Job title: Service Support Officer
Directorate: Development
Grade: EO
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.
The Development Directorate is responsible for service strategy and development, operational policy, and modernisation of courts and tribunals. The Tribunals Team in the Development Directorate supports the business of the Tribunals. It is responsible for service management of existing services; the design of new digital services; maintenance of operational policies for the jurisdiction and providing operational support to Tribunal and National Services staff on these, the implementation of change arising from government policy, legislation, or judicial initiatives; and for improving performance.
About the role
As a Service Support Officer, you will need to display good initiative, strong time management skills and be very well organised due to the rapid changes within the work. You will be asked to monitor inboxes ensuring urgent work is prioritised and dealt with. You will work flexibly across the Directorate to provide input into key areas of work.
The Employment Tribunals Service (ET) is responsible for hearing claims from people who think someone such as an employer or potential employer has treated them unlawfully. The Tribunal’s role is to carry out the administrative tasks necessary to enable claims to the Employment Tribunal and subsequent appeals to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) to be determined.
Key interactions will be with:
HMCTS Operational teams
Policy and Legal teams within MoJ and across Government
Wider Judiciary
Other Government departments/Partner organisations including DBT etc
Key stakeholders in Tribunal jurisdictions
Your role as the Service Support Officer encompasses several key aspects (but not limited to):
Draft responses to queries from HMCTS colleagues and other stakeholders
Initial drafts of Treat Official Correspondence (TOs), Ministerial Correspondence and Parliamentary Questions
Working closely with HMCTS operations (as appropriate to the various jurisdictions) to identify workable solutions
Draft briefings and other products as required such FOI (‘Freedom of Information’ requests)
Monitor in-boxes and provide responses to queries where appropriate.
Work cross jurisdictionally on improvement and transformation opportunities.
Participate in and contribute to continuous improvement and/or business transformation initiatives for your jurisdiction(s).
Implement and update Standard Operating Models and Procedures.
Promote and encourage HMCTS staff to follow operational processes and procedures in court and tribunal jurisdictions
Work with policy teams on policy and legislative proposals, ensuring that policies meet the needs of HMCTS and are operationally deliverable.
Other duties
You will be required to work in a flexible way and undertake any other duties reasonably requested by line management which are commensurate with the grade and level of responsibility of this post.
Who are we looking for? (Person Specification)
The ideal candidate for this position should demonstrate:
Essential Skills
Work unsupervised and be adaptable to changing timelines and demands
High level of drafting skills
Prioritise work against competing priorities in a fast-paced environment focused on timely and accurate delivery
Work collaboratively with a range of stakeholders both internal and external to HMCTS
Organise own workload to meet agreed deadlines
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.
Previous experience and in-depth understanding of Tribunals.
Experience or operational knowledge of digital and offline service design.
How to apply
Application Stage
Please submit a statement of suitability demonstrating how you meet the essential criteria (up to 500 words).
Your Statement of Suitability should be no more than 500 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 relating to the following Civil Service behaviours:
Working Together
Changing and Improving
Communicating and Influencing
Further details
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.