Ministry of Justice

The Role

The role will put you in a unique position – it is critical to the business of the Department, spans breadth of the organisation and is key to ensuring that the business of the Department is aligned to the broader financial landscape of both the organisation and the Government. In particular, the postholder will play a critical role in ensuring that the Accounting Officer duties of the Permanent Secretary are fulfilled and that the Department’s spending is at all times in line with the principles of Managing Public Money.

This role will require collaborative working with colleagues in every area of the department and across Whitehall at every level, to make sure that finance is at the heart of decision making, and that when developing strategic plans, you understand and have gained buy-in from policy, operational and corporate colleagues. As Deputy Director for the team, you will play an important role in this – you will need to build and maintain well-developed relationships with the Directors General in MoJ, HMPPS and HMCTS and use these to navigate tough negotiations with HMT and No.10.

The work of the teams is often fast paced, high priority and strategic, regularly reporting directly to ExCo, the Permanent Secretary and the Secretary of State, and influencing all areas of departmental planning. However, it is important that the postholder is also able to prioritise longer-term work, such as on: the role of AI and technology on the services that MoJ delivers, and how they can be used to improve productivity of the department; the opportunities for increasing income generation for MoJ, and the impact on economic growth of doing so; and, the health of key MoJ provider markets.

This role is a great opportunity for policy professionals to get finance and strategy experience – and for finance professionals to gain a more strategic overview of the department and across Whitehall. You will gain unrivalled insight into the interaction of financial planning with policy and operations.

Key Responsibilities

The postholder will be required to undertake the following duties and responsibilities:

• Working closely with Directors General, the Permanent Secretary and Ministers on the key financial issues facing the department. This will include during setpiece fiscal events, such as the Spending Review, as well as the annual budget setting process.
• Maintaining a high-quality, collaborative relationship with the HMT Spending Team, No.10 and Cabinet Office.
• Leading on fiscal events for the Department and leading the annual budget setting process for MoJ (i.e. allocations), working collaboratively across the Department to ensure that trade-offs and risks are exposed and resolved.
• Ensuring that there are robust plans in place to deliver efficiency targets, and that progress is monitored and reported on a regular basis.
• Overseeing the c.£2bn of income that MoJ receives annually from fees and fines, including working with policy colleagues to explore opportunities to increase income, whilst considering the broader impacts, such as on access to justice and economic growth, of doing so.
• Providing a high-quality finance business partnering service to Policy Group. This involves overseeing budgets of c.£250m, and working closely with the two Policy Directors General to ensure that they have a clear understanding of their budgets and spend throughout the year.
• Building strategic, financial capability and understanding across the department, through outreach and engagement at all levels of seniority.

Essential Experience:

• Able to work independently, proactively, passionately, and confidently on high-profile areas across the Department and lead others to achieve quality and on time delivery of outputs.
• Comfortable and confident in working at pace to manage a full workload with conflicting short and long-term priorities.
• Able to build positive relationships with partners in other teams and departments, and to use those relationships to influence others through excellent interpersonal and communication skills, tailored to the recipient. This includes the ability to critically consider and confidently challenge stakeholders regarding their delivery or information and translating across functions to obtain a joined-up approach.
• Confident working closely with senior officials and Ministers on tricky finance or policy issues. 
• Strong negotiation skills, with the ability to remain resilient in the face of substantial and sustained challenge. 
• Capable of fostering and leading a culture of knowledge sharing and collaboration between policy, programmes, the business, finance, and other corporate services
• Experience leading policy development and making decisions in complex policy areas, using analytical and finance skills and different evidence sources to provide Ministers or senior officials with high-quality advice

Desirable Experience:

• CCAB or CIMA qualified accountant (or on route to achieving qualification in near future)

For more details about the role and how to apply please view our candidate information pack.