Paralegal Officer (September 2024)
Crown Prosecution Service
Apply before 11:55 pm on Wednesday 25th September 2024
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About the job
Job summary
Are you interested in advancing your law career? Start your journey as a paralegal officer with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)
Paralegal officers are on the front line of our service, supporting prosecution teams in the magistrates’ and Crown Court. You manage casework throughout the criminal justice process – preparing evidence, completing legal applications and providing practical support to victims and witnesses. You also represent the Crown Prosecution Service in meetings with partner agencies including the police, probation service and judiciary.
You don’t need qualifications or legal experience to apply. Our structured training plan gives you the skills and knowledge you need to help us deliver justice. We’re committed to your professional development and support you with access to a progression and training opportunities throughout your career with us.
If you’re committed to public service, and want to make a difference in people’s lives, this opportunity is for you. Find out more about the role - Apply to become a paralegal officer , The Crown Prosecution Service (cps.gov.uk)
The Crown Prosecution Service is based in England and Wales. If you’re applying for this role and live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you must let us know when accepting this offer as you need permission to work from your home address if hybrid working is part of your role. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that this approval will be granted.
For more information on how to apply, please see the candidate pack at the bottom of this page.
Job description
As a paralegal officer, you play a critical role within the legal team – preparing case files, drafting documents and making sure case deadlines are met. You attend court and represent the Crown Prosecution Service, communicating professionally with criminal justice partners, victims and witnesses to maintain confidence in our work.
Your responsibilities are:
- To support paralegal assistants and legal teams to operate effectively and efficiently, so that tasks and case information is ready.
- To manage cases and ensuring they are progressed, recording notes and drafting correspondences accurately.
- To research and assess the quality of case files, providing advice and making recommendations to prosecutors ahead of trial.
- To attend court as required by the paralegal business manager, and provide support with cases in court. This includes assisting prosecutors, advocates and working with other criminal justice partners.
- To provide excellent customer service when dealing with enquiries received by your team, so that the public and stakeholders can have confidence in the work we do.
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.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Making Effective Decisions
- Communicating and Influencing
- Working Together
Benefits
Join the Crown Prosecution Service and find your purpose
The CPS is passionate about ensuring that we are a top performing organisation and a great place to work. We're a committed equal opportunities employer, creating a culture where everyone can bring their whole self to work, and individuality is truly appreciated.
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 CPS commits to offer its employees the following experience.
• You can do impactful, purposeful work that’s making a difference to your local communities.
• You are able to 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 range of benefits:
• Civil Service pension
• access to employee savings
•Cycle2Work scheme
•25 days’ leave, rising to 30 days after 5 years’ service.
•1 extra privilege day to mark the King's birthday
•competitive maternity, paternity and parental leave
•flexible working and a family friendly approach to work
•childcare vouchers.
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 Strategic.Resourcing@cps.gov.uk
Things you need to know
Selection process details
The recruitment process consists of an online application and video interview which will be held on Microsoft Teams between Monday 14 and Friday 25 October 2024
You should keep this week free or notify us if you are not available. We make every effort to accommodate your preferred dates. However we cannot guarantee them.
Interview questions will be provided in advance, five working days prior to the selected interview slot.
Application
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 a total of no more than 1250 words – setting out how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience demonstrate each core behaviour for this role.
1. Making effective decisions - lead behaviour
A crucial part of this role is making informed and thoughtful decisions, ensuring you provide an excellent service
Can you provide an example of a time when you had to make a difficult decision that had possible risks and consequences?
2. Communicating and influencing
An important aspect of the position is seeking out opportunities to create effective change and suggest innovative ideas for improvement.
Could you give us an example of a time when you have had to communicate with someone who was unhappy or upset? Tell us how you adapted your style and what the outcome was?
3. Working together
A Key responsibility of this role is creating effective partnerships and relationships with people both internally and externally, from a range of diverse backgrounds.
Please tell us about a time when you have worked as part of a team to overcome a difficult challenge?
You must address each of these questions when providing your core behaviour examples on the personal statement section. Otherwise your application will be turned down.
We reserve the right to only assess the lead behaviour – Making Effective Decisions – at the shortlisting stage and raise the minimum pass mark.
Please refer to the candidate pack for more information about the process and what is being tested at each stage.
CV
When submitting your application there is a CV section. Here you include information about your employment history.
It is your responsibility to provide the right information in the right format to ensure you are considered for the post.
Your full application form must be submitted by 11.55pm on Wednesday 25 September 2024.
Interview
If you pass the first recruitment stage, you are invited to interview with a panel of Crown Prosecution Service colleagues.
You’re given full guidance and instructions about this stage of the process at the time. Interviews take place using Microsoft Teams between Monday 14 and Friday 25 October 2024.
We ask you to note the interview dates. These dates may be subject to change, and we can’t guarantee alternative interview dates.
Use of AI
You must ensure that your application, including personal statements and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note, plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experience of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.
Strengths
Strengths will be tested at interview stage. The strengths being tested will not be shared in advance of the interview.
Making offers
You can provide three office location preferences. If you’re successful, we offer using your choices in the first instance.
If you’re invited to interview, your assessment and interview panel are based on your first preference. Offers are made based on the merit order of each CPS Area interviewed, for example Nottingham, Leicester, Northampton or Lincoln is CPS East Midlands. This means the highest rated candidate is appointed from the region with the vacancy. Even if you’ve scored higher than another candidate, you may not be selected if you’ve a preference of another location.
Once appointments have been made under the location merit list process, any remaining candidates who have passed stay on a reserve list for 12 months.
If you’re offered a position that you can’t accept because of extenuating circumstances, you may be able to stay on the reserve list. However, it expires 12 months after the interviews take place and positions for your first preference can’t be guaranteed.
Vacancies
We have vacancies in the following CPS Areas:
- West Midlands (Birmingham or Stoke)
The following areas are currently actively seeking to fill their waiting lists, and confirmation of available vacancies will be provided when possible.
- East Midlands (Leicester or Nottingham)
- North West (Manchester or Preston)
- Serious Economic, Organised Crime and International Directorate (SEOCID) Regional and Wales Division (Birmingham, Cardiff, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield ) - Cases in SEOCID are listed in courts throughout the country. Therefore, travel nationwide is a requirement of the role. Costs of travel and other expenses can be claimed in accordance with the CPS Travel and Subsistence Code.
- South West (Bristol, Exeter or Truro)
- Thames and Chiltern (Reading or St Albans).
- Cymru Wales (Cardiff, Mold or Swansea)
- Yorkshire and Humberside (Leeds, Hull or Sheffield)
Candidates who were placed on the reserve list for specific areas during the previous recruitment campaign are given priority based on merit.
If you are recommended by the selection panel but not appointed to the current vacancy, you will be placed on a reserve list for 12 months and may be offered another post, should any further vacancies for a paralegal officer arise in your chosen location. We may also approach candidates on the reserve list to fill other roles requiring similar knowledge and experience, including in other locations.
You should expect to join on the starting pay unless you’re joining on a level transfer from another government department. In this case, your salary is confirmed at pre-employment check stage.
Feedback
Feedback will not be provided until the vacancy is complete. Written feedback will not be provided for candidates who do not pass the application stage.
Other
This is a full-time post. However, requests for flexible, part-time working and job share will be considered, considering at all times the operational needs of the Department.
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.
Clearance required
The successful applicant will be required to secure DBS clearance. If successfully appointed, you will be asked to complete a character enquiry form and nationality and immigration questionnaire.
(If you are an internal member of staff, you will not be required to undergo this DBS check as you will already hold this clearance.)
The job you are applying for is covered by Article 3(a) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975, consequently Section 4(2) of that Act does not apply.
For the reasons outlined above you are required to disclose all previous convictions and cautions, including spent convictions. Failure to make a full declaration will result in the withdrawal of an offer of employment if our checks reveal convictions that have not been disclosed.
Fraud check
The CPS 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. Anyone included on the database is refused employment unless they can demonstrate exceptional circumstances.
The CPS, on behalf of the vacancy holder, informs applicants when they are refused employment because they’re included in the IFD.
Civil Service Commission
If you’re dissatisfied with the recruitment process and wish to make a complaint, please contact strategic.resourcing@cps.gov.uk with your concerns.
If you remain dissatisfied and wish to make a further complaint, you can do that through the Civil Service Commission complaints page.
Here are our Civil Service Commissioners recruitment principles.
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 : Sophie Cosgrove
- Email : Sophie.Cosgrove@cps.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : strategic.resourcing@cps.gov.uk
