28342 - Senior Press Officer Judiciary of England and Wales

£36,254 - £46,888
1
12 Months
London
London
London CTS Royal Courts of Justice, WC2A 2LL
SEO
B
Permanent
Full Time, Part Time
Communications / Marketing

Overview

The press office for the judges and magistrates is looking for an experienced Senior Press Officer (SIO) to add to an enthusiastic and trusted communications team based at the Royal Courts of Justice.

The Judicial Office is completely independent of the Ministry of Justice and provides a valued and trusted service to the judiciary across England and Wales. The candidate will be joining a newly re-structured communications team and can to access professional support and expertise through the Government Communication Service training and other services.

For candidates within the Civil Service this post is available on level transfer or on promotion.

The Judicial Office

The Judicial Office is an arm’s length body of the Ministry of Justice. We are a unique branch of the civil service, dedicated to supporting the judiciary and promoting judicial independence, to maintain confidence in the rule of law.

We help the Lord Chief Justice and the Senior President of Tribunals fulfil their responsibilities to the judiciary, in an ever-evolving justice system. We provide operational support, policy, legal and handling advice through a number of specialist teams.

It was established following the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, to support the Lord Chief Justice as Head of the Judiciary in his statutory and other leadership and administrative functions.

It delivers a wide range of functions for the senior judiciary and to more than 20,000 judicial officeholders including legal and policy advice, communications, international, training (through the Judicial College), human resources, welfare, library and information services.

Through the independent Judicial Conduct Investigations Office, we deal with complaints about the conduct of judicial office-holders. The Judicial Office also provides support to the Chief Coroner and to the Judge Advocate General and supports the Lord Chancellor on certain of his judiciary-related functions.

The Job

Reporting to the Head of News, you will work with three other press officers to assist with media relations and other communications activity. The Press team is responsible for providing support to the Lord Chief Justice, to heads of division and to the Judiciary across England and Wales, including Tribunals judges and Magistrates. You will be expected to take special responsibility for particular areas, such as Civil Law or Immigration Tribunals, and to line manage a Band C press officer.

You will have direct and frequent contact with judges and with the media and take part in the out-of-hours duty press officer rota. (These out of hours duties are much less onerous than for a Government press office and a small allowance is paid). The press team deals with a number of high profile cases which often make the headlines so the environment can be fast paced and requires a problem-solving approach.

The successful candidate will:

  • Develop good working relationships with Judicial Office staff, particularly in Private Offices of the Heads of Division.
  • Support senior judges' private offices and the judges at all levels with advice on media handling including statements, rebuttals, preparation for interviews, and preparation ofdraft responses or statements both pre-empting or reacting to questions.
  • Facilitate accurate and timely coverage of courts and tribunals judgments and decisions and publish written versions where appropriate.
  • Respond professionally and promptly to breaking stories generated by judges or court cases during office hours and when on duty; alerting and consulting senior and other judiciary and officials as appropriate.
  • Be confident handling complex information and explaining it in plain but accurate language.
  • Be comfortable using Twitter and other social media.
  • Be confident speaking to judges of all levels about cases and wider issues.
  • Write accurate, authoritative and literate copy to produce press releases and to assist judges to produce summaries of judgments, articles for internal and external use and information for the website.
  • Be able to build relationships with key journalists.

Skills & Qualifications

Required

The successful candidate must:

  • Have at least two years' experience as a Press Officer or working in a media newsroom.
  • Be able to work at times outside regular office hours.
  • Be adept at simplifying complex material while retaining the meaning.

Desirable

  • Experience of working in the field of justice
Paid for out of hours duty for days when on call.

Working Arrangements & Further Information

Some of MoJ’s terms and conditions of service are changing as part of Civil Service reform. The changes will apply to staff joining MoJ who are new to the Civil Service. Staff joining MoJ from other civil service employers will transfer onto the new MoJ terms if they are already on 'modernised' terms in their current post or onto 'unmodernised' MoJ terms if they are on 'unmodernised' terms at their current post. Details will be available if an offer is made.

Flexible working hours

The Ministry of Justice offers a flexible working system in many offices.

Benefits

The MoJ offers a range of benefits:

Annual Leave

Generous allowances for paid holiday starting at 25 days per year, and rising as your service increases. There is also a scheme to allow qualifying staff to buy or sell up to three days leave each year. Additional paid time off for public holidays and 1 privilege day. Leave for part-time and job share posts will be calculated on a pro-rata basis.

Pension

The Civil Service offers a choice of pension schemes, giving you the flexibility to choose the pension that suits you best.

Training

The Ministry of Justice is committed to staff development and offers an extensive range of training and development opportunities.

Support

  • A range of ‘Family Friendly’ policies such as opportunities to work reduced hours or job share.
  • Access to flexible benefits such as voluntary benefits,retail vouchers and discounts on a range of goods and services.
  • For any moves across the Civil Service may have implications on your ability to carry on claiming childcare vouchers
  • Paid paternity, adoption and maternity leave.
  • Free annual sight tests for employees who use computer screens.

Networks

The opportunity to join employee-run networks that have been established to provide advice and support and to enable the views of employees from minority groups to be expressed direct to senior management. There are currently networks for employees of minority ethnic origin, employees with disabilities, employees with caring responsibilities, women employees, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity.

There is a guaranteed interview scheme (GIS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Provisional date: Expected Friday 6th September 2019

22/08/2019, 23:55 hours.

If you require any assistance from HR please call 0845 241 5359 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or e mail Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@sscl.gse.gov.uk Please quote the job reference - 28342.

If you would like to discuss the role please contact Stephen Ward, head of news, 020 7947 6438 or Russell Hayes, senior press officer, 0207 073 0264


Counter-Terrorism Check (CTC)

To apply for roles in MOJ you will need to confirm your employment history for at least 3 years prior to the date of application so that pre-employment checks (BPSS) can be undertaken. If you have spent significant time abroad (a total of 6 months in the past 3 years) you would be required to give a reasonable account of the reasons why. 

For some roles you will be required to successfully complete National Security Vetting at Counter Terrorism (CTC), Security Clearance (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV) level as a condition of appointment. To meet CTC/SC/DV requirements you will normally need to have been resident in the UK for at least 3/5/10 years prior to the date of application (The level of checks that are required are stated in the advert).

If you do not meet the above requirements, you may still be considered if, for example:

  • You've been serving overseas with HM Forces or in some other official capacity as a representative of HM Government
  • You were studying abroad
  • You were living overseas with parents

In such cases you will need to be able to provide referee cover for the period(s) of residence overseas. The duration of overseas residence and the country of abode will also be taken into account.

Success Profiles will enable a fairer and more inclusive method of recruitment by enabling us to assess the range of experiences, abilities, strengths, behaviours and technical/professional skills required for different roles. This flexible approach to recruitment focuses more on finding the right candidate for the specific role. To find out more about Success Profiles to support your application please click here for further guidance.

if you feel that your application has not been treated in line with the Civil Service Recruitment Principles, please contact SSCL (Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com) in the first instance

We have provided detail of the assessment stages and areas being assessed to help you prepare for completing your application form, and to advise of what will be assessed following this, if you successfully pass the application stage.


Application form stage assessments

Interview stage assessments

There is 1 interview stage for this vacancy.
Behaviours
Making Effective Decisions
Seeing the Big Picture
Communicating and Influencing
Technical Skills
Insight- GCS competencies see ( https://gcs.civilservice.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/gcs.civilservice...competency-Framework-Feb-16-1.pdf )
Evaluation - GCS competencies (see https://gcs.civilservice.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/gcs.civilservice...competency-Framework-Feb-16-1.pdf )
Strengths may also be assessed at interview but these are not shared in advance.

A Great Place to Work for Veterans

The "Making the Civil Service a Great Place to work for veterans" initiative includes a guaranteed interview scheme to those who meet the minimum criteria to provide eligible former members of the Armed Forces with opportunities to secure rewarding jobs. Allowing veterans to continue to serve their country, and to bring highly skilled individuals with a broad range of experience into the Civil Service in an environment, which recognises and values your previous service in the Armed Forces.
For further details about the initiative and eligibility requirements visit : https://www.gov.uk/government/news/making-the-civil-service-a-great-place-to-work-for-veterans

Redeployment Interview Scheme

Civil Service departments are expected to explore redeployment opportunities before making an individual redundant. The MoJ are committed, as part of the Redeployment Interview Scheme, to providing opportunities to those who are 'at risk of redundancy'.

MoJ are able to offer an interview to eligible candidates who meet the minimum selection criteria, except in a limited number of campaigns. Candidate's will not be eligible for the Redeployment Interview Scheme if they are applying on promotion.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

· UK nationals

· nationals of the Republic of Ireland

· nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK

· nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window) https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families

· nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)

· individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020

· Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules

This Vacancy is closed to applications.