Casework assistants - September 2024
Crown Prosecution Service
Apply before 11:55 pm on Monday 30th September 2024
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About the job
Job summary
Are you interested in developing a career with a real purpose? Start your career as a casework assistant with the Crown Prosecution Service in an integral supporting role.
As a casework assistant, you’re often the first point of contact dealing with enquiries and correspondence. You’re responsible for providing casework support within your team, gaining insight into the important work of the Crown Prosecution Service along the way.
In this role, you deliver customer service to internal and external stakeholders. You build on your skills – including communication, quality checking and time management – to complete your work to a high standard and help achieve your team’s goals and objectives.
You must have the digital capabilities required to complete tasks that are part of the role.
Job description
Casework assistants provide vital administrative support on the front line of our service. You support prosecutors by serving documents and preparing case files for hearings in the magistrates’ and Crown Court. You’re the first point of contact for your team, responding professionally to criminal justice partners, victims and witnesses to maintain public confidence in our work. Excellent written, verbal and digital communication skills are essential – including knowledge of Microsoft 365 applications.
Your roles and responsibilities are:
- To prepare cases for court, supporting our legal teams to operate effectively and efficiently
- To ensure all work is produced to a high standard reflecting the values of the Crown Prosecution Service
- To ensure information received is recorded accurately so that it can be easily retrieved and accessed by the team working on the case
- To provide excellent customer service when dealing with enquiries received by your team over the phone or in writing, so that the public and stakeholders can have confidence in the work of the Crown Prosecution Service
- To carry out related tasks as requested by prosecutors, in support of your team’s work.
Find out what the role is like - Apply to become a casework assistant
Our regional teams
The Crown Prosecution Service works across England and Wales, with 14 regional teams prosecuting cases locally in magistrates' and Crown Courts.
Each of these 14 regional teams are known as Crown Prosecution Service Areas – they are led by a chief crown prosecutor whose paralegal, casework and prosecution staff work closely with local police forces and other criminal justice partners to prepare and prosecute local cases.
Information sessions
We are holding a series of information sessions – these are live webchats where you can ask us any queries you may have about your application, the process or the roles. You can register here:
- Thursday 12 September - 12:30pm- 13:30pm https://meetandengage.com/am0c7npmk
- Tuesday 24 September - 16:30pm- 17:30pm https://meetandengage.com/am0c7ptj5
Person specification
To be eligible to apply for this opportunity, you must:
- Be at least 18 years of age
- Have excellent written, verbal and digital communication skills - including knowledge of Microsoft 365 applications
- Have an interest in criminal law and public service.
You do not need qualifications or legal experience for this role, a structured induction training plan is provided. Customer service skills are desirable but not required.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Developing Self and Others
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Making Effective Decisions
- Communicating and Influencing
- Delivering at Pace
Benefits
We’re passionate about ensuring that we're a top performing organisation and a great place to work. We're a committed equal opportunities employer, creating a culture where you can bring your whole self to work, and individuality is truly appreciated.
We want to ensure our employees can thrive at work and home, and offer a range of support to achieve a balance. This includes flexibility of working hours, flexibility to support caring responsibilities and a flexible approach to deployment. We offer a hybrid working policy. From September 2024, you must spend at least 40% of your contracted hours over a four-week period at court, in an office or another official workplace depending on business need and the kind of work you're doing.
This culture of inclusion is underpinned by our staff networks covering disability, faith and belief, LGBTQI+, race, social mobility alongside our mental health first aiders programme and wellbeing sessions.
The Crown Prosecution Service commits to offer its employees the following experience.
- You can do impactful, purposeful work that’s making a difference to your local communities.
- You can learn and grow, with access to the right opportunities and resources.
- We care about your wellbeing.
- We want you to feel valued, trusted and included.
We also offer the following benefits:
- Civil Service contributory pension of up to 27%
- 25 days’ leave, increasing to 30 days after 5 years
- an extra privilege day to mark the King's birthday
- a competitive maternity, paternity and parental leave
- flexible working and a family-friendly approach to work
- Cycle2Work scheme, employee savings.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
First stage – application
Submit your application through Civil Service Jobs by 11.55pm on Monday 30 September 2024.
When applying, you’re asked to provide some specific information about your motivation and skills, employment history, and qualification details in the application form.
You’re asked to respond to three questions in the personal statement section of your application form – in no more than 250 words each, 750 words in total – setting out how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience demonstrate each core behaviour for this role. These are:
- Motivation (lead behaviour) - Why have you applied for this position with the Crown Prosecution Service?
- Developing self and others - What skills have you learnt from school/social life/professional occupation, that you feel are important in the workplace?
- Seeing the big picture - What skills would you hope to gain if successful in this role with the Crown Prosecution Service?
You must address each of these questions when providing your core behaviour examples on the personal statement section. If you don’t do this, your application will be turned down.
In addition you need to demonstrate the CPS or Civil Service Values.
Please note, the panel reserve the right to only assess the lead behaviour 'Motivation' at shortlist and raise the minimum standard pass mark.
Applications are shortlisted following the deadline, and the successful candidates are invited to interview.
Second stage – interview
If you pass the first recruitment stage, you’re invited to an interview with a panel of Crown Prosecution Service colleagues.
Full guidance and instructions are provided about this stage of the process at the time. Interviews take place using Microsoft Teams between 28 October - 7 November 2024.
We ask that you note the dates that the interview and assessments are due to take place. However, these dates may be subject to change and we can’t guarantee alternative interview dates.
Offer of employment
If we offer you a role, offers and pre-employment checks begin from Monday 11 November 2024. It can take up to two weeks for all offers to be made.
Other
This is a full-time post. However, requests for flexible, part-time working and job share are considered, bearing in mind the operational needs of the department.
This role is a mixture of home working and office working. You must spend at least 40% of your contracted hours over a four-week period in an office or another official workplace.
You must consider if the commute from your home to the office is a feasible distance to travel before making an application. If you’re successful, we will discuss hybrid working before you take up the post.
Clearance
If successful, you’re required to secure Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) clearance and some areas of the business require you to have Security Check (SC) clearance. The clearance you need is confirmed when you’re offered the role.
If you’re invited to interview, you’re asked to complete the character enquiry form and nationality and immigration questionnaire.
If you’re an internal member of staff, you won’t need to do a DBS check as you already hold this clearance.
Reserve list
If you’re recommended by the selection panel but not appointed to the current vacancy, you’re put on a reserve list for 12 months. You may be offered another role if a vacancy comes up during this period. We may also approach candidates on the reserve list to fill other roles that require similar knowledge and experience.
Reasonable Adjustments
Diversity at the Crown Prosecution Service is about inclusion, embracing differences and ensuring our workforce truly reflects the communities we serve. We want you to feel that you belong and can thrive, whatever your background, identity or culture. As a Disability Confident employer, we're happy to support requests for reasonable adjustments and improve your recruitment experience. If you'd like any reasonable adjustments made to our recruitment process, let us know within your application or contact EarlyCareers@cps.gov.uk.
Fraud check
The Crown Prosecution Service provides a Fair Processing Notice to all new applicants after they’ve been successful at interview. These candidates are informed that, as one aspect of pre-employment screening, their personal details – name, National Insurance number and date of birth – are checked against the Insiders Threat Database. We won't employ anyone included on the database unless they can demonstrate exceptional circumstances.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Nationality requirements
Working for the Civil Service
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).
Diversity and Inclusion
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : Early Careers
- Email : Earlycareers@cps.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : Earlycareers@cps.gov.uk
