Support Officer - Stoke (Ref: 14734)

Job summary

Please refer to Job Description

Job description

Proud to serve. Proud to keep justice going.

Our Courts & Tribunals Service Centre (CTSC) Support Officers play a critical role providing excellent telephone and administrative support to court users. Our training programme provides a structured yet flexible approach to building the skills required to perform this vital role.

About us

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is an agency of the Ministry of Justice responsible for the administration of criminal, civil and family Courts and Tribunals in England and Wales. CTSCs provide telephone, assisted digital, case progression and court hearing support. They deliver a consistent national service which enables cases to move through to conclusion smoothly.

Our roles support our court users and colleagues within HMCTS, where people and businesses access potentially life-changing justice. We’re looking for individuals who are committed to public service and making a difference in people’s lives to deliver justice. If you are interested in developing a career with a real purpose, please apply.

Your role

The CTSCs deliver their services through several Jurisdictions known as service lines. These include Social Service & Child Support, Family Public Law, Probate, Crime, Immigration & Asylum, Divorce, Online Civil Money Claims, the Single Justice Service (non-imprisonable offences e.g., no TV license / car tax), and supporting audio video hearings.

Your work will be predominately telephone-based, taking inbound calls from the public and legal representatives and returning calls as required. You will also use email and webchat and undertake general administrative work. Working in a small team you will be supported by a Team Leader and, alongside our in-depth training programme, will have access to our ‘knowledge bank’ (guidance document) to assist in your role.

You need to be a confident communicator with the self-assurance to liaise with members of the public regarding complex and sensitive matters in a calm and professional manner. Customers calling the CTSCs are often in a difficult and stressful situation and therefore great importance is placed on handling calls with empathy and understanding.

This is a fast-paced position that requires attention to detail, the ability to multi-task and deal with each customer as an individual whilst managing your time effectively. You will need to be resilient, keen to learn, and have the IT skills to adapt to new systems and technologies, as we’re constantly investing in digital solutions to improve the way we deliver justice.

Your skills and experience

With a friendly and approachable manner, you’ll have good written and verbal communication skills with a desire to deliver proactive and effective support to customers. You’ll have great attention to detail, able to enter information into our database accurately and efficiently, and able and adapt to using various software packages. You’ll enjoy organising your time, prioritising efficiently and multi-tasking in a busy environment.

For a full job description, please read supporting document included below before applying.

Further details

The office is open Monday-Friday from 8am to 6pm. Standard full time working hours are 37 hours per week (9am-5pm). HMCTS welcomes part-time, flexible, and job-sharing working patterns, where they meet the demands of the role and business needs and are agreed prior to appointment. Part time employees will need to work at least 3 days per week. Mondays and Fridays are unlikely to be approved for non-working days due to current business need. All applications for part-time, flexible, and job-sharing working patterns will be considered in accordance with the MoJ’s Flexible Working policy.

Non-contractual hybrid working is currently available. Hybrid working arrangements will be determined by the business and are relative to particular service lines and will only be available when it has been established that delivering the service from home can be done effectively.We cannot facilitate requests for a particular work from home/working in the office schedule.

Training

There is a 1-week induction that is full time but can be worked from home, following this a full-time 7-week training academy will commence, this is office based / in person.

Occasional travel to other courts

For this post, occasional travel across National Services may be required.

Skilled Worker Visa

From 22 July 2025, the Government increased the salary threshold and skills level for Skilled Worker visas. This role does not meet the eligibility criteria for sponsorship in accordance with the current immigration rules if you looking to apply for a Skilled Worker Visa for the first time.

The Department cannot consider sponsoring you for this role unless you have held a Skilled Worker visa continuously since before 22 July 2025. If you have held a Skilled Worker visa continuously, please raise this during your vetting checks and eligibility will be assessed in accordance with the immigration rules and transitional provisions in place.

If you are applying for this role and you do not meet the new eligibility criteria for sponsorship (or the transitional provisions), you will need to consider your options for obtaining and/or maintaining your right to work in the UK in light of these changes. Successful applicants must ensure they have and maintain the legal right to live and work in the Civil Service and in the United Kingdom.

The Department will continue to comply with UK Immigration Rules applied in the UK and Civil Service. You can read more about Skilled Worker visas and the eligibility criteria here.

Application Process

You will be asked to submit a 250-word statement of suitability to apply for this role. If successful, you will be invited to a face-face interview. The interview will consist of a question related to your experience, one behaviour question, 2 strengths questions and a workplace assessment which will be a telephone role-play.

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Behaviours

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

• Communicating and Influencing

Technical skills

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

• Experience question
• Work simulation telephone role play.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £25,582, HM Courts and Tribunals Service contributes £7,411 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, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.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.

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 : 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/14734?entityId=14734