Corporate Assurance Officer - Legal Aid Agency (Ref: 21145)

Job summary

Please refer to Job Description

Job description

Job Title & Grade: EO Corporate Assurance Officer

Contract Type: Permanent

Salary range (depending on location):

National - £29,303 to £31,061

London - £33,551 to £35,564

Please note that unless you are currently employed by the Civil Service and are earning more than the minimum above, if successful you will be offered the minimum for the grade depending on your location.

Location: National - Any LAA Office

Please note that whilst this role is open to all Civil Servants, you can only apply for London, Cambridge and Brighton offices if you are a current LAA staff member based in those offices. This is due to and in line with the LAA's Location Strategy and the Cabinet Office's Places for Growth Strategy.

*Please note* If you are successful, this role requires National Security Vetting at CTC level,in addition to our standard pre-employment checks.

To obtain CTC clearance, you must meet the current National Security Vetting residency requirements. Under Central Government policy, applicants must normally have been resident in the UK for the last 3 years to be eligible for this level of clearance.

Minimum Working Pattern:

If you are applying for a part-time role, please note that to meet business demands we need cover for a minimum of 21 hours and to cover at least 3 days of the week, with a working pattern that includes Fridays.

To meet legal requirements, if you are between the ages 16-18 and you are a successful candidate, you will be required to complete an apprenticeship after your initial on the job training.

The Legal Aid Agency

We are an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). We areresponsible for operationally administering the legal aid fund to provide criminal and civil legal aid advice to people in England and Wales.

Our people are at the heart of achieving excellence. Employing around 1,200 colleagues across England and Wales, we feel proud to have some of the best People Survey results in the Civil Service.

Corporate Assurance, Risk and Secretariat Team

The CARS team combines the 5 functions of Health & Safety, Information & Data Security, Business Continuity, Risk and Secretariat to collectively strengthen and support the LAA’s governance, our assurance strategies, risk management processes and provide support to the LAA’s senior governance forums including the Board and Executive Leadership Team.

Note, depending on your office location you may be managed remotely.

Job Summary

The Corporate Assurance Officer works across multiple functions to provide administrative support as required. The role has particular emphasis on managing key assurance meetings, maintaining action logs and following up responses, supporting incident management processes and managing several shared mailboxes.

Key Responsibilities:

• Managing CARS team shared mailboxes, acting as a point of contact, triaging incoming mail, responding to routine queries and escalating other matters appropriately.
• Providing secretarial support to working groups and committees including but not limited to, Information, Risk and Security Working Group and Risk & Assurance Working Group. Support will include taking minutes, coordinating meetings, maintaining action logs and facilitating the work of these committees.
• Providing support to LAA’s incident response process, standing up incident response meetings, taking minutes, preparing and maintaining action logs, providing briefing notes and assisting with post-incident processes such as lessons learned exercises.
• Logging and managing responses to routine security incidents, escalating non-routine incidents as required.
• Acting as an administrator for H&S training, assessment and record systems.
• Maintaining records of and facilitating inductions for new LAA staff
• Providing support to Information Assurance, Health & Safety, Business Continuity, Risk and Assurance functions as required for specific projects and exercises to support the work of a CARS function or wider CARS team objectives
• Other work as required to support the overall objectives of CARS.

Essential Knowledge, Experience and skills

• Excellent organisational and planning skills;
• The ability to prioritise effectively to deliver at pace to tight deadlines and competing priorities;
• Effective interpersonal and influencing skills to engage and build relationships with key stakeholders;
• Ability to manage upwards;
• Attention to detail with a commitment to delivering excellence in all work.

Desirable Knowledge, Experience and skills

• Knowledge of LAA business processes
• Knowledge of LAA stakeholders
• Experience of minute taking or committee administration

Person Specification

• This role would suit a highly organised individual with good attention to detail who is able to manage their own workload and prioritise against competing deadlines.

Assessment approach

Application Process –

To apply please provide a statement of suitability showing how you meet the essential criteria in no more than 750 words.

Your statement should demonstrate your ability to do all of the essential knowledge, experience and skills listed, using examples can help strengthen your application.

Please note we do not require a CV.

Please note that we only require a Statement of Suitability for your application. The wording on this advert may suggest that an Experience question is also required, however this is not necessary.

Interview / assessment Process

If you are successful through the application stage, you will be invited to an interview / assessment centre in person or via Microsoft Teams where you will be assessed against the following:

Strengths relevant to the role

The following Behaviours:

• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service

Your Experience of implementing, promoting, or understanding diversity and inclusion policy - Diversity is the presence of difference, this can include one or more of the protected characteristics (Gender, Age, Race, Disability etc.) or it can be about working patterns, whether we like to jump into a task or reflect on it before acting. Inclusion is how we welcome, value, and celebrate diversity, giving everyone a voice, tapping into ideas, and enabling everyone to be themselves at work and achieve their potential.

For this grade/ role we would expect the candidate to demonstrate understanding of the terms Diversity and Inclusion and be able to explain why they are important to them and to where they work. Examples of action they have taken (in or outside of work) to embrace diversity (e.g., increasing understanding) or improve inclusion for others will increase the strength of their answer.

Shortlisting is planned for week commencing: Monday 7th September 2026

Interviews are planned for week commencing: Monday 21st September 2026

If you would like more information on this opportunity, please contact – Gary Winter, Head of Governance, gary.winter@justice.gov.uk and Nicola Murchie, Head of Governance, Risk and Assurance, nicola.murchie@justice.gov.uk.

Our LAA commitment to 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 and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.

As a Disability Confident organisation, we will offer a guaranteed interview to candidates with a disability who meet the essential criteria for this role. Under the Equality Act 2010 a disability is defined as a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities which has lasted, or is expected to last, at least 12 months.

If you are responding to a role within the Legal Aid Agency and would like to be considered under the guaranteed interview, please indicate this in your application and let us know of any reasonable adjustments you may require during the sift or later selection processes.

The LAA’s goal is to build an organisation that is open and inclusive and truly values and celebrates the diversity of its workforce. One that reflects and understands the needs of the diverse society we serve. This is regardless of social background, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, beliefs, disabilities or long-term illness or caring responsibilities.

Reasonable Adjustments

We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to all. If you have a disability or long-term condition (for example dyslexia, anxiety, autism, a mobility condition or hearing loss) and need us to make any reasonable adjustments to support you through the recruitment process, please let us know by adding the information to the applications system or emailing LAARecruitment@justice.gov.uk after you have applied so that we can discuss options with you.

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.

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £29,303, Legal Aid Agency contributes £8,489 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Access to learning and development
• A working environment that supports a range of flexible working options to enhance your work life balance
• A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
• Annual Leave
• Public Holidays
• Season Ticket Advance

For more information about the recruitment process, benefits and allowances and answers to general queries, please click the below link which will direct you to our Candidate Information Page.

Link: https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).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.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : SSCL Recruitment Enquiries Team
• Email : moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@resourcing.soprasteria.co.uk
• Telephone : 0345 241 5359

Recruitment team

• Email : moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@resourcing.soprasteria.co.uk

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles and would like to raise this, please contact SSCL (Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com) in the first instance. If the role has been advertised externally (outside of the Civil Service) and you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitm…

https://jobs.justice.gov.uk/careers/JobDetail/21145?entityId=21145