Ministry of Justice

Senior Policy Advisor, Civil Litigation Costs and Funding Policy

SEO

Civil, Family, Tribunals

The Civil, Family, Tribunals and Administration of Justice Directorate in the Ministry of Justice is recruiting permanently for SEO Senior Policy Advisor, Civil Litigation Costs and Funding policy.

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:

• 102 Petty France, London
• 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)

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 the Civil Justice and Law Division

Around one third of adults experience at least one civil, administrative, or family problem over an 18-month period.

The civil courts are an essential part of the UK’s justice system. They are the part of the system the public are most likely to interact with. Civil courts are generally people’s last resort when something has gone wrong. Whether that’s a landlord refusing to fix their tenant’s mould issues, someone needing compensation because clinical negligence has left them with lifelong difficulties, or a contractor refusing to carry out work that they’ve been paid for. They are also a vital mechanism to hold large companies, organisations, and government to account.

The Civil Litigation Funding and Costs team sits in the Civil Justice and Law Policy (CJLP) division. CJLP is a friendly and supportive division which oversees a varied portfolio, ranging from personal injury to civil enforcement, and civil litigation funding and costs to civil justice strategy.

We work to protect and modernise the civil justice system and are responsible for developing policy and working collaboratively with others to ensure the civil justice system is fair, proportionate and provides equitable access for all.

The Civil Litigation Costs and Funding team is a small team within the wider Division. We are a friendly and motivated team who support and look out for each other, whilst delivering on important Government priorities. We work collaboratively and flexibly, and you will regularly get the opportunity to take on stretching work to support your continued learning and development goals. 

Civil Litigation Funding and Costs covers policy relating to the way in which civil claims are funded and parties involved can recover their legal costs. Broadly, the team oversees policies to control and reduce the costs involved in civil claims, and to strengthen the funding mechanisms available to fund these. These policies help ensure people can afford to use the courts to resolve their issues. Therefore, it is a crucial factor in enabling access to justice.

Senior Policy Advisor, Civil Litigation Costs and Funding Policy - the role

This role will lead the department’s policy on Fixed Recoverable Costs (FRC). This is a complex and highly technical policy area and requires someone with an eye to detail and excellent analytical skills, who can confidently get to grips with complex costs legislation. 

The general position in civil litigation in England and Wales is that “the loser pays”: that is, they pay the winner’s legal costs as well as their own. This ensures the winner’s legal costs are reimbursed and discourages unmeritorious litigation. MoJ oversees various policies which help ensure that these “adverse” costs do not become excessive and therefore prevent people from bringing valid claims. This is a crucial mechanism for enabling access to justice.

This includes FRC, which allow parties to know in advance the amount one party can claim back from the other if they win their claim, as a contribution towards their own legal costs. This can help claimants make an informed decision about whether or not to pursue litigation as they will have the full facts of how much the claim could cost them if they win or lose. Fixed Recoverable Costs are set out in the Civil Procedure Rules and are calculated based on factors including the type of claim, the stage of litigation reached and the claim’s complexity. In 2023, FRC were extended to cover most types of small and medium civil claim, with notable exceptions. This was a major reform to the civil justice system, which this post-holder will be responsible for reviewing.

The post-holder will design and lead a full Post-Implementation Review (PIR) of the overall FRC regime. They will also likely  one or more additional reviews of FRC which are due to commence this year:

• A review of whether or not to uplift the FRC rates in line with inflation;
• A review of the vulnerability provisions, which increase the amount of FRC due because one party’s vulnerability means that the legal costs involved in the claim were higher.

The role will involve developing a firm grasp of court processes and the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR), which oversee FRC and other civil costs protections. The post-holder will implement changes resulting from the FRC reviews through amendments to the CPR. This would be delivered in conjunction with the Civil Procedure Rule Committee (a judicial body) through secondary legislation. This process will involve working closely with the senior judiciary and other stakeholders, including our internal lawyers.

The postholder will therefore need to be confident working with and developing complex legislation. They will need to be able to communicate confidently with stakeholders, distilling complex topics for ministers and senior judges while confidently navigating the judiciary’s independence from government.  External stakeholders can have strong views about FRC, so the role will offer the post-holder the opportunity to build strong stakeholder management skills.

Overall, the role will offer the successful candidate valuable experience of technical policy development in a rules-based system, developing policy and legislation, building and maintaining relationships both internally and externally with stakeholders (including the senior judiciary), and driving improvements in our work and processes.

In this role, you will be required to:

• Quickly get to grips with a complex policy area, including highly technical legislation overseeing it;
• Design and analyse a post implementation review of FRC policy, and one or more further, targeted reviews of FRC;
• Use the evidence gathered to develop robust policy on FRC, considering competing policy objectives and risks;
• Draft high-quality submissions and briefings for ministers;
• Lead on implementing policies through secondary legislation, including drafting instructions for lawyers;
• Analyse technical policy detail and work on policy documents at pace;
• Manage multiple workstreams on costs protections by planning and prioritising effectively and efficiently;
• Work collaboratively with colleagues in Civil Justice and Law, across the CFTAJ directorate and beyond;

Skills and Experience

The postholder will be able to demonstrate:

Essential

·       Excellent analytical skills and comfortable working with technical detail, legislation and numbers.

·       Good written and oral communication skills, able to produce high quality briefing and reports, and synthesise complex topics for the target audience.

·       Effective collaborator with excellent relationship management skills, ability to interact confidently with senior officials, the legal profession, the senior judiciary and ministers.

·       Demonstrated confidence to act independently and quickly get to grips with a complex area.

·       Proactive attitude and self-starter, with a proven ability to come up with ideas and use initiative to drive policy development.

·       Strong organisational skills and the ability to plan and deliver outcomes according to agreed priorities and strict deadlines.

·       Ability to understand how work fits into wider departmental and government priorities.

Desirable

• Previous experience of working on or with court procedure rules.
• Previous experience of delivering PIRs.
• Knowledge of the civil 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 work history, 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 Work History 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 be asked to provide an example of how you have met the following behaviour (see Annex A for more information):

• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing

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

Should we receive a large number of applications, we will sift primarily on the lead behaviour of Making Effective Decisions. Successful applicants will then be invited to an interview, testing behaviours and strengths.

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)

Interviews are expected to take place in March 2026.

Contact information  

Please do get in touch if you would like to know more about the role or what it is like working in our team. helen.brannigan@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.