Operational Support Officer (Ref: 21668)

Please refer to Job Description

Proud to serve. Proud to keep justice going.

Our Operational Support Officers within National Services provide excellent telephone and administrative support to court users. This position is predominately telephone-based and 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 responsible for the administration of criminal, civil and family Courts and Tribunals in England and Wales. Our National Service teams offer a wide range of support which includes assisting customers via the telephone, providing digital assistance, facilitating audio and video hearings, as well as supporting case progression and court hearings.

We support multiple judications such as Social Service and Child Support, Family Public Law, Probation, Crime, Immigration and Asylum, Divorce, Online Civil Money Claims, Special Education Needs and Disability Tribunal (SEND), Mental Health Tribunal and the Single Justice Service.

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

Working as part of a team, you will contribute to the overall operational, performance and service standard targets across your area of work.

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. You will be supported by a Team Leader and, alongside our in-depth training programme, will have access to ‘SHELF’ (guidance document) to assist in your role.

You will be adaptable, able to multi-task and effectively carry out a variety of duties, which will include:

• Taking inbound calls from the public and legal representatives and returning calls as required.
• Communicating effectively with the public, other court and tribunal users and representatives of other agencies and organisations.
• Delivering a high standard of customer service, responding to enquiries with empathy and understanding, particularly in situations where individuals may be under stress or facing challenging circumstances.
• Using email and webchat and undertaking general administrative work.
• Interpreting information to accurately update digital records.

Your knowledge, skills and experience

• Strong customer service skills with the ability to work in a service-led environment.
• Good digital and administrative skills; with excellent attention to detail.
• Effective communication and organisational skills. Able to communicate confidently in person, over the telephone, digitally and in written communications.
• Resilient and empathetic to be able to deal with sensitive information and situations.
• A team player; able to work collaboratively and flexibly to deliver HMCTS objectives.

Please refer to the role profile attachment for more information.

Further details

The office is open Monday-Friday from 08:00 to 18:00.

Standard full time working hours are 37 hours per week. We can offer Saturday working as part of your weekly contracted hours. Saturday operating hours are 8am - 4pm. All staff are required staff to work 6 Saturdays per year on a rota basis.

Applications for part-time working will be considered, however due to the nature of the role the minimum we could consider is 16 hours per week. Mondays and Fridays are unlikely to be approved for non-working days due to current business need. 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. 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 only relevant to particular teams, and only 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.

Location

You will be based in Salford. The address is The Metro Building, Salford Quays, M5 3NN.

Training

Service 1

There is a 1-week induction that is full time but can be worked from home, following this a full-time 3-week training academy on email work will commence, this is office based / in person. After a consolidation period of 4 weeks staff will go back into academy for a further 3 weeks for call training, this will also be office based.

Service 2

There is a 1-week induction that is full time but can be worked from home, following this a full-time 4-week training academy will commence, this is office based / in person. After a consolidation period of 4 weeks staff will go back into academy for a further 4-week training, this will also be office based.

Requests for part-time training will be considered on a case-by-case basis and will only be approved if we can establish that we can ensure you will receive the full benefit of training and that all of the learning will be consolidated within that timeframe.

Skilled Worker Visa

This role is not eligible for new Skilled Worker visas in accordance with the current immigration rules.

From 22 July 2025, the Government introduced changes to the Skilled Worker visa route. The department cannot consider sponsoring you for this role unless you have held a Skilled Worker visa prior to the 22 July 2025 changes. 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 have not held a Skilled Worker visa prior to the 22 July 2025 changes, 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.

Occasional travel to other courts

For this post, occasional travel will be required for cover when needed.

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)

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.