Ministry of Justice

Overview of the Judicial Office

This is standardised wording and cannot be amended.

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

Overview of the team

The Judicial College is part of the wider Judicial Office, which is a unique branch of the Civil Service dedicated to supporting judicial independence, to maintain confidence in the rule of law.  The Judicial Office assists the Lady Chief Justice and the Senior President of Tribunals to fulfil their responsibilities to the judiciary (about 25,000 judicial office holders), and an ever-evolving justice system.

The Judicial College is a very busy and high-profile section of the Judicial Office.  We are responsible for judicial training, and we currently deliver approximately 1900 judicial seminars and events each year and have a budget of £15.5 million. 

Much of the training is face to face but, in addition, the College is continuing to diversify its methods of delivering training to incorporate more digital platforms, increasing its use of e-learning and webcasting.

The POpS Team is the customer facing hub of the College, providing planning and organisational support to judicial training events across the UK.  The team is based over three sites – Loughborough, London and Leeds.  We make good use of flexible and remote working across our offices.

Hybrid Working Requirement

This is standardised wording and cannot be amended.

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

Summary of the role

Event organisers work as part of our team to provide all aspects of administrative support in the planning and management of training events.  This includes close working with the judicial training teams to ensure that events are well organised and run smoothly.  You will assist delegates with their bookings, deal with enquiries and provide administrative support at training events, including residential events.  You will need strong customer service skills, enjoy working with people, some very senior and able to think on your feet and react positively to any unexpected issues or queries that arise. 

The role involves some numerical work and you will need to have good IT skills as we work with a wide range of IT platforms.

You will be fully trained in all aspects of event organising.  We have a strong culture of team working and continuous improvement (CI), and all staff are expected to embrace CI as part of their role.

In some of our teams, UK-based travel to venues will be required to provide administrative support at training events. This could include overnight stays including the occasional Sunday where an event organiser is required to be at a venue for an event starting on a Monday. Training events range from one to five days in length and commence on various days of the week.  On average the expectation is around 15 days per year spent supporting events at venues.

In addition to supporting seminars you will be required to provide some technical online support at digital training events.

Responsibilities, Activities & Duties:

•           Effectively managing allocated training events and providing administrative support to Course Directors/Training Leads throughout the life of a training event, including making amendments to programmes and training/evaluation materials as required

•           Using various databases, including Judicial College Learning (JCL), to assist with organising invitations to training and managing attendance.

•           Maintaining accurate records of attendees at training events (both prior to and at the event), monitoring delegate numbers, planning venue requirements, accommodation and managing delegate/syndicate groups lists etc.

•           Actively liaising with the judicial training team and any speakers to ensure that training materials are received in time to coordinate the timely release to delegates via the JCL.

•           Attending face to face training, and online events to provide administrative support when necessary.

•           Completing all post event work such as promptly notifying the fees team who has attended training so that delegates are paid their training fee on time. 

•           Other Duties – The post holder is required to work in a flexible way and undertake any other duties reasonably requested by line management which are commensurate with the grade and level of responsibility of this post.

Essential Knowledge, Experience and Skills

•           Ability to build effective working relationships with a range of stakeholders and work as part of a team.

•           Planning and organising

•           Good IT skills i.e. working with databases, Excel and Word

•           Good written and verbal communication skills

•           Accuracy and attention to detail

Behaviours (for Recruitment/Success Profiles):

•    Working together

•    Delivering at Pace

•    Managing a quality service

Assessment process at application

How you will be assessed:

At Sift:

     You will be assessed by a 500-word Statement of Suitability (SOS) against the essential criteria listed above. It offers you the opportunity to explain how you have the experience to forge a successful career in the Judicial College. You may choose narrative, or bullet points.

At Interview:

The Civil Service uses a framework called ‘Success Profiles’ to recruit based on potential and skills. Behaviours are the actions and activities that people do which result in effective performance in a job. For this role we’ll assess you against the following behaviours during the selection process as well as strength questions:

Working Together

•           Proactively contribute to the work of the whole team and remain open to taking on new and different roles.

•           Get to know your colleagues and build supportive relationships.

•           Listen to alternative perspectives and needs, responding sensitively and checking understanding where necessary.

•           Ask for help when needed and support others when the opportunity arises.

•           Be aware of the need to consider your own wellbeing and that of your colleagues.

•           Understand that bullying, harassment and discrimination are unacceptable.

Delivering at pace

•           Always work with focus and pace to get the job done on time and to a high standard.

•           Follow the relevant policies, procedures and rules that apply to the job.

•           Use own knowledge and expertise to organise work.

•           Keep focused on delivery and take responsibility for the quality of work produced.

•           Keep a consistent level of personal performance.

•           Keep managers and stakeholders updated on how work is progressing.

Managing a quality service

•           Gain a clear understanding of customers’ needs and expectations.

•           Plan, organise and manage your own time to deliver a high quality service which gives taxpayers a good return for their money.

•           Act to prevent problems by identifying issues, reporting them and providing solutions.

•           Keep customers and all colleagues up to date with progress.

•           Show customers where to access relevant information and support that will help them to use services more effectively.

Assessment process at interview

Candidates will be assessed at Level 1 against the following behaviours and strengths at interview:

•           Working together

•           Delivering at pace

•           Managing a quality service