Job Specification
Grade: Senior Executive Officer (SEO)
Deputy Private Secretary/Head of Office Upper Tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal Private Office
Private Offices Directorate, Judicial Office
Organisation
The Judicial Office (JO) is a unique branch of the civil service, independent from the machinery which supports the Government, and dedicated to supporting the judiciary as the third arm of the state. We promote and safeguard judicial independence to maintain confidence in the rule of law. We are answerable not to Ministers but instead, through our Chief Executive, to the Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales and the Senior President of Tribunals as we help them to fulfil their responsibilities to the judiciary.
We support c.22,000 judicial office holders, providing policy, legal and handling advice, and operational support. This includes advice on judicial leadership, support with relationships with Government and Parliament, assistance with justice sector reform, judicial education and training, comms, and HR.
Directorate
The postholder(s) will join the Judicial Private Offices directorate. The business units include operational private offices; jurisdiction and policy private offices; and the Judicial Executive Board Secretariat.
Overview:
This is an exciting opportunity to provide leadership to a busy Judicial Private Office, supporting Chamber Presidents of the UT. This position would suit someone looking for a stretching role working with some of the most senior Tribunals judiciary in the country.
Within the Judicial Office, the Chamber Presidents Private Offices are a series of small jurisdictional teams focused on supporting each Chamber and Tribunal President across all of their leadership functions. Each Private Office provides policy and legal advice, and general secretariat and administrative support to the Chamber and Tribunal Presidents, working collaboratively with expert teams across the Judicial Office.
Role Summary:
The postholder(s) will be responsible for ensuring that the jurisdictional Private Office provides high quality policy advice and administrative and operational support to the Chamber Presidents. This roles involves the development and implementation of new ways of working within the Private Office(s) and the delivery of efficiencies across the wider CPO and Judicial Office.
The role involves maintaining an overview of developments in Tribunals liaising with and building strong relationships with peers and senior stakeholders across the Justice system, including His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service, the Ministry of Justice, other government departments, and across the Private Office Directorate in Judicial Office.
Main Activities / Responsibilities:
The main responsibilities of the post include, but are not limited to:
Providing advice for the Chamber President(s) on a variety of matters including governance, legislation and policy and signposting to professional support e.g. HR, Communications, Judicial Training, across the Judicial Office.
Ensuring that the Chamber President(s) has the information they need to engage effectively with others, including retaining an overview of issues that impact on the tribunals and providing and/or commissioning written and oral advice and briefing.
Communicating on behalf of the Chamber President(s) with the Senior President and with judges from both the courts and tribunals system, senior officials from MoJ, HMCTS, and OGDs, senior stakeholder organisations, and members of the public/their legal representatives.
Providing advice and support to the Chamber President(s) on specific projects, including arranging and supporting judicial working groups and networks.
Supporting the Chamber President(s) in their interaction with the JO Data Governance, Policy and Analysis Team and with the HMCTS Analysis & Performance Team
Providing advice to the Chamber President(s) on prioritisation of their workload and setting clear direction for the Private Office team
Providing leadership and oversight of the jurisdictional Private Office and setting objectives with clear links to the Judicial Office Business plan.
Overseeing and leading on both internal and external recruitment and forecasting for the Chamber. Drafting and obtaining the relevant approvals for business cases.
Drafting and/or contributing to Practice Guidance, internal management and policy documents.
Acting as the primary contact for accommodation matters.
Management of Resources:
The postholder will manage a team consisting of x2 HEO Assistant Private Secretary(s), and x5 EO Executive Assistant to the Chamber Presidents.
The post-holder will report to the Principle Private Secretary to the Chamber and Tribunal Presidents of the First Tier and Upper Tier Tribunals.
Person specification:
The successful candidate must:
be able to influence and manage upwards and speak with authority when dealing with senior officials or judiciary;
have excellent communication and leadership skills;
be confident implementing and driving forward changes in ways of working and modernisation initiatives
have strong organisational skills.
Desirable Knowledge and Skills:
experience of working closely with the judiciary, and an interest in the workings of the courts and tribunals system more widely.
The support provided by judicial Private Offices necessarily involves working before and after court, in keeping with the judge’s diary commitments and sitting patterns. Some early mornings and late evenings can be expected, though every effort will be made to accommodate flexibility where necessary. These roles are not suitable for reduced hours working.
Eligibility
This posts are open to high performing HEO’s temporary promotion or substantive SEO’s.
Location
This post is based in London in across The Royal Courts of Justice estate (combining the Royal Courts of Justice (Strand), Rolls Building (Fetter Lane) and Field House (Breams Buildings).
This posts is eligible for hybrid working (current requirement is at least 60% of working hours each week to be spent in the office, in line with all government departments).
How to apply
This is a Success Profiles based recruitment and Civil Service Behaviours will be considered at application stage along with a candidate CV (not scored).
Behaviours to be assessed at application stage:
Leadership, Communicating & Influencing, Working Together, Seeing the Big Picture, Making Effective Decisions
In the event of a high volume of applications, we will sift on the lead behaviour of Communicating and Influencing.
Candidates invited to interview will be assessed on these behaviours and on Civil Service Strengths.
We anticipated that interviews for candidates successful at sift will be held during w/c 15th September 2025.
If you wish to discuss the role before submitting an application, please contact Mark Chander (Mark.chandler1@judiciary.uk) or Emma Killick (Emma.killick@judiciary.uk ).