General Information
Salary: The national salary range is £56,532 - £64,048. London salary range is £61,201 - £69,338. 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: Birmingham, Brighton and Hove, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Jarrow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham.
Region: East Midlands, East of England, London, Midlands, North East, North West, South East, South West, Wales, West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber.
Closing Date: 19-Feb-2025.
Post Type: Permanent.
Civil Service Grade: Grade 7.
Number of jobs available: 1.
Job ID: 2582.
Descriptions & Requirements
Job Description
Contract Management and Assurance (CMA): We work collaboratively with other LAA departments to interpret and apply the Contract to the providers which we manage. We ensure that Providers deliver quality legal aid services in accordance with contractual requirements and relevant legislation. We interpret and analyse data to effectively manage risk and to influence providers to improve performance and effectively deliver change. We also engage with the wider Justice System to promote partnership working and influence provider behaviour.
Core Assurance and Risk Management Team (CARM): This team undertakes a monthly cycle of re-performing samples of eligibility applications and payments to legal aid providers. This work is designed to identify the level of reported error on the Legal Aid Fund and is reported as the LAA’s Regularity position on the Agency’s accounts. The team’s work is reviewed by the National Audit Office who re-perform samples of their testing. The team’s findings are also shared with Assurance’s Recoveries team, Contract Management and Case Management. It also carries out audits and data validation exercises in all areas of crime and civil work to ensure provider work is carried out in accordance with Legal Aid Contracts.
Job Summary: As Head of Stewardship (HoS) you will lead on the overall LAA stewardship strategy on error and fund risk. You will be a member of the LAA’s Senior Leadership Group. You will have leadership and management oversight for the stewardship team which works with other teams across the LAA to ensure that error remains below acceptable levels, that irregular payments are investigated and recovered, and that the organisation manages its overall risks within appetite. The team conducts a rolling programme of audits of a sample of the work of the LAA and our providers. The National Audit Office places reliance on the accuracy of these reviews to determine their level of confidence in the work of the LAA. The decisions that you and your team make must therefore be based on sound judgement and an inquisitive mindset to identify, test and document appropriate evidence. You will deputise for the Head of Contract Management and Assurance in relation to interactions with the NAO and across LAA stakeholders related to financial and regularity risks. This is a high profile, strategic role within the Agency, facilitating balanced consideration of operational KPIs against proactive control of provider and fund risk. Creating strong, collaborative relationships is vital to ensuring strategic alignment with key stakeholders. The HoS is a senior role within the CMA team, and as such contributes to the overall leadership of the wider directorate, driving engagement and people activity.
Key Responsibilities:
* To lead the Agency’s Stewardship Programme and deputise for the Head of Contract Management and Assurance on all aspects of Regularity and Stewardship activity. This work is designed to monitor the level of error, identify risks to Regularity and to identify potential changes to reduce error in legal aid assessments of eligibility and the payment of legal aid bills.
* Act as lead liaison with the National Audit Office (NAO) on all aspects of their annual audit of the Agency’s Regularity position, and to own reporting on this to LAA Executive Leadership Team and Audit and Risk Assurance Committee.
* To build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders, including LAA Case Management. This involves ensuring that LAA business priorities are considered alongside stewardship activity and that assurance and audit outcomes are shared and incorporated into future assurance and contracting work.
* Liaising with both internal and external senior stakeholders to both update on the stewardship position and to influence the activity required to address emerging risks.
* To provide clear leadership to the team (managed by an SEO team leader) to deliver and continuously improve their performance; sustain a culture of productivity, with ambitious targets and accountability for outputs; ensure staff are encouraged and supported to develop and perform at their best; and to understand the impact of change on the team and wider organisation.
* To contribute to corporate leadership priorities as a member of the LAA’s Senior Leadership Group and within the Contract Management and Assurance team.
Essential Knowledge, Experience and Skills:
* Experience of leading a team.
* Experience managing an audit or quality control process.
* Familiarity with regularity issues.
* Familiarity with using systems, policies and processes.
Desirable Knowledge, Experience and Skills:
* Microsoft 365.
* Familiarity with NAO audit practices.
* Experience of creating a safe space for diverse and inclusive teams to flourish.
Person Specification:
* You are experienced and confident in interpreting numerical and qualitative information to inform decisions and communication, anticipating potential risks and working collaboratively with others to identify innovative solutions.
* You are a confident leader who has the drive and ability to inspire your team to make things happen and support them through change. You work autonomously to plan the work of your team to ensure delivery.
* You enjoy working with a range of stakeholders and build effective working relationships both inside and outside of the organisation. You can influence others, adapt your style and maintain integrity when faced with challenge.
* You adapt your plans and available resources to quickly respond to requests from varying sources and take ownership for delivering successful outcomes. You recover quickly from the challenges of working in this fast paced and high profile environment.
* You understand and are aware of the wider strategic priorities and align activities in your area of work to reflect business need.
* You are an experienced communicator, able to explain complexities and data both verbally and in writing. You are adept at communicating risk concepts to both senior and operational stakeholders, with the ability to adapt your personal style to maintain confidence and engagement.
Assessment Approach:
Application Process: To apply please submit a CV and statement of suitability showing how you meet the essential criteria and person specification. The statement of suitability should be no more than 1250 words. Your statement and CV should demonstrate your ability to meet all of the essential criteria and person specification listed, using examples can help strengthen your application.
Interview / Assessment Process: If you are successful through the application stage, you will be invited to an interview via Microsoft Teams where you will be assessed against the following:
* Strengths relevant to the role.
* Some, or all, of the following Behaviours:
o Making Effective Decisions
o Leadership
o Working Together
o Delivering at Pace
o Seeing The Bigger Picture
o Communicating and Influencing.
The Communicating and Influencing behaviour will be assessed via a 5-minute presentation, followed by questions. More information on this will be provided to those candidates invited for interview.
Behaviour Definitions:
Making Effective Decisions: Examples of making effective decisions at Grade 6 and Grade 7 or equivalent are when you:
* clarify your own understanding and stakeholder needs and expectations, before making decisions.
* ensure decision making happens at the right level, not allowing unnecessary bureaucracy to hinder delivery.
* encourage both innovative suggestions and challenge from others, to inform decision making.
* analyse and accurately interpret data from various sources to support decisions.
* find the best option by identifying positives, negatives, risks and implications.
* present reasonable conclusions from a wide range of complex and sometimes incomplete evidence.
* make decisions confidently even when details are unclear or if they prove to be unpopular.
Leadership: Examples of leadership at Grade 6 and Grade 7 or equivalent are when you:
* promote diversity, inclusion and equality of opportunity, respecting difference and external experience.
* welcome and respond to views and challenges from others, despite any conflicting pressures to ignore or give in to them.
* stand by, promote or defend your own and your team’s actions and decisions when needed.
* seek out shared interests beyond your own area of responsibility, understanding the extent of the impact actions have on the organisation.
Working Together: Examples of working together at Grade 6 and Grade 7 or equivalent are when you:
* actively build and maintain a network of colleagues and contacts to achieve progress on shared objectives.
* challenge assumptions while being willing to compromise if beneficial to progress.
* build strong interpersonal relationships and show genuine care for colleagues.
* ensure consideration and support for the wellbeing of yourself and individuals throughout the team.
* understand the varying needs of the team to ensure they are supported and their experiences are utilised.
* create an inclusive working environment where all opinions and challenges are taken into account and bullying, harassment and discrimination are unacceptable.
* remain available and approachable to all colleagues and be receptive to new ideas.
Delivering at Pace: Examples of delivering at pace at Grade 6 and Grade 7 or equivalent are when you:
* ensure everyone clearly understands and owns their roles, responsibilities and business priorities.
* give honest, motivating and enthusiastic messages about priorities, objectives and expectations to get the best out of people.
* comply with legal, regulatory and security requirements in service delivery.
* set out clear processes and standards for managing performance at all levels.
* ensure delivery of timely quality outcomes, through providing the right resources to do the job, reviewing and adjusting performance expectations and rewarding success.
* maintain your own levels of performance in challenging circumstances and encourage others to do the same.
Seeing the Bigger Picture: Examples of seeing the big picture at Grade 6 and Grade 7 or equivalent are when you:
* develop and maintain an understanding of economic, social, political, environmental and technological developments to ensure activity is relevant.
* ensure plans and activities in your area of work reflect wider strategic priorities and communicate effectively with senior leaders to influence future strategies.
* adopt a government wide perspective to ensure alignment of activity and policy.
* bring together views, perspectives and diverse needs of stakeholders to gain a broader understanding of the issues surrounding policies and activities.
Communicating and Influencing: Examples of communicating and influencing at Grade 6 and Grade 7 or equivalent are when you:
* communicate with others in a clear, honest and enthusiastic way in order to build trust.
* explain complex issues in a way that is easy to understand. Take into account people’s individual needs.
* deliver difficult messages with clarity and sensitivity, being persuasive when required.
* consider the impact of the language used. Remain open-minded and impartial in discussions, whilst respecting the diverse interests and opinions of others.
* introduce different methods for communication, including making the most of digital resources whilst getting value for money.
* monitor the effectiveness of own and team communications and take action to improve when necessary.
Shortlisting is planned for week commencing 24 February 2025. Interviews are planned for week commencing 10 March 2025. If you would like more information on this opportunity, please contact – David Thomas, david.thomas@justice.gov.uk.
Complaints Procedure: If you have any complaints about this recruitment activity, please share your concerns by emailing LAARecruitment@justice.gov.uk initially. We aim to respond to any complaint within 10 working days. If you are dissatisfied with our response, we will forward your complaint to the Civil Service Commission, an independent body, for review.
Working Arrangements & Further Information
The MoJ offers Hybrid Working arrangements where business need allows. This is an informal, non-contractual form of flexible working that blends working from your base location, different MoJ sites and/or from home (please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas). All employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estate capacity. Some roles will not be suitable for Hybrid Working. Similarly, Hybrid Working will not suit everyone’s circumstances. Arrangements will be discussed and agreed with the successful candidate(s) and subject to regular review.
For nationally advertised roles: All successful candidates will be appointed to the nearest viable office to their home postcode and on its respective pay scale. This will be at either a HQ building (subject to desk allocation), a Justice Collaboration Centre (JCC) or a Justice Satellite Office (JSO). All employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estate capacity.
For current MoJ employees: your base location will need to be changed to the nearest viable office (to your home postcode), either at a HQ building, JCC or JSO within the National Office Network and moved to its location’s respective pay scale (any legacy arrangements/locations will need to be amended).
Flexible Working Hours: The Ministry of Justice offers a flexible working system in many offices. Standard full-time working hours are 37 hours per week. MoJ welcomes part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns, where they meet the demands of the role and business needs. All applications for part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns will be considered in accordance with the MoJ’s Flexible Working policy.
Benefits: The MoJ offers a range of benefits including:
* Annual Leave: 25 days on appointment, increasing to 30 days after five years’ service. 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.
* 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 directly 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.
Eligibility: Staff on fixed term appointments must have been recruited through fair and open competition. Vacancies advertised “cross-government” are only open to all Civil Service employees and employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) who were appointed on merit following a fair and open competition; or were appointed to a permanent post through an exception in the Civil Service Commissioners' rules.
Support:
* A range of ‘Family Friendly’ policies such as opportunities to work reduced hours or job share.
* Access to flexible benefits such as voluntary benefits, 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.
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. Should you feel that the recruitment process has breached the recruitment principles you are able to raise a formal complaint.
Diversity & Inclusion: The Civil Service is committed to attracting, retaining and investing in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.
Civil Service Nationality Rules: 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).
Further information on nationality requirements can be found on the official government website.
Reserve List: A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles.
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