Support Officer (Portfolio Management Office) - Legal Aid Agency (Ref: 19059)

Job summary

Please refer to Job Description

Job description

Job Title & Grade: Support Officer (Portfolio Management Office) HEO x2 roles

Contract Type: Permanent

Salary range (depending on location):

National - £35,335 - £37,847

London - £40,014 - £42,859

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.

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 30 hours and to cover 3 days of the week.

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.

Transformation

Transformation are responsible for continuing to drive forward simplifying the delivery of legal aid. We want to improve the experience for the people who apply for legal aid, the providers who deliver the services and those of us in the LAA who administer the scheme, while ensuring the LAA remains a great place to work.

Transformation Team

This team is leading the transformation of our organisation through innovation, collaboration and inclusion. Originally established in May 2020, the Transformation Team has grown rapidly over the last five years. We are a hybrid team of business change and project delivery experts, and working in partnership with others is at the heart of what we do. We work together with teams across the agency, with the LAA Digital team, MoJ Project Delivery Function experts, MoJ Policy teams and wider stakeholders across the justice system and government.

The transformation portfolio spans multiple services, systems and functions, with significant impacts on:

• Front-line operational teams
• Policy design and implementation
• Digital systems and data
• External providers and partners

Job Summary

The Support Officer (Portfolio Management Office) performs a variety of activities to help achieve the project’s objectives. This role supports the Project Manager by operating project management processes and coordinating business management tasks and activities.

Key Responsibilities:

These may be further shaped and adjusted dependent on business needs and team resources / skills.

• Co-ordinate governance and secretariat activity across the portfolio, including scheduling boards, issuing commissions, circulating papers, tracking deadlines and supporting sign-off processes.
• Prepare and compile board packs and routine reporting by gathering updates and data from workstreams, checking submissions for completeness, quality and alignment to agreed formats.
• Support meetings through accurate minute-taking and by maintaining action, decision and follow-up logs
• Stakeholder Engagement – Manages professional relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders and serves as the lead contact for some external parties. Drafting of correspondence.
• Administer portfolio controls, including RAID logs, change requests, prioritisation actions and related governance records, ensuring updates are captured and escalations routed appropriately.
• Maintain governance repositories and portfolio records, ensuring effective document storage, naming conventions and version control.
• Manage PMO inboxes and enquiry routes, triaging requests, coordinating responses and providing timely guidance to delivery teams.
• Support reporting and performance monitoring by preparing clean, structured datasets, carrying out routine data quality checks and contributing to dashboards and first-line analysis.
• Maintain forward looks, milestones and governance calendars, helping ensure the portfolio is well prepared for routine assurance and audit activity.
• Promote consistent PMO (Portfolio Management Office) ways of working by supporting good information management, clear submissions and adherence to governance processes across the portfolio.
• Planning and scheduling – Implement and maintains systems for effective planning and scheduling.
• Risks and Issues Management– Manages potential risk areas, working with risk managers and escalating issues when necessary.
• Line Management – There can be line management as part of this role, including the management of direct report’s HR and well-being, development with a focus on coaching and mentoring, ensuring quality and standards of PPM are upheld.

Essential Knowledge, Experience and skills

• Governance coordination and secretariat delivery - Experience coordinating boards and governance processes, including scheduling, commissioning, pack production and supporting decision-making activity.
• Stakeholder management and communication - Experience working with a range of stakeholders, managing relationships, drafting correspondence and ensuring timely, accurate information flow.
• Organisation and workload management - Strong organisational skills, able to manage competing priorities, maintain forward looks and meet deadlines in a fast-paced portfolio environment.
• Able to use Microsoft Office tools.

Desirable Knowledge, Experience and skills

• Information management and PMO tooling - Experience using tools (e.g. SharePoint, Excel, Power BI) to manage repositories, version control and support consistent PMO ways of working.
• Assurance and audit readiness support - Experience supporting assurance processes (e.g. maintaining audit trails, evidence packs, or preparing for reviews).
• Process compliance and standards awareness - Understanding of the importance of adhering to defined governance processes and standards, with experience supporting teams to follow agreed ways of working.

Assessment approach

Application Process –

To apply please provide a statement of suitability showing how you meet the essential criteria in no more than 1250 words.

Your statement should demonstrate your ability to do all the essential criteria 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 and the following Behaviours:

• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing
• Changing & Improving
• Working Together

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, their team and to where they work. We would also expect examples of action they have taken (in or outside of work) to embrace diversity (e.g., increasing understanding) or improve inclusion at a team or group level.

Shortlisting is planned for week commencing 6th July.

Interviews are planned for week commencing 20th July.

If you would like more information on this opportunity, please contact Cathryn Rees – Cathryn.Rees@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:

• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing
• Changing and Improving
• Working Together

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £35,335, Legal Aid Agency contributes £10,236 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 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 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/19059?entityId=19059