GENERAL INFORMATION

Salary
The national salary range is £68,967 - £78,842, London salary range is £73,115 - £83,585. Your salary will be dependent on your base location
Working Pattern
Full Time, Part Time, Part Time/Job Share, Flexible Working
Vacancy Approach
Cross Government
Location
Leeds, London
Region
London, Yorkshire and the Humber
Closing Date
11-Mar-2025
Post Type
Permanent
Civil Service Grade
Grade 6
Number of jobs available
1
Job ID
3166

DESCRIPTIONS & REQUIREMENTS

Job description

JOB DESCRIPTION OVERVIEW

Legal aid is an exciting, fast-paced and challenging policy area which has significant interest from our Ministerial Team, Permanent Secretary, HM Treasury and the Judiciary, as well as a highly engaged and vocal stakeholder base. The Legal Aid Strategy team is responsible for setting overall direction for legal aid in line with ministers’ priorities, undertaking projects on long-term and strategic issues and on urgent priorities, and coordinating policy and advice across legal aid and the wider directorate. This includes leading the Spending Review for the Legal Aid, Legal Support and Dispute Resolution directorate, working ly with the central finance and strategy teams, and leading a joint programme of work with operational and digital colleagues on digital transformation of legal aid. We work across the whole of the Ministry of Justice, including lawyers, analysts, finance and other policy teams, as well as with operational colleagues in the Legal Aid Agency, to shape, develop and improve the legal aid system.
We are a friendly and highly motivated team who look out for each other and tfore maintain a high level of resilience even when the pressure is on. Our work cuts across a wide range of departmental and cross-government policy areas, making a role in Legal Aid Strategy a great opportunity to better understand the wider strategic context. This is an exciting opportunity for a motivated and committed individual to lead work to define and deliver ministers’ priorities for legal aid at the start of a new Parliament.

SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Essential:

The postholder will be able to demonstrate:

• Excellent leadership skills, including the ability to lead and motivate a team in a fast-moving policy context, and to support and develop a diverse team from different backgrounds to deliver their best.
• Strong strategic thinking and ability to see the big picture, make connections across different areas, and think creatively about policy solutions.
• Ability to proactively shape and drive forward work, including delivering at pace and meeting deadlines in an ambiguous or rapidly changing context.
• Excellent written communication and oral communication skills.
• Stakeholder engagement skills and a collaborative approach, with the ability to work effectively across team boundaries and maintain good relationships across the directorate and wider department.
• Ability to work and lead well under pressure, maintain a calm, collaborative style and the wellbeing of yourself and your team.

Candidates applying from HMPPS should note that the Ministry of Justice does not have the same conditions of employment as HMPPS. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the terms and conditions they will adopt should they be successful.
The MoJ is proud to be Level 3 Disability Confident. Disability Confident is the approach through which we offer guaranteed interviews for all people with disabilities meeting the minimum criteria for the advertised role as set out in the job description.

YOU MUST ENSURE THAT ANY EVIDENCE SUBMITTED AS PART OF YOUR APPLICATION, INCLUDING YOUR CV, STATEMENT OF SUITABILITY AND BEHAVIOUR EXAMPLES, ARE TRUTHFUL AND FACTUALLY ACCURATE. PLEASE NOTE THAT PLAGIARISM CAN INCLUDE PRESENTING THE IDEAS AND EXPERIENCES OF OTHERS, OR GENERATED BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, AS YOUR OWN.

Experience
You will be asked to provide a CV during the application process in order to assess any demonstrable experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role.
You will also be asked to upload a Statement of Suitability of no more than 750 words stating what you would bring to the role, with reference to the Skills and Experience listed above.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Please contact the lead for this recruitment – Melissa Smith (melissa.smith2@justice.gov.uk)
Annex A - The STAR method
Using the STAR method can help you give examples of relevant experience that you have. It allows you to set the scene, show what you did, and how you did it, and explain the overall outcome.

Situation - Describe the situation you found yourself in. You must describe a specific event or situation. Be sure to give enough detail for the job holder to understand.

• W are you?
• Who was t with you?
• What had happened?

Task - The job holder will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation you found yourself in.

• What was the task that you had to complete and why?
• What did you have to achieve?

Actions - What did you do? The job holder will be looking for information on what you did, how you did it and why. Keep the focus on you. What specific steps did you take and what was your contribution? Remember to include how you did it, and the behaviours you used. Try to use “I” rather than “we” to explain your actions that lead to the result. Be careful not to take credit for something that you did not do.

Results - Don’t be shy about taking credit for your behaviour. Quote specific facts and figures. Explain how the outcome benefitted the organisation or your area. Make the outcomes easily understandable.

• What results did the actions produce?
• What did you achieve through your actions and did you meet your goals?
• Was it a successful outcome? If not, what did you learn from the experience?

JOB DESCRIPTION ATTACHMENT

• 
  G6 Head of Legal Aid Strategy - Final 14022025.docx (Job Description Attachment)

EXPERIENCE

We will assess your experience for this role via the following methods
CV or Work History, Statement of Suitability

At the MoJ we believe and promote alternative ways of working and these roles are available as:

• Full-time, part-time or the option to job share
• Flexible working patterns
• Flexible working arrangements between base locations, MoJ Hubs and home

The Legal Aid Strategy Division is a small team of 9 staff, responsible for long-term thinking, direction-setting, and coordination across the three legal aid teams and wider directorate. It undertakes work across three main areas:

• Long-term and strategic thinking – undertaking project work on strategic issues and helping set long-term direction for legal aid.Cross-cutting issues and coordination – including
• working with ministers’ offices to ensure coordinated advice and support for ministers and senior officials.
• Priority projects – providing flexible resource to delivery urgent or priority work and respond rapidly to changing priorities

The Grade 6 Head of Legal Aid Strategy will be responsible for:

• Leadership of the Legal Aid Strategy team, working ly with the Deputy Director – setting direction for the team, overseeing a portfolio of work on cross-cutting and strategic priorities, and line management of three Grade 7s;
• Scoping and defining the department’s long-term priorities on legal aid policy