26973 - Court Usher

£15,857 - £16,939 pro rata
1
12 Months
South East
Chatham
CHATHAM MAGISTRATES CHATHAM, ME4 4JZ
AA
F
Fixed Term
For a period of up to 12 months
Part Time
Operational Delivery

This post will be based at Chatham (Medway) Magistrates' Court, however the successful candidate may also be required to work at Maidstone Magistrates' Court and Sevenoaks Magistrates' Court, as and when required.

Background and key purpose of the role

The Court Usher acts as an essential first point of contact for all the court users involved in hearings. There will be regular contact with the judiciary, assisting the administrative staff with the smooth flow of court work. You will meet members of the public and their legal representatives; prepare court /hearing rooms, and complete documentation, as well as ensuring the court runs smoothly and efficiently. You will also carry out some general clerical work as required to support the work of HMCTS.

Although many of the tasks are straightforward, regulated by well-established guidelines and/or detailed instructions, an Usher needs to be prepared to react quickly and professionally to situations, some of which may be unexpected. You will be comfortable in dealing sensitively and professionally with people from all walks of life; many of whom may be vulnerable and under stress. Advice and support is readily available and there is little discretion to depart from standard procedures, which may well require you to take a firm stance when those procedures are not understood or welcomed by a court user. Ushers work within a team with regular management support and are responsible for their own time.

Whilst initially you will be allocated to a specific court or office base, there will be a need for flexibility to work on an ad hoc basis at other courthouses and local HMCTS offices.

Key responsibilities may include:

Administration

  • Collecting and delivering files and bundles to the judiciary and clerks ensuring they have the necessary papers
  • Providing support to colleagues & judiciary outside of court / hearing times 
  • General clerical work, including use of computers and Switchboard
  • Filling out forms
  • Operating recording equipment and maintaining records of recordings of hearings
  • Sort and deliver lists of hearings for internal & external notice boards

Correspondence

  • Completing standard forms, etc. where the information is clearly defined.
  • Straightforward drafting such as acknowledgements and receipting, confirmations, court orders, warrants etc.

Post Handling

  • Opening, sorting, distributing and dispatching post as required
  • Collecting and delivering post from appropriate offices

Monitoring Stock

  • Ensuring Court rooms are supplied against requirements for relevant forms and stationary
  • Collecting and delivering stationary around the offices

Data Entry and recording

  • Resulting, checking accuracy and completeness against guidelines or a proforma, straightforward money handling e.g. issuing jury payments, spending petty cash under instruction.

Operating equipment

  • Office and court equipment e.g. computers, fax machines, scanners, photocopiers, switchboards, franking machines, messaging equipment, tape, and video recorders etc.

Handling telephone calls

  • Answering standard enquiries and passing messages to others.

Arranging meetings

  • Preparing rooms for hearings, tribunals, trials, meetings and clearing the court / hearing room down at the end of the day etc.
  • Using electronic diaries

Reception of parties to court

  • Including members of the public, judiciary, juries, solicitors and barristers, the police, representatives of external Agencies etc.
  • Providing information related to proceedings, escorting court users into and from the building, swearing oaths etc.
  • Calling people into court / hearing rooms in priority order, discussing with Court Clerks and Legal Advisers and liaising with the Witness Service as necessary
  • Answering face to face enquiries
  • Keeping parties informed of changes e.g., of courtrooms and hearing times

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.

Skills & Qualifications

2 GCSE’s at Grade C or above, or equivalent qualifications OR have experience of working with the public in a busy public service environment.   Ability to use a computer at the level required for the work.

Key Civil Service Competencies

You will be required to provide evidence of the following key competencies at Level 1.

Effective Behaviour

People who are effective are likely to…

Changing and Improving

  • Review working practices and come up with ideas to improve the way things are done.
  • Learn new procedures, seek to exploit new technologies and help colleagues do the same.
  • Co-operate with and be open to the possibilities of change and consider ways to implement and adapt to change in own work role.
  • Be constructive in raising issues with managers about implemented changes and the impact these are having on the service.
  • Respond effectively to emergencies.

Making Effective Decisions

  • Make and record effective decisions following the appropriate decision making criterion.
  • Ask questions when unsure.
  • Undertake appropriate analysis to support decisions or recommendations.
  • Investigate and respond to gaps, errors and irregularities in information.
  • Speak up to clarify decisions and query these constructively.
  • Think through the implications of own decisions before confirming how to approach a problem/issue.

Leading and Communication

  • Put forward their own views in a clear and constructive manner, choosing an appropriate communication method, e.g. e-mail/telephone/face to face.
  • Act in a fair and respectful way in dealing with others.
  • Write clearly in plain simple language and check work for spelling and grammar, learning from previous inaccuracies.
  • Ask open questions to appreciate others’ point of view.

Collaborating and Partnering

  • Proactively contribute to the work of the whole team.
  • Get to know fellow team members/colleagues and understand their viewpoints and preferences.
  • Seek help when needed in order to complete own work effectively.
  • Be open to taking on different roles.
  • Try to see things from others’ perspectives and check understanding.
  • Listen to the views of others and show sensitivity towards others.

Managing a Quality Service

  • Communicate in a way that meets and anticipates the customer’s requirements and give a favourable impression of the Civil Service.
  • Actively seek information from customers to understand their needs and expectations.
  • Act to prevent problems, reporting issues where necessary.
  • Gain the knowledge needed to follow the relevant legislation, policies, procedures and rules that apply to the job.
  • Encourage customers to access relevant information or support that will help them understand and use services more effectively.
  • Take ownership of issues, focus on providing the right solution and keep customers and delivery partners up to date with progress.

Operational Delivery in HMCTS

This role is part of the Operational Delivery Profession. Operational delivery professionals are the outward face of government, providing essential services to the public in a variety of roles. They work in many different departments and agencies across the breadth of the UK, delivering service to customers in

  • Face-to-face roles in HMCTS for example a court usher
  • Contact Centre roles in HMCTS for example call centre advisers
  • Processing roles in HMCTS for example Staff at the County Courts Money-Claims Centre and Courts and Tribunal Administration

Being part of the operational delivery profession means belonging to a cross-government community of people. This will offer you access to information on professional standards, skills development and qualifications to help you continue to improve your development and performance and expand your career options.

The job holder must be able to fulfil all spoken aspects of the role with confidence in English or (when specified in Wales) Welsh.

Making a real difference to people’s lives is such an integral part of working at HMCTS that we’ve built it into an agreement with everyone who works here. It’s called our people promise. Please click here to find out more.

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 salary sacrifice arrangements for childcare vouchers, and voluntary benefits such as retail vouchers and discounts on a range of goods and services.
  • 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.

To be confirmed

18/06/2019, 23:55 hours.

If you require any assistance 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 - 26973.
Please note the successful applicant will need to undertake a Disclosure and Barring Security Check for this post.

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.

Candidate Information

You may be required to provide statements describing your skills and experience relevant to each of the selection criteria. We recommend that you structure any examples as Situation, Task, Action and Result. For more information about the recruitment process and answers to general queries, please click the below link which will direct you to our Candidate Information Page.

Link: https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

In the event of a large number of applications, we reserve the right to undertake the following processes:


  • An automated online test where a benchmark must be passed to progress;
  • A sift on the lead selection criteria. If this happens, the lead criteria will be the first one listed in the advert.

During the selection process, you may be asked to undertake an additional assessment (such as written test). If this is applicable you will be notified of this when you are invited to interview.



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
Changing and Improving
Making Effective Decisions
Leading and Communicating
Collaborating and Partnering
Managing a Quality Service

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.

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.