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General Information

Salary
£30,109
Working Pattern
Full Time
Vacancy Approach
External
Location
London
Region
London
Closing Date
09-Mar-2026
Post Type
Permanent
Civil Service Grade
AO
Number of jobs available
1
Reserve List
12 Months
Job ID
15143

Descriptions & requirements

Job description

The Judicial Office (JO) reports to, and is accountable, to the Lady Chief Justice (LCJ). It was established in 2006 to provide support to the LCJ and to the wider judiciary in upholding the rule of law and in delivering justice impartially, speedily and efficiently, following the Constitutional Reform Act 2005.

In addition, we support, and are accountable to, the Senior President of Tribunals, whose responsibilities extend to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The JO is an interesting and unique place to work. Everything we do is in support of upholding the independence and impartiality of the judiciary. We work closely with HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS), the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and others across Government as well as with the legal professions.

We are an Arm’s Length Body sponsored by the Ministry of Justice. This creates an interesting and complex environment in which to work where we agree our priorities with the senior judiciary and receive our funding to deliver them from the Ministry of Justice. The Judicial Office has been through a period of significant growth resulting from an expansion of our remit and responsibilities.

See JO staff talk about working here: https://design102.wistia.com/medias/uhgtmbtnlv

The Judicial HR Operations Team is accountable for delivering the right Judicial Office Holders with the right skills, in the right place, at the right time in support of the Lord Chancellor, Lady Chief Justice and the Senior President of Tribunals as set out in the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. We are responsible for working with the judiciary, wider JO, HMCTS, MoJ and the JAC. The Judicial Office Holder Appointments team provides support to the senior judiciary and the Lord Chancellor concerning Judicial Office Holder appointments and retirements. We also provide advice on the authorisation of judges and the deployment of individuals to other roles, including leadership roles. 

This position is eligible for hybrid working (current minimum requirement for time spent at base location is 60%, which is subject to business requirements).

As Admin Officer, the role holder will be required to support a range of judicial appointment related duties to the Onboarding, Complex Appointments, Relationship Management and the Management Information & Insights Team (MIIT) supporting the senior judiciary and the Lord Chancellor in relation to their responsibilities to judicial office holder appointments (Courts, Tribunals and Magistracy).

Working to your EO Team leader, this role involves supporting quality and timely support on appointments to the judiciary. This could include the following responsibilities:  

Lead Areas

•         Provide timely support to the Lord Chancellor, the Lady Chief Justice, the Senior President of Tribunals and the Senior Presiding Judge on JAC and Advisory Committee reports that recommend candidates for judicial appointment, renewals, resignations and extensions of appointments.

•         Respond timely in accordance with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to queries from stakeholders and the public, from the HR Operations Team inbox within the agreed KPIs.

•         Processing the automatic renewals of judges’ appointments and wider data inputting using the JHR IT database, system ensuring appointments are accurately maintained.

•         To support the HR Operations Team (HR Ops Team) in managing the appointments process for Courts Judges, Tribunal judges and Magistrates in a timely and efficient manner.

•         To collect Royal Warrants/Letters Patent and to draft correspondence and work with the wider team on public announcements, medical checks, and Instruments of Appointment.

•         To support swearing-in ceremonies for Circuit Judges and above, to ensure that they run smoothly. This may involve occasional working outside usual business hours.

•         To assist with the creation of an electronic filing system accessible to the wider HR Ops Team.

•         To organise and maintain the paper filing system, which may involve some lifting of boxes and moving files from one location to another.

•         Arrange the signing of long service certificates for Magistrates.

•         To support and help to implement wider assurance protocols across the HR Ops Team.

•         To support the HR Ops Team in delivering our Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) and KPI’s.

•         Providing ad hoc flexible support to colleagues across the HR Ops Team as and when required to meet shifting work priorities as and when requested by your manager.

Develop a collaborative way of working with colleagues in the wider HR Ops Team that will ensure a seamless systematic approach, providing clarity for Judicial Office Holders and the Department through team working and shared knowledge of the whole appointments system.

Essential knowledge, skills and experience:

•        Good organisational skills with the ability to manage your own workload effectively.

•        Proficiency in IT skills (should be able to work confidently in Word, Excel, Outlook including the ability to make formatting and layout changes to documents, manipulate data in Excel using basic formulae, sorting and filtering and be able to use databases confidently).

•        Strong team player with the ability to support colleagues across the HR Ops Team.

•        Good attention to the guidelines, procedures and processes of the HR Ops Team. 

Desirable:

•        Experience of a customer focused service.

  • Knowledge of the work of the judiciary

You will be assessed on the following behaviours both at application stage and interview:

1.    Working Together (Lead behaviour)

2.    Delivering at Pace

3.    Managing a Quality Service

4. Changing and improving

 

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 volume of applications, we will sift primarily on the lead behaviour Working Together.  Successful applicants will then be invited to an interview, testing both Behaviours and Strengths.

 

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.

 

Successful applicants will then be invited to a virtual interview on MS Teams, testing both Behaviours and Strengths. 

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 role: 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.

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.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.

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

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.

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.

A Great Place to Work for Veterans

The "Making the Civil Service a Great Place to work for veterans" initiative includes a guaranteed interview scheme to those who meet the minimum criteria to provide eligible former members of the Armed Forces with opportunities to secure rewarding jobs. Allowing veterans to continue to serve their country, and to bring highly skilled individuals with a broad range of experience into the Civil Service in an environment, which recognises and values your previous service in the Armed Forces.
For further details about the initiative and eligibility requirements visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/making-the-civil-service-a-great-place-to-work-for-veterans

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:

  • UK nationals
  • nationals of the Republic of Ireland
  • nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
  • nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window) https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families
  • nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
  • individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
  • Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

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 15143

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 15143

Application form stage assessments

Behaviours
A sift based on the lead behaviour, Working Together, may be held if a large number of applications are received. If a large number of applications remain after the initial sift, your application will be progressed to a full sift, where all behaviours will then be considered.
Behaviours Application Form Question Word Limit
250
Changing and Improving
Working Together
Managing a Quality Service
Delivering at Pace

Interview stage assessments

Interview Dates
Expected for the week commencing 16th March 2026
Behaviours
Changing and Improving
Working Together
Managing a Quality Service
Delivering at Pace
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
Counter Terrorism Check (CTC)

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.