Ministry of Justice

HMPPS Band 6

Overview of the job

The Joint Unit is a unique team funded and resourced equally across MoJ Prisons Directorate and HMPPS. Our team provides advice to senior officials, Ministers, and across Government, on immediate challenges in the prison and probation system, as well as leading longer-term strategic planning and preparations. We work collaboratively across a wide range of policy and operational topics with colleagues across the MoJ, HMPPS and other government departments. 

Our areas of focus are often high priorities for the Government and include a mixture of reactive work and planned project delivery. Examples of the projects we have worked on include: leading on election planning, coordinating and delivering work across major areas of criminal justice reform, bidding for sustainable funding settlements for prison and probation, delivering a strategic cross-justice system response to prison capacity pressures, reviewing operational approaches to policies such as vetting, support for prisoners on remand, delivery of prisoner resettlement services, and probation supervision requirements. 

We are a friendly, enthusiastic and collaborative team with a strong emphasis on ensuring members feel happy, supported and engaged in their work. We are committed to delivering high-quality and impactful projects, working closely with partners, and supporting everyone to play their part to improve prison and probation services. We have a strong commitment to personal and career development, helping everyone to grow and fulfil their potential.

The role will vary depending on the priorities of MoJ/HMPPS at the time.  We are looking for someone who is flexible, motivated, and keen to take on new challenges. Some examples of the type of work are set out below.

We will be conducting information sessions to give you a bit more insight into what the Joint Unit is like and an opportunity to ask questions.

These will run on:

• Wednesday 13th May, 17:00 – 17:45 
• Thursday 14th May, 12:00 – 12:45 

If you would like to attend, please email abby.kramer@justice.gov.uk to register your interest.

The job holder will be required to carry out the following responsibilities, activities and duties:

• Helping to develop evidence-based policy, providing research and written input into both published and internal pieces of work.
• Building good working relationships with a wide range of stakeholders – particularly HMPPS and other government Departments.
• Being familiar with the internal and external governance and project management arrangements for key projects, including attending meetings and/or Boards on behalf of the team, developing papers, co-ordinating and supporting effective project management and otherwise feeding in as appropriate.
• Communicating regularly with senior leaders and stakeholders, presenting ideas and feeding back from these meetings to the team.
• Supporting the team to brief Ministers, including working closely with colleagues to meet tight ministerial deadlines and requests.
• Input to short term problem-solving on urgent issues.
• Assisting in drafting briefing, submissions and similar pieces of work.
• Providing secretariat support for monthly Capacity Strategy Forum meetings.  

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive.

The job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary. Significant adjustments may require re-examination under the Job Evaluation Scheme and shall be discussed in the first instance with the job holder.

Skills and Experience:

Essential

• Strong communication skills (both written and verbal).
• An ability to explain information clearly and concisely.
• Ability to work with a wide range of stakeholders.
• Attention to detail.
• A willingness to work through uncertainty.

Desirable

• An understanding of the Criminal Justice System.
• Experience of working on criminal justice or related issues.

Application process

You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework. 

During the application process you will be asked to provide a written statement of suitability of no more than 500 words, alongside a CV (no more than 2 pages) and will be assessed across 3 Behaviours: Seeing the Big Picture (lead), Communicating & Influencing and Working Together. 

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)

During the panel interview, you will be asked behaviour-based questions on the following behaviours (set out in the civil service success profiles framework).

• Seeing the Big Picture 
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together 

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.

Location:

Successful candidates will have the option to be based at one of the following locations: (occasional travel between Leeds and London may be required):

1. 102 Petty France, London
2. 5 Wellington Place, Leeds 

Since 2019, the MoJ has separated its head office operations across two sites: Leeds and London. Applications from candidates wishing to be based in either location are welcome in this campaign. Successful candidates may choose equally between these two exciting environments; however, we are committed to expanding the presence of the Policy Group in our northern hub. 

Terms of appointment

This role is available as a 12‑month loan, the successful candidate/s will need to be released from their current role/s to start as soon as possible.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ)

MOJ is one of the largest government departments, employing over 90,000 people (including those in the Probation Service), with a budget of approximately £9.5 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  

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
• Flexible working arrangements between base locations, MoJ Hubs and home. 

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.