Overview 

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) Vulnerable Offenders team is recruiting at least 1 senior policy officer, with an expected focus on early intervention and tackling racial disparity.

The Vulnerable Offenders team leads on cross-cutting policy to support the needs of the vulnerable across the criminal justice system (CJS), including policy on female offenders, tackling racial disparity in the CJS, and offender health. These are high-profile and fast-paced policy areas with a great deal of public, Parliamentary and Ministerial interest.

The successful candidate should be open to work flexibly across the wider team where required, in response to Ministerial priorities. However, we expect the role to focus initially on the following areas of policy delivery:

Early intervention – Out of Court Disposals (OOCDs) allow the police to tackle low-level offending swiftly and proportionately without the need for prosecution through the courts. Over 200,000 OOCDs are issued per year and MoJ oversees the framework. We work closely with partners including the National Police Chiefs Council, Crown Prosecution Service and Home Office to support best use of this important tool to address the underlying causes of the offending behaviour, reduce re-offending and achieve rapid compensation for victims. Our principal recent focus is promoting the use of OOCDs which include tailored conditions for offenders, as an opportunity to meet these aims.

Tackling racial disparity – David Lammy MP carried out an independent review into the treatment of, and outcomes for, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic individuals in the Criminal Justice System. Vulnerable offenders team leads on overseeing implementation of these recommendations. Specifically, we expect the successful candidate would take on leadership of a pilot project working with police forces to test a ‘Chance to Change’ model which places less emphasis on admissions of guilt for lower-level offending. This initiative has the potential to reduce reoffending, crime harm and tackle racial disproportionality outcomes in the justice system (since we know BAME defendants are consistently less likely to plead guilty, and thus face more punitive outcomes). The pilots are nearing implementation stage, but there is ongoing responsibility for problem solving, overseeing the delivery of pilots and learning from their data and experiences.

This post offers an excellent opportunity for a high performing policy professional to own and drive forward government commitments, and to contribute to policy development, good governance, and excellent partnership working. The successful candidate will be able to command the confidence of Ministers, colleagues and stakeholders in these areas, developing expertise and judgment to deal with novel issues.

We are a friendly team with a strong emphasis on providing support and opportunities for development, and we include people from a wide range of backgrounds and experience.  We will be keen to work with you to understand your interests, skills and areas for development.  Alongside your core role, you will have the opportunity to get involved in corporate projects across the wider team and Directorate, to support how we work as a team and contribute to the MoJ as a whole.

Job Description

Duties may include:

• Policy coordination on Out of Court Disposals – involving regular liaison with government lawyers, analysts, and national partners including Crown Prosecution Service, National Police Chief’s Council and Home Office – to respond to live issues, areas of stakeholder or media interest, and to research and develop future policy initiatives
• Leading an implementation group and oversight group for the Chance to Change pilots – acting as secretariat for these two important governance groups, developing papers, co-ordinating and supporting effective project management
• Leading and supporting on submission to Ministers, Parliamentary Questions, briefings, correspondence and similar pieces of work
• Maintaining strong relationships with senior leaders and external stakeholders to share progress, present ideas, make connections and gather feedback to support the effective implementation of policy
• Contributing to project management, progress tracking and update publications around existing commitments.
• Input to short term problem-solving on urgent issues.
• In this busy team, you will be expected to sometimes stretch yourself beyond your grade, including taking an independent lead on some policy/delivery areas and overseeing pieces of work in their entirety from start to finish.

In addition to meeting the required strengths and behaviours it is expected that successful applicants will have:

• Excellent written skills and numerical skills, with experience in using data to inform your work.
• Ability to make sound judgments and provide well-articulated advice
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• The confidence and skills to act independently
• Excellent IT skills
  

Further to this it would be desirable, but not essential, for the post holder to:

• Be qualified to graduate level or have related work experience
• Experience with using Project Management approaches
• Have an understanding of the justice system
• Have an understanding of the governmental and parliamentary processes.
  

Behaviours

You will be required to provide evidence of the following key Behaviours at Level 3.

• Working together
• Making Effective Decisions
• Seeing the Bigger Picture
• Delivering at Pace

Further information about each behaviour can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles

In the event of receiving a high number of applications we will sift initially on the Working Together competency. Applicants who are successful at the sift stage will be invited to interview where they may also be required to complete a written exercise.

Roles are available to applicants already at the substantive grade and on promotion.

Please be aware, if successful and you are not currently a Civil Servant, the Ministry of Justice does not negotiate pay, you are expected to start at the minimum pay scale.

If you would like to find out more about the roles, please contact Ben.Lumley@justice.gov.uk or Gabrielle.Clarke@justice.gov.uk.