Head of Policy Correspondence Team

SEO

Policy Group, Ministry of Justice

The Performance and Business Support Team (PBST) is recruiting permanently for an SEO Head of Policy Correspondence Team. This campaign is being run externally and so is open to all who consider themselves suitable for the roles and meet the eligibility criteria in the wider advert within Civil Service Jobs.

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.

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

• Flexible working arrangements between base locations, MoJ Hubs and home.
  
  

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

New entrants to the Civil Service will be expected to join on the minimum of the pay range. 

If you are already a civil servant and are successful in an external recruitment competition for a role with us, your starting pay will be the better of:

• promotion terms or transfer terms, as appropriate; or

• pay on appointment arrangements (minimum of pay range)

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 PBST

PBST sits at the heart of the Policy Group and is responsible for a broad range of corporate functions. This includes supporting our Director General and running his Private Office, alongside the drafting of correspondence. In addition, the team, manages our budgets and spend, workforce data and estates. PBST also has a governance function which includes supporting our Group’s Senior Management Team, overseeing information assurance and communications, not to mention developing a first-class learning and development offer.

The Role

The MoJ Policy Correspondence Team is responsible for drafting replies to the majority of letters the department receives from MPs, external organisations and members of the public. It is key to the department’s success in communicating with the outside world.

Members of the team work closely with MoJ policy teams to make sure the policy position is reflected accurately in correspondence, and with ministers’ private offices to make sure responses are drafted in line with ministerial preferences.

As Head of the Policy Correspondence Team you will provide leadership to a team of 12 staff and have direct line management of 3 drafting team leaders. You will ensure that resources are managed flexibly, that performance delivers corporate objectives in line with departmental and cross Whitehall targets, and that risks are identified and managed.

The post holder will manage the effective delivery of a correspondence service ensuring all outgoing drafts are to a high standard and will review and improve processes to ensure correspondence is dealt with effectively.

The post holder will be responsible for maintaining close and effective working relationships with ministerial private offices and policy teams. This requires excellent stakeholder management skills and the ability to build and maintain good working relationships even in challenging circumstances, and to provide a high quality and responsive service.

Skills and Experience

Essential:

• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with experience of being able to confidently adjust tone and content to suit different audiences

• Excellent attention to detail, with the ability to understand and present information and data from a wide range of sources in a succinct manner

• Confidence in decision-making, exercising sound judgement, and the ability to challenge others in a constructive manner appropriate to the situation;

• Strong interpersonal skills, with a proven track record of successful internal and external relationship management skills and the ability to build and maintain good working relationships at senior level

Key Responsibilities

• Grasp the essentials of various policy areas and be able to provide wider media and political contexts that might impact and influence the appropriate policy response when quality reviewing cases.

• Maintain close and effective working relationships with policy teams, executive agencies, ministers’ private offices and other colleagues to ensure policy briefing is suitable for correspondence purposes.

• Demonstrate a clear understanding of the MoJ’s current strategic objectives, and ensure that the objectives of the team are aligned with these and towards a goal of achieving the team’s core objectives of timely, high quality responses.

• At all times ensure your team seek to deliver clear, empathetic, respectful and timely responses to queries which address correspondent concerns, clarify policy and contribute to the overall smooth handling of departmental public communications.

• Promote the credibility of the Policy Correspondence Team through MoJ wide visibility and performance excellence.

• Overall responsibility for the Learning and Development offer on the team, and for supporting training and coaching for the team members to deliver continuous improvement.

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, 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 750 words outlining why you believe you are a suitable candidate for the role. We will particularly be looking to see references to how you demonstrate the Behaviours:

-       Leadership

-       Managing a Quality Service

-       Working Together

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 interview, we will be assessing you on Behaviours and Strengths from the success Profiles framework. The Behaviours assessed at interview will be:

• Managing a Quality Service

• Leadership

• Working Together

During the panel interview, you will be asked behaviour-based questions to explore in detail what you are capable of, experience question 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)

Interviews are expected to take place February 2025.

Contact information

If you are interested in finding out more about the role, please contact Tim Gower at tim.gower1@Justice.gov.uk

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.