22995 - Deputy Head of Prisoner Casework Section (PPCS)

Overview of the job

The Public Protection Casework Section (PPCS) is placed within the Public Protection Group (PPG) of the National Probation Services Directorate. The post of Deputy Head of Prisoner Casework within PPCS is not operational, although the business objectives of PPCS are focused on delivering frontline public protection and prisoner casework on behalf of the Prison’s Minister and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

The Deputy Head of Prisoner Casework oversees and manages on a day to day basis a team of staff responsible for delivering approximately 7500 pieces of correspondence and casework each year from across the whole prison estate. This includes:

• A broad range of general correspondence (Ministerial and Treat Official) in respect of determinate and indeterminate sentence prisoners;
• Reviewing governor adjudications and the penalties awarded in respect of determinate and indeterminate sentence prisoners;
• Considering applications for the exercise of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy (RPM), remission of Unlawfully at Large (UAL) time and remission of time for prisoners held on a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) and providing briefing and recommendations to senior managers and ministers;
• Drafting responses to a broad range of requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA);
• Providing first draft replies to Parliamentary Questions (PQs) and briefing for Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs);
• Investigating and responding to queries from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman ensuring that recommendations are followed up and implemented;
• Overseeing the implementation of recommendations from the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) within the specified timescale;
• Handling of complex and high profile cases and letters before claim on behalf of Governors covering a wide range of regime related issues;
• Responding to correspondence from Inside Times, including drafting responses for publication;

The job holder will report directly to the Head of Quality Assurance and Training Team (Band 9) who in turn reports to the Head of PPCS (Band 11). The Head of PPCS reports to the Head of PPG (SCS1)

Summary

The job holder oversees the management of 15 staff (direct line management for 8).

They will have responsibility for the day to day operation of a busy casework team. The job holder is expected to have strong generic casework skills, good management skills and, a good understanding of how establishments function. Given that they often need to draw upon the support and input of policy colleagues across NOMS HQ, they need to have an excellent knowledge of the work of NOMS HQ and policy groups and be able to network effectively.

Responsibilities include the drafting of precise and accurate advice to Ministers and senior officials on a wide range of matters including categorisation and transfer, visits, access to education and offending behaviour programmes, regimes, lost property, safer custody and health care issues etc relating to individual prisoners (determinate and indeterminate) in public sector prisons. Although much of the advice to Ministers is in the form of draft correspondence, there is a regular requirement for urgent briefing and submissions, often at short notice, which the post holder is expected to prepare and submit to senior managers for approval. They will also be required to provide accurate and concise first drafts for PQs and PMQs as well as FOIs. They will also provide prompt briefing to press office and private office when required. They will be responsible for pro‐actively identifying cases that may attract media attention and for liaising with other parts of NOMS HQ/OGDs to ensure consistency of approach. .

The post holder is also responsible for overseeing and ensuring the completion against deadlines for up to 3,500 Ministers’ cases and CEO replies. In many of these cases they must give final sign off that the drafts are accurate and fit for purpose.

The post holder is also responsible for overseeing the management of 2,500 adjudication reviews in accordance with Prison Service Instructions, ensuring that there are systems in place to monitor performance and ensure that business targets are met. The post holder will deal with complex and sensitive cases relating to individual prisoners; overseeing and signing off responses to other general and complex correspondence from legal representatives. They will draft articles for publication in, Inside Times. They will also handle complex letters before action on behalf of governors, ensuring that governors receive accurate and timely advice and that the letters receive a full response within the allotted timescale.

The post holder will be responsible for ensuring that effective casework systems are in place to enable managers to monitor whether work is being completed within deadlines and that investigations and drafts are of a consistently high standard. They will be expected to identify deficiencies in performance and process and address them swiftly and effectively.

The job holder will play a key role in building and sustaining relationships with other agencies and stakeholders and will liaise, on a regular basis, with staff at the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman’s office, Inside Times’ Editors, the police, prison Governors, Deputy Directors of Custody, Treasury Solicitors, Legal Advisors, Probation Trusts, the Parole Board and other senior officials.

They will play a significant role in placing Prisoner Casework onto PPUD. They will ensure that the IT developers are fully briefed of the Prisoner Casework requirements and that the transition to e‐casework on PPUD is explained to staff and implemented effectively.   They will also identify ongoing development requirements.

Responsibilities, Activities & Duties

The job holder will be required to carry out the following responsibilities, activities and duties:

• The management of 15 staff, including direct line management of one Band 5 and seven Band 4s (Executive Officers equivalents) with countersigning responsibilities for seven Band 4s.
• holding monthly bi‐laterals with the Band 5 and seven Band 4s providing feedback on performance and the standards expected.
• Taking the lead on dealing with staff performance issues, sick leave monitoring and staff development.
• Attending PPCS Senior Management Team meetings, contributing to SMT discussions on work across the section and feeding back to staff.
• Attending fortnightly team leader meetings and cascading information from cascading information from these meetings to the team
• Providing urgent, concise and accurate briefing for Minsters, Private Office, Press Office and other senior officials.
• Providing accurate and concise first draft responses to PQs, PMQs and FOIs. Overseeing and approving draft responses for Minsters, the CEO and other senior officials.
• The preparation of submissions, advice and draft letters on incidents, contentious issues and Ministerial enquiries.
• The preparation of submissions for the exercise of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy, remission of UAL time and remission of time for prisoners held on an EAW.
• Monitoring the review of adjudication appeals from prisoners in respect of determinate and indeterminate sentence prisoners ensuring that thorough reviews have been carried out in accordance with the PSI.
• Overseeing the acceptance of PPO’s recommendations, and the draft response to the PPO.
• Overseeing and signing off draft responses for letters before action, articles for Inside Times and other treat official correspondence.
• Reviewing and monitoring caseloads, identifying pressure points and finding ways to manage the pressures to ensure that business targets are met.
• Handling of complex and high profile cases ensuring that Press Office and Private Office are informed of any cases that are likely to attract media attention.
• Providing Private Office with urgent advice on sensitive or critical cases.
• Providing weekly statistics to the Head of Pre Release and Prisoner Casework.
• Instructing staff as to the acceptance or rejection of Ministerial and CEO correspondence within 24 hours of receipt.
• Building and sustaining effective working relationships with policy holders and other agencies including the PPO, Police Forces, Treasury Solicitors, Legal Advisors and prisons etc.
• Approval of expenses and overtime claims.

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The Job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary. Significant adjustments may require re‐examination under the Job Evaluation scheme and shall be discussed in the first instance with the Job Holder.

Competencies

The 4 Competency Framework clusters and their respective 15 competency indicators are shown below:

Setting Direction:

Seeing the Big Picture; Changing & Improving: Making Effective Decisions

Delivering Results:

Achieving Commercial Outcomes; Delivering Value for Money; Managing a Quality Service: Delivering at Pace

Engaging People:

Leading and Communicating; Collaborating and Partnering; Building Capability for All

NOMS Specific Skills and Behaviours:

Achieving a Safe, Decent and Secure Environment; Showing Drive and Resilience; Caring; Persuading and Influencing; Acts with Integrity

In choosing competencies to recruit to, the recruiting manager should select around 4, but no more than 6 competency areas to include in the advert.

There may be additional professional competencies a Recruiting Manager will also need to include if recruiting for one of the designated Civil Service Professions e.g. HR, Health & Safety, Statistical Service, IT.

Please refer to the Civil Service Learning Portal – Professions Page for further details. https://civilservicelearning.civilservice.gov.uk/learning/

NB: you need to be registered on Civil Service Learning to access the portal pages.

Closing Date: 20th December 2018 at 23:55 hours

If you require any assistance please call 0845 241 5358 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or e mail Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@sscl.gse.gov.uk. Please quote the job reference.