Policy Adviser – Criminal Justice and Children’s Safety

Office of the Children's Commissioner

Westminster, London SW1, UK

Hybrid

Expires: Expiring in less than 3 weeks

Policy

Full time

£39,981 - £42,699 per year

Job summary

Do you want to make a tangible different to the lives of children across England? Can you use your skills to be a catalyst for creating meaningful change? Are you committed to protecting the rights of children, especially those who interact with the criminal justice system? Are you ready to join a committed team, dedicated to giving children and young people a voice on the issues affecting them?

The Children’s Commissioner’s role includes taking children’s thoughts, opinions and ideas to decision makers, to ensure that the Government reflects children’s voices in the decisions that will affect them in years to come.

Joining the team is a chance to be involved in shaping children’s policy, making sure children’s voices are heard and being part of an exciting environment which puts children’s needs at the heart of everything we do.

The Children’s Commissioner is looking to fill a role in the Policy team. The role will be based in Central London at 64 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6QP.

Selection for appointment to the Office of the Children’s Commissioner is on merit, on the basis of fair and open competition.

We are looking for a wide variety of people to take on our roles, however we would particularly welcome applications from care leavers or individuals with experience of being ‘looked after’ by the state. We also actively encourage applicants from Black, Asian and other minority ethnic backgrounds. We welcome applications from both inside and outside the Civil Service.

The role is suitable for hybrid working, with up to 2 days a week working from home. This is a voluntary non-contractual arrangement, and your office will be your contractual place of work.

Job description

As Policy Advisor you will lead the Children’s Commissioner’s work on children’s interactions with the criminal justice system and safety in their community. You will ensure that the office’s work improves the lives and educational experiences of children and care experienced young people who interact with the criminal justice system, whether as victims, perpetrators or both. This will include initiating and delivering evidence-based projects, taking the lead on briefing the Children’s Commissioner on matters relating to children’s interactions with the criminal justice system and supporting the work and strategy of the wider office.

You will identify opportunities for the Children’s Commissioner to effect change on behalf of children and represent the Commissioner at external meetings, including with highly vulnerable children, and build positive working relationships with a range of stakeholders.

You will achieve recognition for your work, and the work of the office, across Whitehall, turning policy propositions into real legislative and regulatory change.

Key responsibilities

Monitor the policy landscape relating to children’s interactions with the criminal justice system and safety in their community, conducing policy analysis and formulating reasoned, evidence-based arguments for change.
Respond to policy consultations on behalf of the Children’s Commissioner.
Work on specific projects as outlined in the Children’s Commissioner’s business plan, listening to and interpreting the experience of children and young people, and understanding the policy issues involved.
Attend and deliver policy briefings to the Children’s Commissioner and significant stakeholders.
Participating in qualitative research projects in partnership with the Research team.
Work with colleagues to commission research, including using the Commissioners statutory powers to develop robust evidence.
Deliver high quality external facing outputs, communicating the evidence and views of the office fluently and credibly.
Build and maintain relationships with key stakeholders who can support with improving children’s experiences of the criminal justice system, their safety in their communities and children’s lives more broadly. This includes developing partnerships and relationships to support the delivery of projects.
Support and manage colleagues to deliver high impact work where appropriate.

Person specification

Successful applicants will:

Be a policy professional and motivated self-starter with the ability to get to grips with complex work at speed.
Be comfortable managing competing priorities and able to take responsibility for delivering high quality work to completion.
Be a skilled and engaging at building strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
Be able to thrive in a small, friendly, hard working and very supportive team.
Be committed to upholding the rights of children.
Enjoy working with children and young people, and ensuring their voices are heard.

Key Criteria

Essential

Experience working in a policy environment and an understanding of the policy making process, including using evidence to support the delivery of policy change.(LEAD CRITERIA)
Experience working with parliamentarians, including on legislative change.
Experience working with communication colleagues to influence change.
An understanding of research methodologies and experience of using research and evidence to develop policy propositions.
Highly developed oral and written communication skills, including producing public facing outputs at speed.
The ability to manage and deliver multiple projects in a fast-moving organisation.
High levels of personal effectiveness in working as part of a team and contributing to a successful organisation.

Desirable

Experience of working directly with children – in education, youth services, criminal justice, social care or other roles.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £39,981, Office of the Children's Commissioner contributes £11,582 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 27.97%. Benefits of the pension scheme - Civil Service Pension Scheme
An Employee Assistance Programme.
A comprehensive reward scheme.
Generous holiday allowance starting at 25 days plus bank holidays and one privilege day.
Flexible working options including full-time or part-time and hybrid working (amend as per role).
A range of family friendly policies.
Excellent learning and development opportunities.
A culture encouraging inclusivity and diversity.

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

Please upload your personal CV which will be anonymised by our Application Tracking System. Our CV element is short and allows an initial check of eligibility, so please put the main content of your evidence and skills in your Personal Statement.

Personal Statement

Please set out how you meet the essential criteria in no more than 500 words and upload this to our Applicant Tracking System. Ensure you tell us why you want the role and provide examples of your experience to evidence for how you meet each criteria, including transferable experience from any non-policy roles.

Sifting

Applications will be sifted against the essential criteria. The desirable criteria will be taken into account. If we receive a large number of applications, we will conduct an initial sift based on the lead criteria. The strongest candidates will be invited to interview to provide more information about their experience and skills.

Interviews

Candidates who are successful at the sifting stage will be invited for in person interviews.
Interviews are expected to take place mid April.
There may be a short task to prepare for the interview.
Due to the large number of applications we receive, we will only provide feedback to people who attend an interview.

Reasonable Adjustments

We value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage applications from everyone, especially those that are under-represented in our workforce. We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning difficulties, chronic medical conditions or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy or autism.

Please contact us at occ.recruitment@childrenscommissioner.gov.uk to let us know what changes or help you might need to further on in the recruitment process.

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

Security

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

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.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

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Contact point for applicants

Salary range

£39,981 - £42,699 per year