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This vacancy is only available to existing Civil Servant employees and employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs). Please review the "Eligibility" section before you apply.

General Information

Salary
The national salary range is £35,335 - £37,847, London salary range is £40,014 - £42,859. Your salary will be dependent on your base location
Working Pattern
Full Time
Vacancy Approach
Cross Government
Location
National
Region
National
Closing Date
19-Feb-2026
Post Type
Permanent
Civil Service Grade
HEO
Number of jobs available
1
Reserve List
12 Months
Job ID
14401

Descriptions & requirements

Job description

Job title: Learning Budget and Planning Manager

Directorate: HR

Grade HEO

About us

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is responsible for the administration of criminal, civil and family courts and tribunals in England and Wales. Our roles support our service users and colleagues, where people and businesses access potentially life-changing justice.  We’re looking for individuals who are committed to public service and want to make a difference in people’s lives in delivering justice. If you’re interested in developing a career with a real purpose, please apply. 

About the role

The Learning Budget and Planning Manager will play a critical role in managing and coordinating the financial and planning activities that underpin Learning and Development (L&D) across HMCTS. This role ensures that all L&D initiatives are delivered within agreed budgets, planned effectively, and aligned with organisational priorities and wider government strategy.

The post-holder will be part of the Learning & Development team in HR, reporting into the Budget Lead. They will oversee transactional budget activities, manage spend, and provide accurate forecasting and reporting to support informed decision-making. They will provide leadership to the central Administration and Planning team, nurturing a high-performing and collaborative culture. This includes ensuring robust processes for scheduling, reporting, and effective coordination of learning activity across the organisation, while guiding work allocation and prioritisation to optimise resources and deliver organisational objectives. 

The individual will drive coordination of internal and cross-government learning, making informed budget decisions to ensure activities are relevant, impactful, and well-communicated to a range of stakeholders. Connecting budget management and planning, the role will ensure HMCTS delivers cost-effective, high-quality learning experiences that build organisational capability. 

Your role as the Learning Budget and Planning Manager encompasses several key aspects (but not limited to):

·       Support the end-to-end L&D budget process, including monitoring spend, supporting transactional processes, problem solving, and maintaining accurate financial records. 

·       Directly line manage the L&D Admin & Planning team (a geographically dispersed team of AO and EO team members), providing leadership, coaching, and development to ensure high performance and delivery of objectives.

·       Lead the team’s administrative processes for booking, tracking and reporting on learning events, maintaining accurate data and reporting systems to support informed decision-making and audit requirements.

·       Plan, develop and implement timely and engaging communications to promote learning opportunities across the organisation, tracking the effectiveness and using feedback and data to ensure messaging is clear, timely, and impactful.

·       Make informed decisions when managing competing priorities, ensuring solutions are cost-effective and aligned with organisational needs.

·       Independently conduct research, manage transactional budget activities, and monitor spend, ensuring accuracy and compliance with HMCTS financial policies.

·       Prepare forecasts and recommendations for budget allocation and planning, seeking approval from the Budget Lead before financial decisions are implemented.

Please refer to the attached role profile for a comprehensive overview of the role.

Who are we looking for? (Person Specification)

The ideal candidate for this position should demonstrate:

Essential Skills

·       Understanding of budget management, including transactional processes and financial reporting.

·       Strong attention to detail, with the ability to maintain accurate records, monitor budget spend, and ensure compliance with Civil Service financial requirements.

·       Effective stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build relationships at all levels across HMCTS, government and with external suppliers.

·       Strong communication skills, both written and verbally, with the ability to tailor messages for different audiences. 

·       Ability to lead and develop a team, setting clear objectives and supporting development and performance.

·       Excellent organisational skills to manage complex scheduling and administrative processes across multiple priorities.

Desirable Skills

The below criteria are desirable only. These will not be assessed throughout the recruitment process but will be used in the event of tied scores between candidates.

·    Knowledge of Learning & Development and how effective planning supports organisational capability.

How to apply

Application Stage

Please submit:

An anonymised CV. Please ensure your CV is uploaded in a simple format to prevent any formatting issues when it's downloaded or reviewed. 

Your CV should: 

·       Be succinct and clear.

·       Be factually accurate – You must ensure that any evidence submitted as part of your application, is 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. 

·       Include your qualifications, highlighting any modules or accreditation relevant to the role.

·       Include your relevant experience, providing dates. 

·       Provide detail – we are interested in how your knowledge, skills, and experience demonstrate the capabilities we are looking for in this role.

 A statement of suitability demonstrating how you meet the essential criteria (up to 750 words).

Your Statement of Suitability should be no more than 750 words and should give us real life examples of how your skills and experience match those needed for this role. Consider addressing particular points in the person specification requirements and key responsibilities. We recommend following the STAR format. 

 

You must ensure that any evidence submitted as part of your application, 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.   

Interview Stage

If successful at sift, you will be invited to attend a remote interview, via Microsoft teams. During your interview, you will be assessed against the following Civil Service Success Profiles which will include:

Questions in relation to the following Civil Service behaviours:

  • Delivering at Pace
  • Leadership
  • Making Effective Decision 
  • Managing a Quality Service

·       Strengths will also be assessed however these are not shared in advance. 

Working pattern 

Full time only - This is a full-time position only due to the nature of the role. 

Travel requirements

There will be a requirement to travel occasionally to any HMCTS site in line with business needs.

Opportunities for development

HMCTS is committed to staff development and offers an extensive range of training and development opportunities. 

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.

Proud to Serve. Proud to keep justice going.

Additional Information

Working Arrangements & Further Information

The MoJ offers Hybrid Working arrangements where business need allows. This is an informal, non-contractual form of flexible working that blends working from your base location, different MoJ sites and / or from home (please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas). All employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estate capacity.

Some roles will not be suitable for Hybrid Working. Similarly, Hybrid Working will not suit everyone’s circumstances. Arrangements will be discussed and agreed with the successful candidate(s) and subject to regular review.

For nationally advertised roles: All successful candidates will be appointed to the nearest viable office nearest to their home postcode and on its respective pay scale.  This will be at either a HQ building (subject to desk allocation, a Justice Collaboration Centre (JCC) or a Justice Satellite Office (JSO) – See Map. All employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estate capacity). 

For current MoJ employees, your base location will need to be changed to the nearest viable office (to your home postcode), either at a HQ building, JCC or JSO within the National Office Network and moved its location’s respective pay scale (any legacy arrangements/locations will need to be amended).

Some of MoJ’s terms and conditions of service are changing as part of Civil Service reform. The changes will apply to staff joining MoJ who are new to the Civil Service. Staff joining MoJ from other civil service employers will transfer onto the new MoJ terms if they are already on 'modernised' terms in their current post or onto 'unmodernised' MoJ terms if they are on 'unmodernised' terms at their current post. Details will be available if an offer is made.

MoJ candidates who are on a specialist grade, will be able to retain their grade on lateral transfer.

All candidates who are currently in receipt of Mark Time / Pay Protection should ensure they are familiar with the new policy on permanent and temporary promotion which can be found on the employee intranet.

Flexible working hours 

The Ministry of Justice offers a flexible working system in many offices. Standard full time working hours are 37 hours per week. MoJ welcomes part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns, where they meet the demands of the role and business needs. All applications for part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns will be considered in accordance with the MoJ’s Flexible Working policy.

Benefits 

The MoJ offers a range of benefits:

Annual Leave

Annual leave is 25 days on appointment and will increase to 30 days after five years’ service.

There is also a scheme to allow qualifying staff to buy or sell up to three days leave each year. Additional paid time off for public holidays and 1 privilege day. Leave for part-time and job share posts will be calculated on a pro-rata basis.

Pension 

The Civil Service offers a choice of pension schemes, giving you the flexibility to choose the pension that suits you best.

Training 

The Ministry of Justice is committed to staff development and offers an extensive range of training and development opportunities.

Networks 

The opportunity to join employee-run networks that have been established to provide advice and support and to enable the views of employees from minority groups to be expressed direct to senior management. There are currently networks for employees of minority ethnic origin, employees with disabilities, employees with caring responsibilities, women employees, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.

Eligibility

Staff on fixed term appointments must have been recruited through fair and open competition.

Vacancies advertised “cross-government” are only 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.

Support

  • A range of ‘Family Friendly’ policies such as opportunities to work reduced hours or job share.
  • Access to flexible benefits such as voluntary benefits, retail vouchers and discounts on a range of goods and services.
  • For moves to or from another employer or moves across the Civil Service this can have implications on your eligibility to carry on claiming childcare vouchers. You may however be eligible for alternative government childcare support schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. More information can be found on www.www.GOV.UK or Childcare Choices. You can determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.
  • Paid paternity, adoption and maternity leave.
  • Free annual sight tests for employees who use computer screens.

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. Should you feel that the recruitment process has breached the recruitment principles you are able to raise a formal complaint in the following order

As a Disability Confident employer, MoJ are committed to providing everyone with the opportunity to demonstrate their skills, talent and abilities, by making adjustments throughout all elements of the recruitment process and in the workplace. MoJ are able to offer an interview to disabled candidates who meet the minimum selection criteria, except in a limited number of campaigns.

You will be able to request reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process within the application form. If you need additional help completing the application form, please contact the TBS Recruitment Enquiries Team.

For more information on applying for a role as a candidate with a disability or long-term condition, please watch our animated videos.

Diversity & Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.

Redeployment Interview Scheme

Civil Service departments are expected to explore redeployment opportunities before making an individual redundant. The MoJ is committed, as part of the Redeployment Interview Scheme, to providing opportunities to those who are 'at risk of redundancy'.

MoJ is able to offer an interview to eligible candidates who meet the minimum selection criteria, except in a limited number of campaigns. Candidates will not be eligible for the Redeployment Interview Scheme if they are applying on promotion.

Civil Service Nationality Rules

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules

Reserve list

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles.

Contact Information

MoJ:

If you require any assistance please call 0345 241 5359 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or e mail moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@resourcing.soprasteria.co.uk

Please quote the job reference 14401

HMPPS

If you require any assistance please call 0345 241 5358 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or e mail moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@resourcing.soprasteria.co.uk

Please quote the job reference

Application form stage assessments

Experience
We will assess your experience for this role via the following methods
CV or Work History, Statement of Suitability
Statement of Suitability
Guidance for the Statement of Suitability
Your Statement of Suitability should be no more than 750 words and should give us real life examples of how your skills and experience match those needed for this role. Consider addressing particular points in the person specification requirements and key responsibilities. We recommend following the STAR format.

You must ensure that any evidence submitted as part of your application, 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.
Evidence of Experience
CV or Work History, Statement of Suitability

Interview stage assessments

Interview Dates
Earliest to interview: Week Commencing Monday 16th March (subject to change)
Behaviours
Delivering at Pace
Leadership
Making Effective Decisions
Managing a Quality Service
Strengths
Strengths will be assessed but these are not shared in advance. To learn more about Strengths and how they are assessed please click here.
Level of security checks required
DBS Basic

Use of Artificial Intelligence (Al)

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.  Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.