legal advisors, as well as across Government and with operational partners such as the Crown Prosecution Service and National Crime Agency.

This role will sit within the sexual offences team, though members of this team are expected to be flexible and adapt according to demand across the full breadth of the criminal law portfolio. The sexual offences team deals largely with offences such as rape, child sex offences, intimate image offences and indecent images of children offences. Current focus is on changes to child sex offences and tackling intimate image abuse. We are a team that supports each other across the breadth of the criminal law team, so members are expected to be flexible and adapt according to demand across the criminal law portfolio.

Applicants should note that the Criminal Law Policy team deals with a range of difficult and sensitive policy issues and criminal offences that cover areas involving abortion and assisted dying, sexual crimes, crimes against children and violence.

Successful candidates can expect to:

• Lead on complex policy areas with significant interest from stakeholders.

• Build good working relationships with a range of stakeholders - particularly Other Government Departments.

• Draft high-quality advice and briefing to ministers on high-profile policy areas.

• Support corporate activities to continue to make the Directorate a great place to work.

• Lead on drafting Parliamentary Questions, FOIs, correspondence, and similar pieces of work.

• Lead on measures in primary legislation.

Skills and Experience

Essential:

• Previous experience of working with criminal law

• Exceptional attention to detail.

• Ability to shape the direction of work confidently and proactively.

• Effective stakeholder management including working across organisational boundaries.

• Exceptional communication and drafting skills, including the ability to understand complex issues and communicate them effectively to a range of audiences.

• Experience of working in a fast-paced environment and prioritising effectively while delivering high quality work. 

• Confident using evidence and data to inform decision making.

Desirable:

• Previous experience of working in policy

• Knowledge of the criminal justice system.

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 also be asked to provide an example of how you have met the following behaviours (see Annex A for more information):

• Delivering at Pace

• Communicating and Influencing

• Making Effective Decisions

• Seeing the Big Picture

Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717275/CS_Behaviours_2018.pdf

Candidates invited to interview

Please note that interviews will be carried out remotely.

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: Success Profiles - Civil Service Strengths Dictionary (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Experience of working with the criminal law will also be tested at interview.

Interviews are expected to take place in February 2026.

Contact information  

Please do get in touch with Eleanor Nicholls - eleanor.nicholls@justice.gov.uk if you would like to know more about the role or what it is like working in our team.

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.

• Where are you?

• Who was there with you?

• What had happened?

Task - The job holder will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation you found yourself in.

• What was the task that you had to complete and why?

• 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.

• What results did the actions produce?

• What did you achieve through your actions and did you meet your goals?

• 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.