Planning, Performance and Risk Directorate 

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is a major government department at the heart of the justice system. We deliver some of the most fundamental public services including courts, tribunals, prisons, legal services, youth justice, probation services, and attendance centres.  

The new Planning, Performance and Risk Directorate has been created to strengthen the MoJ’s ability to deliver departmental priorities by bringing together performance insight, delivery assurance and targeted intervention within a single, cohesive structure.  

The directorate ensures that our existing performance and planning processes are robust, evidence-based, and aligned to departmental priorities and the Justice Delivery Plan and is delivering a new programme of performance activity to influence the culture and behaviour of the organisation. 

The directorate reflects the ambition from the Permanent Secretary and the Deputy Prime Minister to deliver a step change in performance management across the department and build a high-performance culture. We will support the Permanent Secretary, Deputy Prime Minister, Ministerial team and MoJ Executive Committee members with greater transparency, assurance and oversight through the new performance governance framework.  

The directorate has five divisions, including the Performance Analysis Division; the Planning and Performance Capability Office; the Performance Delivery Unit; the Risk & Governance Unit and the Departmental Operations Centre.  

The Performance Analysis Division measures and reports on the delivery of the department’s strategic outcomes and overall system health to facilitate evidence-based decision making. It is led by a Deputy Director and is comprised of two Grade 6-led units:

1. The Strategic Performance Unit

This Unit measures and reports on high-quality performance reporting. The team has two G7 strands:

• Focussing on providing performance assessments to a range of senior audiences including ministers, Executive Committee, HM Treasury, Cabinet Office, No.10. Reporting can vary between monthly, quarterly and annually.

• Working with analysts across the MoJ on performance data, and with digital colleagues on data requirements and design for the MoJ performance dashboard. The team also develops delivery confidence assessments and works with analysts to agree trajectories for key performance indicators.

2. The System Health Unit

This unit works with MoJ Executive Agencies and ministerial private offices to support system-level performance conversations at the Deputy Prime Minister-chaired Justice Performance Board and Ministerial performance boards. Using the insights gathered, the team works with agencies to consider what action should be taken to deliver performance improvements. The Unit is formed of two Grade 7-led teams, one of which focuses on courts and tribunals and one of which looks at prisons and probation. However, the focus of these teams may broaden in future.

Information about the MoJ and its priorities can be found at www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about  

Job Description

Senior Performance Managers lead substantive elements of performance reporting and insight. The role shapes the performance narrative, ensuring products meet high analytical standards and support effective oversight and decision making by senior leaders and ministers.

The postholder works with significant autonomy, supports the development of junior colleagues, engages with stakeholders across the department and contributes actively to improving departmental performance management capability.

There are three Senior Performance Manager roles available:

• Role 1 is within the System Health Unit, developing reporting (on either courts and tribunals or prisons and probation) for ministerial performance boards.

• Roles 2 and 3 are within the Strategic Performance Unit:

  • Role 2 will focus on performance reporting against departmental outcomes and supporting regular strategic performance discussions.

  • Role 3 will focus on data collection, developing quantitative assessment tools and techniques, including the development of performance trajectories and defining requirements and designs for the MoJ performance dashboard.

Suitable candidates will be considered for all three roles.

Main Activities/Responsibilities

Performance Insight and Reporting

• Depending on the role, lead analysis on either:

  • Strategic Performance: performance against deliverables and priorities set out in the Justice Delivery Plan, including Key Performance Indicators and developing delivery confidence assessments.

  • System Health: operational pressures which impact performance and the inter-dependencies within the justice system.

• Produce high-quality performance reports and briefings for senior stakeholders and committees to show how well the MoJ is performing against ministerial and departmental priorities.

• Translate complex quantitative and qualitative data into clear insights and recommendations to inform senior leadership decision making.

• Contribute to forward-looking analysis including trends and emerging risks.

• Lead the continuous improvement of performance reporting, including via the MoJ performance dashboard, to improve user accessibility.

• Collaborate with colleagues across Planning, Performance and Risk including:

  • Working with the Planning and Performance Capability Office to implement the departmental performance framework, review progress against Theories of Change and enable Justice Delivery Plan metric reporting.

  • Working with Performance Delivery Unit colleagues to shape deep dive proposals and updates following performance boards.

  • Working with Risk colleagues to highlight delivery risks through performance insights.

• Manage competing priorities to deliver reporting on time and to a high standard.

Quality Assurance and Analytical Standards

• Lead quality assurance and provide constructive challenge of performance analysis, written products and the MoJ performance dashboard.

• Promote good analytical practice and clear performance storytelling.

Team and Delivery Management

• Line management of one HEO.

• Coach and develop HEO colleagues.

• Support and contribute to the growth of the Planning, Performance and Risk SEO community.

• Work closely with G7 colleagues to support planning and prioritisation across the team.

• Ensure products have strong knowledge management and team resilience.

Stakeholder Engagement and Influence

• Build strong relationships with stakeholders across the department and wider government.

• Lead engagement with stakeholders across MoJ, agencies and Private Offices, to influence and deliver on performance management and reporting issues.

• Communicate confidently with senior audiences.

Travel Requirements 

Occasional travel to other MoJ Offices for team days/team meetings may be required.

Person Specification

Essential

• Communication and collaboration: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including writing reports that summarise key messages from a wide range of data sources to senior audiences. Experience in leading stakeholder management and the ability to build strong working relationships with a diverse range of colleagues. (Assessed via Communicating and Influencing)

• Data analysis and visualisation: Strong experience in performance analysis or related fields, including data preparation, analysis, and quality assurance, and excellent attention to detail. Strong visualisation skills for robust performance insights and ability to make visualisation decisions for senior audiences (Assessed via Statement of Suitability)

• Identifying improvements: Ability to identify improvements and create innovative approaches to delivering better quality services and meeting customer needs. (Assessed via Statement of Suitability)

• Project management: Strong project management skills, including developing tools to monitor and prioritise tasks across the team. (Assessed via Delivering at Pace)

Desirable

• Performance reporting: Experience of corporate or system-level performance reporting (role 1 and 2).

• Analytical profession: Member of an analytical profession or willingness to work towards membership (role 3).

• Justice knowledge: Knowledge of the justice system.

• Tools: Experience in dashboard tools, including leading the creation and designing of reporting such as Power BI or other software (roles 2 and 3).

Please note that whilst we don’t assess or score ‘desirable’ criteria, we may consider evidence provided that demonstrates meeting the desirable elements of the role, only after essential criteria is assessed and where there is a need to differentiate between closely scored candidates. 

Application stage

You will also be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework at application stage.

Behaviours

Please provide evidence of how you meet the below behaviours in a maximum of 250 words per behaviour:

• Communicating and Influencing (lead)

• Delivering at Pace

• Working Together

• Seeing the Big Picture

Experience

Please provide an anonymised statement of suitability of no more than 500 words explaining how you meet the specific essential criteria noted above.

In the event of receiving a high volume of applications, we will conduct an initial sift focusing on the lead behaviour of Communicating and Influencing.

Interview stage

Candidates who pass the application sift stage will be invited to have an interview before appointment, which will be conducted virtually on Microsoft Teams.

At interview, candidates will be assessed on behaviours (listed below) from the Success Profiles framework:

Behaviours

• Communicating and Influencing (lead)

• Delivering at Pace

• Working Together

• Seeing the Big Picture

Presentation

Candidates will also be required to give a short presentation, with details provided to those who pass the sift stage.

Contact information   

If you would like to know more about the role or what it is like working in Planning, Performance and Risk, please contact Rosie.Pollitt@Justice.gov.uk or Rachel.Tyrrell@justice.gov.uk.