The Judicial Review Team Leader will determine what direction CMSs response to the legal action should take including the legal action being actioned by the Judicial Review Officer when support in decisions is required. Being mindful of the overriding purpose to obtain maintenance for children and the potential impact to the public purse. The Judicial Review Team Leader will contribute to and quality assure all correspondence, documentation, legal argument, and defence bundles for court hearings. The Judicial Review Team Leader will draft witness statements or swear to an affidavit attesting to the facts of the child maintenance claim, decisions that have been made and the relevant legislation used. The Judicial Review Team Leader will confirm disclosure of evidential materials ensuring sensitive information is redacted within the parameters of the Data Protection Act while adhering to the legal principals of duty of candour. The Judicial Review Team Leader has overall responsibility to consider and authorise settling litigation out of court and will interrogate, quality assure and approve business cases drafted by the judicial review officer. The Judicial Review Team leader will approve settlement in respect of the high profile contentious legal challenges when risks are identified, and legal advice suggests CMS will likely lose in Court. Draft a business case to seek approval as to the quantum of settlement from HM Treasury. The Judicial Review Team Leader becomes the Appellant on behalf of CMS to contest negative court rulings which hamper CMSs ability to collect maintenance on individual child maintenance claims. The Judicial Review Team leader interfaces with lawyers in the Government Legal Department to mount an appeal. They are responsible for providing factual histories and evidence, associated legislative provisions and argument as to why the court ruling was unlawful. The Judicial Review Team Leader will attend hearings in court either virtually or in person as directed by the court. To continue to drive the litigation in the correct direction by supporting solicitor and barrister during the hearing. When required the Judicial review team leader will also accompany the Judicial Review Officer in court hearings. When summonsed to do so, the Judicial Review Team leader will take to the witness stand in court to confirm the facts of the child maintenance claim including any cross examination from the litigants legal team. After litigation is concluded the Judicial Review Team Leader must ensure court orders made are fully complied with including payments of legal costs/refunds or reimbursements of maintenance payments and ensure remedial work is carried out on the child maintenance claim. The Judicial Review Team Leader provides regular clear updates as to the progress of high profile and contentious litigation to CMS Senior Leaders, Policy Colleagues and other interested parties. The Judicial Review Team Leader provides guidance and support to the Judicial Review Officer in all matters of litigation. The Judicial Review Team Leader will draft legal argument when CMS is directed to produce legal argument during applications to the Magistrates Court for enforcement mechanisms. The Judicial Review Team Leader provides bespoke child maintenance operational and policy advice to the National Crime Agency in relation to sensitive child maintenance claims. Risk assesses each legal action in relation to both the individual child maintenance claim and the potential impacts to the wider statutory scheme, alerting senior leaders across CMS and CMS policy to potential risks to the scheme. Write timely Ministerial Submissions making recommendations to Minister including detailing financial implications and service delivery impacts. Forewarn DWP Press Office of media interest, detailing background and risks. Person specification The successful candidate should be able to demonstrate the following: Experience and skills in complaint handling, investigative casework and/or issue resolution. Strong, well developed drafting skills and experience of drafting for senior managers/ministers and/or a broad range of stakeholders. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with internal and external stakeholders, confident to engage with a diverse customer base. Visible, resilient and effective leadership. Working in a virtual environment to take a personal lead in engaging with a wide variety of stakeholders at all levels and pr oviding engaging and effective leadership and line management for their team, supporting them in their work and encouraging a collaborative approach. Essential Skills Your evidence will be assessed against the following essential criteria. You must ensure you provide specific examples to demonstrate these criteria in your personal statement: The Judicial review team action reviews on child maintenance cases that may have been originally processed via one or more of three child maintenance schemes and supporting systems (CSA 1993 scheme on CSCS, CSA2003 scheme on CS2, and CMS 2012 scheme on CMS 2012). The post holder should be familiar with legislation relating to The Child Maintenance Service and have demonstrable skills in processing case reviews that may involve changes in legislation during the review period and have the ability to clearly articulate robust defences of decisions made on the case, including supporting relevant legislation. (Lead Criteria). An ability to lead detailed and in-depth complaint or casework investigations confidently and autonomously, often involving multiple and complex issues, frequently over extensive periods of time. An ability to work at pace and to prioritise their own and the teams work to ensure full and effective caseload management and progression. Delivering outcomes in a customer focussed environment. Strong well developed analytical skills on complex evidence gathered. An inspirational and resilient leader with a proven track record of successfully leading in a team with varied and complex responsibilities. Ability to lead through uncertainty. The ability to apply judgement in interpreting procedures, policies and legal statutes to establish whether maladministration has occurred. Strong, well developed drafting skills and experience of drafting for senior managers/ministers and/or a broad range of stakeholders. Along with excellent communication and interpersonal skills with internal and external stakeholders, confident to engage with a diverse customer base and to influence decisions. Behaviours We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process: Making Effective Decisions Leadership Working Together Communicating and Influencing Benefits Alongside your salary of 55,557, Department for Work and Pensions contributes 16,094 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides. CMS is committed to the Wellbeing of all colleagues, support includes Wellbeing conversations, dedicated Wellbeing Advocates in each Service Centre to develop and deliver health and wellbeing initiatives and our own Intranet site offering a wealth of information, guidance and support. We Value Everybody is one of our five Core Values here in CMS. We have active National Network Groups for Race, Disability, Carers, Wellbeing, Faith & Belief and Age. Our monthly People Group meeting draws these groups together to listen, act, and update CMS Directors with our plans. CMS Colleagues have the opportunity to join HASSRA, a vibrant and successful organisation that provides a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly). It also has an important part to play in helping us achieve a healthy work-life balance and wellbeing in the workplace. Working hours - The contracted working hours for the Department are 07:45 hours to 20:00 hours, Monday to Friday, and 08:45 hours to 17:00 hours on Saturday. Employees are contracted to work a specific number of hours per week within the above times. Employees will be required to work the number of hours per week for which they are contracted. For example, for full time employees this will be 37 hours net (42 hours gross including meal breaks). For part-time employees it will be less. Hybrid Working This job role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. The number of days that anyone will be able to work at home will be determined primarily by business need but personal circumstances and other relevant circumstances will also be taken into account. If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working, including whether a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for you, will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post. IMPORTANT INFORMATION Location Applicants should apply for suitable posts where they can travel to and from their home office location daily within a reasonable time. Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas. Relocation costs will not be reimbursed. Access to flexible working hours scheme will be available. Please refer to the candidate pack for further information contained in this section of the advert and more information in relation to the Benefits of working for DWP. Things you need to know Selection process details This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience. Application process Stage 1: Application & Sift As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and Personal Statement of no more than 1250 words. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form. Use your 1250 word Personal Statement to describe how you meet the Essential Criteria as detailed in the job advert. The CV is an on-line tool, there is no requirement to upload your personal CV. When giving details of your employment history, you should include details of work you have completed and projects you have been involved in. However the CV is not scored so please put the main content of your evidence and skills in your Personal Statement. Your Personal Statement should contain no more than 1250 words. The layout is entirely your choice, you may choose narrative, bullets, etc. You may choose to address each criterion separately; however, one narrative example may cover and evidence several of the criteria. Please share with us what makes you suited to this role. We would like to find out what you can do, the skills you hold and the life experience or passion that you have that could be aligned to the criteria listed within the Person Specification. Important Information Regarding Anonymisation Due to the DWPs use of anonymised recruitment practices it is not possible for applicants to upload/attach a CV; any information that you would customarily share on a CV should therefore be entered onto the application form. When entering information relating to your employment history you will be asked to remove any personal details that could be used to identify you. This relates to name and contact details which might usually appear on your CV/Personal Statement. Failure to do so will result in your application being withdrawn. Sift The sift panel will use the information in your Personal Statement to assess your experience, skills and knowledge against the essential criteria outlined in the advert. Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the Lead Criteria : The Judicial review team action reviews on child maintenance cases that may have been originally processed via one or more of three child maintenance schemes and supporting systems (CSA 1993 scheme on CSCS, CSA2003 scheme on CS2, and CMS 2012 scheme on CMS 2012). The post holder should be familiar with legislation relating to The Child Maintenance Service and have demonstrable skills in processing case reviews that may involve changes in legislation during the review period and have the ability to clearly articulate robust defences of decisions made on the case, including supporting relevant legislation. Candidates who pass the initial sift will be progressed to a full sift where all applications will be assessed and sifted against all the essential criteria outlined in the advert. Please note depending on the volume of applications we may choose to invite candidates straight to interview and dispense with the sift stage. For this reason, the timeline for the interview window is subject to change depending on the approach we choose to take. Stage 2: Interview Unless you are otherwise informed, the final stage of the process will be a blended interview via Microsoft Teams. The blended interview will consist of Behaviour and Strength questions. The Behaviours being assessed at interview are: Making Effective Decisions Leadership Working Together Communicating and Influencing All elements of the interview will be via video link, and the whole process should take approximately 30 - 40 minutes. A blended interview aims to be more of a conversation at interview, offering a more inclusive approach.The Strength and Behaviour based questioning explores what the candidate can and has done, but also their potential. To help you prepare and settle into the interview you will be sent the behaviour questions in advance of the interview. These questions should be treated as confidential and should not be shared. The interview panel may ask you other questions which will not be shared in advance, including follow-up questions, and those about your experience, abilities and strengths. Please refer to the Candidate Pack for further information. Approximate sift and interview dates: Sift Period: 25 - 28 February 2025 Interviews: 11 - 14 March 2025 Sift and Interview dates are subject to change. Further Information Find out more about Working for DWP Reserve Lists A reserve list may be held for a period of 3 months from which further appointments can be made. If you are p laced on a reserve list if your application is successful but we cannot immediately offer you a post, please note: If you are offered the role you applied for, in a location you have expressed a preference for, and you decline the offer or are unable to take up post within a reasonable time frame you will be withdrawn from the campaign and removed from the reserve list, other than in exceptional circumstances. If DWP makes an offer of an alternative role or location to that which you originally applied for, and you decline that offer, you will be able to remain on the reserve list. Note - Exceptional circumstances could be when a candidate has requested a contractual Part Time Working Pattern and this pattern cannot be accommodated in the initial role offered or in cases of serious ill health. Any further appointments made from the reserve list will be allocated in merit order. Any move to DWPfrom another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band. Tenure in post Candidates should note that if successful in this campaign, you will be expected to remain in post for a minimum of 18 months unless leaving on promotion. If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out. In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check toDisclosure and Barring Service or Disclosure Scotlandon your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grscabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading. For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email: Infodisclosurescotland.co.uk Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicants details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government. The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. The evidence you provide must relate to your own experiences. If evidence of plagiarism, or sharing of questions, information or answers throughout any part of the selection process is found, your application will be withdrawn. Examples of plagiarism can include: Presenting the work, ideas and experience of others as your own Copying content from an online/published source Using forms of Artificial Intelligence to produce application content which you present as your own. Internal DWP candidates may also face disciplinary action. Important Before applying for this vacancy, current employees of DWP should check whether a successful application would result in changes to their terms & conditions of employment, e.g. mobility, pay, allowances. Civil Servants that would transfer into DWP from other government organisations, following successful application, will assume DWP's terms & conditions of employment current on the day they are posted, unless DWP has stated otherwise in writing. Reasonable Adjustment At DWP we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: Contact Government Recruitment Service via DWPRecruitment.grscabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. Complete the Reasonable Adjustments section in the Additional requirements page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if youre deaf, a Language Service Professional. If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment. Security Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks. Nationality requirements 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) (opens in a new window) nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020 Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window) Working for the Civil Service The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) 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 (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy. Diversity and Inclusion The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window) .