Policy Lead, Family Procedure Rule Committee

SEO

Civil, Family, Tribunals and Administration of Justice Directorate

The Civil, Family, Tribunals and Administration of Justice Directorate is recruiting permanently for a Policy Lead to the Family Procedure Rule Committee (SEO). This campaign is open to current civil servants on level transfer and suitable candidates on promotion.

Candidates are reminded that to be eligible for this campaign; you must still be employed as a civil servant at the point of accepting the role. If you resign or your FTA contract ends before you are made and accept an offer, you will become ineligible and you will be withdrawn from the process.

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 Family Justice Policy Unit

The unit is responsible for the policy and legal framework for private family law to resolve disputes within families (for example proceedings about divorce or child arrangements) and public family law (where the state, usually a local authority, intervenes to protect a child at risk of significant harm). We aim to ensure the family justice system is a safe and supportive environment for members of the public and is responsive to the needs of all those who go through it, in particular victims of domestic abuse and their children.

The Family Procedure Rule Committee is one of the department’s arm’s length bodies. Created in statute, it is responsible for making the rules of court which govern the practice and procedure followed in family proceedings in the High Court and Family Court. The Committee is comprised of the some of the most senior family judges, including the President of the Family Division, and attended by legal practitioners and others who work in the family justice system.

Policy Lead, Family Procedure Rule Committee - the role

This post provides a unique chance for a high performing policy professional to work on a priority area of work for Ministers and the department. The work is fast paced, and the role provides an opportunity to work closely with a range of stakeholders on a policy agenda which will make a tangible difference to children and families.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading on the Committee’s priority policy areas: you will be the policy lead for some of the Committee’s top priorities. The specific portfolio will evolve over time but recent high-profile projects have been to open the family courts to journalists and changes to support legislation around the automatic restriction of parental responsibility. To do this you will need to collaborate with colleagues in legal, operations and analysis and lead external engagement with experts to implement reforms.

• Helping the Committee to set strategic direction to determine its priorities and work with policy teams to respond to these. The Committee has a long list of priorities but there are only limited resources to consider these so your responsibility is to identify the policies which will be most impactful and ensure progress is swift.

• Leading on engaging ministers and the President of the Family Division to reform rules and practice directions. The postholder will manage relationships with the parliamentary team to amend the rules (via Statutory Instruments) and agreeing Practice Directions with ministers. To be successful you will need to create effective relationships with ministerial and judicial private offices.

• Oversight of the Committee’s membership and appointments: this will include working with the Judicial Office and the public appointments team to ensure appointments to the Committee attract strong candidates.

• Management of the Committee’s Secretariat: you will line manage the Secretary to the Family Procedure Rule Committee who is responsible for the secretariat functions such as commissioning papers, organising meetings, writing minutes and managing the inbox. You will need to provide supportive and inclusive line management which assists development.

As this is a role in Policy Group you can work from either the London or Leeds office but you will be required to attend the Committee meetings in person at the Royal Courts of Justice, which are held eight times a year.

Skills and Experience

Essential:

• Policy skills - the ability to analyse complex problems and get to grips with a range of legal and policy issues.

• Organisational skills - comfortable with working flexibly across a busy portfolio of work and working to short deadlines.

• Communication skills - you will need to be able to write clearly and persuasively and to present policy proposals verbally.

• Relationship building - you will need to be able to establish positive relationships with officials from the MoJ, Department for Education and HMCTS and with the judiciary and legal practitioners to implement reforms.

Desirable:

• An understanding of the family justice system and/or courts policy.

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 CV, 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 CV 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(s) (see Annex A for more information):

• Seeing the Bigger Picture

• Delivering at Pace.

Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade:

Success Profiles: Civil Service behaviours - GOV.UK

Should we receive a large number of applications, we will sift primarily on Seeing the Bigger Picture. Successful applicants will then be invited to an interview, testing both behaviours and strengths.

Successful applicants will then be invited to an interview, testing both behaviours and strengths.

Candidates invited to Interview

Please note that interviews will be carried out remotely.

You will be assessed against the following behaviours at the interview stage where you will be asked to provide examples of how you have demonstrated them. In addition, you will also be asked strength-based questions.

Behaviours:

• Seeing the Bigger Picture.

• Delivering at Pace.

• Changing and Improving.

It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain:   

• WHO - What it was? How you approached the work/situation? What the Outcomes were, what did you achieve? Or

• STAR - What was the Situation? What were the Tasks? What Action did you take?  What were the Results of your actions?

Strengths:

It is difficult to prepare for strength type questions. However, you can think through your answers, focus on your achievements and aspects you enjoy and decide how these can be applied in the organisation and role. While strengths questions are shorter and we do not expect a full STAR response, the panel is interested in your first reaction to the question and information or reasoning to support this. Further information on Civil Service Strengths can be found via this link Success Profiles: Strengths - GOV.UK

Interviews are expected to take place August 2026.

Contact information  

Please do get in touch with daniel.nesbitt@justice.gov.uk if you would like to know more about the role or what it is like working in our team.

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.