Public Guardian and Chief Executive, Office of the Public Guardian

Job summary

This is a Nationally based role

Job description

The Role

You will lead an organisation of around 2,000 staff, with a budget of c.£121m (2024–25), delivering critical statutory services at scale across England and Wales.

You will act as an internal and external advocate for the role of the Public Guardian, the work of OPG, and the principles of the Mental Capacity Act.

The role requires extensive external engagement with a diverse range of stakeholders, including maintaining a strong and constructive relationship with the Welsh Government and working across differing legal and delivery arrangements in England and Wales.

Key Responsibilities

• Leading the organisation’s plans to modernise and transform its services
• Maintaining the integrity and setting standards for the register of instruments and court orders
• Efficiently processing the registration of LPAs, ensuring that they are legally correct, free from ambiguity and are operable
• Maintaining and setting the standards for the regime of supervision
• Maintaining a responsive and effective regime of handling safeguarding concerns
• Ensuring a robust and client focused process of investigations into concerns about the actions of attorneys, deputies, and guardians; and
• Ensuring that appropriate court action is taken, litigation strategy is set in general and for specific cases, appropriately responding to requests from the court.
• The role sits within the Service Transformation Group (STG), and you will play an active role in its senior leadership -shaping priorities, supporting delivery, and representing OPG in wider transformation.
• The Public Guardian is also the Chief Executive and Accounting Officer for OPG.

Essential criteria:

• Proven experience of leading at scale, with the ability to inspire, build capability and deliver through high-performing teams across a large, complex organisation.
• A strong track record of leading digital-enabled business transformation, delivering measurable improvements in public experience and service outcomes in a large organisation.
• Experience of delivering excellent customer-focused services, particularly for vulnerable users, alongside delivering efficiency and strong value for money.
• Outstanding communication and leadership presence, with the ability to inspire, engage and command confidence with senior stakeholders, including at Board and Board-adjacent level.
• Strong influencing and relationship-building skills, with experience of operating effectively across complex systems, organisational and geographical boundaries, setting direction and driving delivery through others.
• The ability to operate successfully in a political environment, balancing statutory responsibilities with wider departmental priorities and scrutiny.

Desirable criteria:

Existing knowledge of the Justice System would be desirable.

Person specification

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.

Diversity & 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.

For full details about the Role, Key Responsibilities and Person Specification, please download and review the Candidate Information pack

Behaviours

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Changing and Improving
• Leadership
• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £100,000, Office of the Public Guardian contributes £28,970 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• 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 and Experience.For full details of the Selection Process and Recruitment Timeline, please view the Candidate Information pack.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.This role has a minimum assignment duration of 3 years. An assignment duration is the period of time a Senior Civil Servant is expected to remain in the same post to enable them to deliver on the agreed key business outcomes. The assignment duration also supports your career through building your depth of expertise.

As part of accepting this role you will be agreeing to the expected assignment duration set out above. This will not result in a contractual change to your terms and conditions. Please note this is an expectation only, it is not something which is written into your terms and conditions or indeed which the employing organisation or you are bound by. It will depend on your personal circumstances at a particular time and business needs, for example, would not preclude any absence like family friendly leave. It is nonetheless an important expectation, which is why we ask you to confirm you agree to the assignment duration set out above.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security 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.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 : SCS Recruitment Team
• Email : scsrecruitment@justice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : scsrecruitment@justice.gov.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/17338?entityId=17338

Attachments

FINAL APR26 OPG CEO candidate pack_ (003) Opens in new window (docx, 3258kB)SCS pay band 2 Public Guardian and Chief Executive Officer Opens in new window (docx, 68kB)