Admin Support Officer (Medomsley)

Overview of the role

Prisons and Probation Ombudsman – Admin Support Officer (AO – Band E)

The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) is an Arm’s Length Body (ALB) of the Ministry of Justice. We have three key duties:

• to investigate complaints made by prisoners, young people in detention, offenders under probation supervision and immigration detainees; and
• to investigate deaths of prisoners, young people in detention, approved premises’ residents and immigration detainees.
• to investigate deaths of recently released prisoners that occur within 14 days of release from prison (except homicide).

The PPO also carries out special investigations that are commissioned by the Secretary of State for Justice. The PPO has been asked to carry out an investigation into the historic abuse that took place at Medomsley Detention Centre, an establishment for young offenders, between 1961 and 1987. The focus of this investigation, named Operation Deerness, is to look into what authorities knew about the abuse, what action they took and whether there were opportunities for them to have intervened. Many of the former detainees have reported serious sexual, physical and emotional abuse.

The PPO has set up a team to investigate these actions and we anticipate that the investigation will last until May 2025. The Admin Support Officer role will be a new post on a fixed term contract. The post holder will support the investigators and victim and family liaison officers with their administrative needs.

This post offers an exciting opportunity to work in a small but dynamic team. The post holder will need strong organisation skills, be able to work under pressure and be confident dealing with a variety of people. It will suit individuals that are self-motivated and enjoy working within a team and with investigators.

Previous experience of the Criminal Justice System is not required as training will be given on the job.

The PPO is based at the HM Government hub at 10 South Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London. Currently, staff are expected to attend the office two days a week (based on full time hours), with the rest of the time spent working at home or in commuter hubs. However, the Civil Service Heads of Department have recently written to all departments, including the PPO, and confirmed that their expectation is that staff will attend the office for three days a week (based on full time hours). We expect this to begin at some time in 2024.

While you will usually have some flexibility to decide which days of the week you work in the office to enable you to manage your office attendance around your personal circumstances, there will be occasions when you will be required to attend the office (for example, team meetings, office or function-wide meetings) or visit establishments belonging to our services in remit on particular days.

Please note that the PPO is unable to offer home working contracts or allow you to permanently work at any other location, other than 10 South Colonnade, for the required office attendance days.

If you are successful, you may need to attend the office more frequently in your first six weeks, to undertake key training and induction activity.

Interviews will be held virtually using Microsoft Teams.

The salary is £27,000.

Job Description

The post holder will be responsible for the following:

• Accurately and promptly logging new contacts from witnesses to the Operation Deerness investigation (method TBC)
• Making relevant and appropriate enquiries with our stakeholders
• Notifying our stakeholders about forthcoming events/key updates
• Promptly issuing our interim and final reports to our stakeholders.
• Managing general correspondence to the Op Deerness team received by post, email, fax or telephone.
• Supporting our Op Deerness investigators with the investigations and their administrative tasks.
• Booking travel and venues for events/meetings
• Helping to promote team and cross-office working and contributing fully to the team and office meetings.

Essential Requirements

• The ability to communicate with people, including victims of historical abuse, with humanity, compassion and patience.
• The ability to work by yourself, with limited supervision.
• The ability to focus on tasks and ensure that they are completed by defined deadlines.
• The ability to work in a team, including with senior staff, investigators and family liaison officers.

The Application and Interview Process
The PPO is a Disability Confident Committed Employer, and we ensure our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible. Please complete the application information on reasonable adjustments and disabilities if relevant. Further information on the types of reasonable adjustment that can be provided can be found at https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/reasonable-adjustments/

This is a two-stage process.

Stage 1:

• Submit a statement of suitability (250 words) setting out how your skills and experience match the essential requirements for the role as stated above.
• Provide an example of where you have demonstrated the skills required for the Civil Service Behaviours ‘Making Effective Decisions’.

To pass stage 1, a candidate will need to score a minimum of two out of three on their statement of suitability and four out of seven on each of the behaviours. If we receive a high number of high scoring applications, we reserve the right to increase this minimum benchmark.

Stage 2:

Those who meet the required level at the application stage will be invited to a short final interview. During the interview, you will be asked questions about the Civil Service Behaviours ‘Making Effective Decisions’ and ‘Managing a Quality Service’, as well as strength-based questions relating to the role.

You will also be required to complete a written test, following your interview, to demonstrate your ability to produce polite and professional emails to external stakeholders.

To be considered appointable, you will need to score a minimum of eight out of 14 for the behaviour questions, a minimum of six out of 12 for the strength questions and a minimum of four for the written test. If we receive a high number of his scoring interviewees, we reserve the right to increase this minimum benchmark.

Recruitment across the Civil Service changed from July 2019 with the introduction of Success Profiles. Further guidance can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles.

Making Effective Decisions

Use guidance, analyse relevant information and ask colleagues for input to support decision making. Identify and deal with any errors or gaps in information before making a decision. Consider the diverse needs of those affected by decisions and how it will impact them. Provide advice and feedback to support others in making accurate decisions. Ask others to clarify decisions when confused and query any issues that arise constructively.

Managing a Quality Service

Gain a clear understanding of customers’ needs and expectations. Plan, organise and manage your own time to deliver a high quality service which gives taxpayers a good return for their money. Act to prevent problems by identifying issues, reporting them and providing solutions. Keep customers and all colleagues up to date with progress. Show customers where to access relevant information and support that will help them to use services more effectively.

When answering questions about the behaviours, you might want to use the STAR approach to help you to present your evidence more successfully. This approach provides structure and focus to your answers.

The STAR approach stands for:

Situation – briefly describe the context and your role.

Task – the specific challenge, task or job that you faced.

Action – what you did, how and why you did it.

Result – what you achieved through your actions.

You should keep the situation and task parts brief, concentrating on the actions you took and the result. If the result was not entirely successful describe what you learned from this and what you would do differently next time. STAR may help you to cover all the points you need to make.

When using STAR, you should use one specific example per behaviour and you should explain what you did rather than others.

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made should further vacancies become available.

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). 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, the successful candidate(s) will be appointed to a MoJ office location, which may include their nearest Justice Collaboration Centre or Justice Satellite Office. This will be discussed and agreed on the completion of pre-employment checks.

Some of MoJ’s terms and conditions of service are changing as part of Civil Service reform. The changes will apply to staff joining MoJ who are new to the Civil Service. Staff joining MoJ from other civil service employers will transfer onto the new MoJ terms if they are already on 'modernised' terms in their current post or onto 'unmodernised' MoJ terms if they are on 'unmodernised' terms at their current post. Details will be available if an offer is made.

MoJ candidates who are on a specialist grade, will be able to retain their grade on lateral transfer.

All candidates who are currently in receipt of Mark Time / Pay Protection should ensure they are familiar with the new policy on permanent and temporary promotion which can be found on the employee intranet.

Flexible working hours

The Ministry of Justice offers a flexible working system in many offices.

Benefits

The MoJ offers a range of benefits:

Annual Leave

Annual leave is 25 days on appointment and will increase 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 direct 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.

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.
• For moves to or from another employer or moves across the Civil Service this can have implications on your eligibility to carry on claiming childcare vouchers. You may however be eligible for alternative government childcare support schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. More information can be found on GOV.UK or Childcare Choices. You can determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.
• 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 in the following order

• To Shared Service Connected Ltd (0845 241 5358 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or e mail Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com);
• To Ministry of Justice Resourcing team (resourcing-management-office@justice.gov.uk);
• To the Civil Service Commission (details available here)

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As a Disability Confident employer, MoJ are committed to providing everyone with the opportunity to demonstrate their skills, talent and abilities, by making adjustments throughout all elements of the recruitment process and in the workplace. MoJ are able to offer an interview to disabled candidates who meet the minimum selection criteria, except in a limited number of campaigns.

You will be able to request reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process within the application form. If you need additional help completing the application form, please contact the SSCL Recruitment Enquiries Team.

We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.