Head of Victims Funding Projects - Criminal Courts and Victims DirectorateMinistry of Justice

23252

Descriptions & requirements

Job description

Head of Victims Funding Projects

Grade 7

Criminal Courts and Victims Directorate

The Ministry of Justice Criminal Courts and Victims Directorate is recruiting permanently for a Grade 7 Head of Victims Funding Projects.

This campaign is open to current civil servants on level transfer and suitable candidates on promotion.

Candidates are reminded that to be eligible for this campaign; you must still be employed as a civil servant at the point of accepting the role.  If you resign or your FTA contract ends before you are made and accept an offer, you will become ineligible and you will be withdrawn from the process.

Location:

Successful candidates will have the option to be based at one of the following locations:

102 Petty France, London

5 Wellington Place, Leeds

Occasional travel between the two locations may be required.  We offer a hybrid working model, allowing for a balance between remote work and time spent in your base location (102 Petty France or 5 Wellington Place Leeds).

Ways of Working

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

Full-time, part-time or the option to job share

Flexible working patterns

For Part-time staff we are only able to accept applications from those willing to work the equivalent of 0.8 FTE per week.

We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice. To find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity

Salary

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

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ)

MoJ is the largest government department, employing over 90,000 people with a budget of approximately £10 billion. Each year, millions of people use our services across the UK - including at 500 courts and tribunals, and 133 prisons in England and Wales.

Further information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice

The Work of Victims and Witnesses Commissioning and Implementation Unit

The Criminal Courts and Victims Directorate (CCVD) sits at the heart of MoJ’s policy agenda, working to reform complex systems that deal with some of the most vulnerable members of our society. We work closely with Ministers, No10, the Senior Judiciary, as well as numerous other Whitehall departments, to tackle a range of complex issues. Everything the team does to deliver our wide-ranging portfolio of work is uniquely focused on supporting those that need it most.

Sitting within the CCVD is the Victim and Witness Commissioning and Implementation Unit, that focuses on systemic, multi-agency reform work to improve support and outcomes for victims and witnesses, to help them cope and recover from the impacts of crime and enable better justice outcomes. The Commissioning and Implementation Unit leads on the critical work to commission and fund quality and effective support services for victims and witnesses both nationally and locally, via local Police and Crime Commissioners.  We use data and evidence to demonstrate the impact of these services and use this information to improve and influence the system through setting standards, building capability and capacity, and making evidence-driven policy decisions.

The Commissioning and Implementation Unit is currently working collaboratively to lead a major piece of policy work to reform local victims commissioning in the light of the Home Office’s decision to abolish the role of Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in May 2028.

Head of Victims Funding Projects and Remote Services - the role

This role has two core functions: firstly, be the lynchpin with the wider directorate and policy group’s input on victim support, including leading the unit’s strategic projects function, providing a flexible priority project support function across the unit and leading on cross-government engagement; and secondly, to be responsible for the MoJ’s response to victim support for major criminal incidents.

Key responsibilities include:

Leading the implementation of strategic long-term reforms of victims funding. In light of the abolition of PCCs, the Government’s devolution agenda and the Duty to Collaborate, the unit has been developing longer-term reforms to the victims funding landscape. This role will lead on the implementation of this strategy.

Leading the unit’s strategic projects function, including deep dives on priority areas relating to victim and witness funding and commissioning and related policy issues. Recent examples include a policy review of the existing Homicide Service to inform its recommissioning, and a cross-Policy Group project on improving sector organisational resilience.

Strategic leadership of cross-cutting policy issues that affect the unit. Current priorities include the provision of single-sex spaces in victim support services, and support for victims with particular protected characteristics.

Drafting high-quality advice and briefings on high-profile and cross-cutting policy areas, and orally briefing the Victims Minister as needed.

Overseeing grant management of national remote services grants and related policy (including with OGDs). These are currently: the National 24/7 Sexual Violence Helpline; Victim Support’s 24/7 Live Chat and My Support Space; the new Progression Model Helpline that has been quickly stood up, going live on 1 October. Grant management responsibilities will include drafting and issuing grant and competition documentation, managing and ensuring accurate and timely payments to grantees, analysing monitoring data and using this to drive service improvements.

Leading the unit response to major criminal incidents, working closely across government and with external stakeholders – including local commissioners and national charities – to ensure victims and witnesses are supported. The post holder will provide leadership and ownership of the major incidents policy, including lessons learned following any major incidents that occur.

Proactively develop and maintain relationships with a range of stakeholders across the sector, within MoJ (including analysts, legal, finance and commercial) and in other Government Departments, especially the Home Office on sexual violence support and on victims of terrorism.

Provide visible, inclusive leadership within the unit, and line management of 2 SEOs and 1 HEO.

Skills and Experience

Essential:

Leadership skills,including the ability to manage a team against a background of fast-moving policy, while ensuring their welfare is supported. You must be able to deliver results quickly in highly fluid and uncertain environments.

Excellent ability for seeing the bigger picture, identifying cross-cutting issues and effective ways to respond.

Policy skills- an ability to analyse complex problems and get to grips with a range of legal and policy issues and support your team in doing the same.

Excellent communication skills - the ability to provide clear, evidenced briefing in both written and oral formats on complex policy areas to senior stakeholders and Ministers.

The ability to manage a large network of relationships and work closely and collaboratively cross Whitehall on a broad range of victims issues, including drawing on those relationships when under pressure.

Confident with understanding financial information and analysing data

Desirable:

Experience of grants, project management or the commissioning cycle

Additional Information

If we receive applications from more suitable candidates than we have vacancies for at this time, we may hold suitable applicants on a reserve list for 12 months, and future vacancies requiring the same skills and experience could be offered to candidates on the reserve list without a new competition.

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.

Application process

You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework.

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.

Behaviours

During the application process you will be asked to provide an example of how you have met the following behaviour - Seeing the Big Picture

Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade:

Success Profiles: Civil Service behaviours - GOV.UK

Should we receive a large number of applications, we will sift primarily on the Statement of Suitability. Successful applicants will then be invited to an interview, testing both behaviours and strengths.

Candidates invited to Interview

Please note that interviews will be carried out remotely.

At interview you will be assessed against behaviours where you will be asked to provide examples of how you have demonstrated them. In addition, you will also be asked strength-based questions.

Behaviours:

The following Behaviours will be tested at interview:

Seeing the Big Picture

Leadership

Making Effective Decisions

It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain:

WHO - What it was? How you approached the work/situation? What the Outcomes were, what did you achieve?Or

STAR - What was the Situation? What were the Tasks? What Action did you take?  What were the Results of your actions?

Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade:

Success Profiles: Civil Service behaviours - GOV.UK

Strengths:

It is difficult to prepare for strength type questions. However, you can think through your answers, focus on your achievements and aspects you enjoy and decide how these can be applied in the organisation and role. While strengths questions are shorter and we do not expect a full STAR response, the panel is interested in your first reaction to the question and information or reasoning to support this. Further information on Civil Service Strengths can be found via this link Success Profiles: Strengths - GOV.UK

Interviews are expected to take place late October or early November.

Contact information

Please do get in touch with  [email protected] if you would like to know more about the role or what it is like working in our team.