27043 - Private Secretary to the President of the Family Division and Secretary to the Family Justice Council

Job Description

This is a permanent post based in the Royal Courts of Justice, London.

Salary and Grade

This post is Band A.

Existing Civil Servants will have their salary calculated in accordance with the Department’s pay on transfer / pay on promotion rules.

Overview

This is an exciting opportunity to lead a busy Judicial Private Office and would suit someone looking for a stretching role working with some of the most senior judiciary in the country. The post is in the Private Office of the President of the Family Division (PFD), Sir Andrew McFarlane. Based within the Royal Courts of Justice (RCJ), the postholder will work closely with the PFD to support the delivery of his delegated leadership responsibilities.

The Judicial Office

The post is based in the Judicial Office (JO), an Arms Length Body of the Ministry of Justice.

Our purpose is to strengthen the rule of law and improve the administration of justice by supporting the leadership and governance of our independent judiciary.

We are a unique branch of the civil service, independent from Government, dedicated to supporting the judiciary and promoting judicial independence, to maintain confidence in the rule of law. The Judicial Office reports to, and is accountable to, the Lord Chief Justice and was set up in 2006 to provide support to him and to the wider judiciary 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.

We help the Lord Chief Justice and the Senior President of Tribunals fulfil their responsibilities to the judiciary, in an ever-evolving justice system. Through our specialist teams we support some 22,000 judicial office holders, providing policy, legal and handling advice and operational support.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/judicial-office/

President of the Family Division

The current President of the Family Division, and Head of Family Justice, is Sir Andrew McFarlane.

As well as the President – who is a member of the Court of Appeal – the Family Division consists of 19 High Court Judges. It deals with:

• Divorce, including disputes over children, property or money;
• Adoption, wardship and other matters involving children; and
• Judgments on behalf of those who are unable to make decisions for themselves, such as persistent vegetative state victims.

The Family Division also deals with undisputed matters of probate – the legal recognition of the validity of a will – in the Probate Registry of the Family Division in London, and the 11 probate registries in England and Wales.

The Family Justice Council

The primary role of the Family Justice Council is to promote an inter-disciplinary approach to family justice and to monitor the system. The Council, a non-statutory, advisory body, monitors how effectively the system, both as a whole, and through its component parts, delivers the service the Government and the public need. It advises on reforms necessary for continuous improvement.

Since the final report of the Family Justice Review panel in November 2011, the Council has responded to the recommendations by changing its structure and way of working. Its secretariat has become part of the private office of the President of the Family Division, reflecting the Council’s enhanced role of providing expert inter-disciplinary advice direct to the Family Justice Board, and providing guidance documents and input to the implementation plan for the Single Family Court and judicial proposals for the modernisation of family justice.

Role Purpose

The postholder will be responsible for ensuring that the Office of the PFD provides high quality policy and legal advice and support to the PFD.

The role involves maintaining an overview of developments in Family Justice and building strong relationships with peers and senior stakeholders across the Justice system, including Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service, the Ministry of Justice(MoJ) and the Department for Education (DfE).

Main Activities / Responsibilities

The main responsibilities of the post include, but are not limited to:

• Underpin the PFD’s leadership of the family judiciary through effective policy advice and administrative and secretariat support. To include:

i) Supporting PFD's participation in meetings and circuit visits (e.g.the Judicial Executive Board, the Family Division Liaison Judge meetings, the Family Justice Board).

ii) Supporting PFD in managing relations with Govenment departments, agencies, Parliament, stakeholders and other external bodies.

iii) Supporting PFD's statutory & constitutional functions delegated from the Lord Chief Justice for judicial appointments, discipline and pastoral care.

iv) Responding to requests for advice and briefing:

• From Press Office on media enquiries;
• From other parts of the Judicial Office e.g. Lord Chief Justice’s Office;
• For judicial appearances before Parliamentary committees.

v) Managing the PFD’s correspondence and providing oversight of the diary. Providing advice on invitations.

• Support the PFD’s reform priorities by:

i)             Engaging with DfE and MoJ officials to take forward the PFD’s priorities on securing action to drive down the number of public law cases being issued in the Family Court;

ii)             Securing reform to private law cases, and;

iii)            Increasing the supply of experts willing to give evidence in the Family Court.

The postholder will provide secretariat support to the three judicially-led working groups taking forward work in these three areas.

• Facilitate provision of effective inter-disciplinary advice by the Family Justice Council to the Family Justice Board, judiciary and government departments and agencies. To advise the Council and manage its workload to focus on the following priorities:

i)             The drafting of interim guidance on Special Guardianship cases;

ii)             The drafting of best practice guidance on public law pre-proceedings, and

iii)            The drafting and dissemination of best practice guidance on covert recording.

Leadership responsibilities

• The postholder will be supported in these responsibilities by a small team in the Private Office of 1x Band A lawyer, 1 x Band B Assistant Private Secretary, 1 x Band C Family Policy and Projects Advisor and 1 x Band D Senior Personal Secretary to the PFD. The Secretariat to the Family Justice Council consists of 1x Band B Assistant Secretary to the FJC and 1x Band D Executive Assistant to the FJC. The postholder will be responsible for the leadership and development of the team and ensuring a collaborative approach to support for the PFD.

• The postholder will be a member of the Senior Management Team of the Judicial Private Offices and as such will contribute to regular SMT meetings and undertake some cross jurisdictional work for the benefit of the wider team. The postholder will also be expected to contribute to wider Judicial Office projects as a senior leader in the organisation.

Working hours

Judicial Office staff have to work around the normal court sitting day. As such, meetings with judges are usually held before and after normal court sitting hours of 10.30am to 4.30pm. Overtime is payable where longer hours are unavoidable. We do operate a flexible working policy and encourage flexible working where possible. This can be more difficult in the Judicial Private Offices. For more information about the feasibility of any particular working pattern, please speak to the vacancy manager.

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;
• Have strong organisational skills

Experience of working with the judiciary would be an advantage

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and influencing
• Working together
• Delivering at pace
• Seeing the big picture

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles , and the sift will assess the behaviours outlined above.

At interview we will be assessing experience, behaviours and strengths.

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 - 27043.

For more information about the role, please contact Maxine.fidler@judiciary.uk to arrange to speak to the vacancy manager.