Operational Support Officer (Ref: 23854)

Please refer to Job Description

Proud to serve. Proud to keep justice going.

Our Admin Officers play a critical role, providing excellent administrative support and customer service to court users, judiciary and management.

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 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

To provide administrative support to the magistracy across South West region.

This will encompass:

• Support to Advisory Recruitment Committees – including magistrates’ recruitment, facilitating on-line interviews via Teams and working with the on-line recruitment portal ‘Affinix’. The post holder will also process magistrate retirements/resignations etc, having need to use the Magistrates Rota and the Judicial HR portal.
• Support to Justices’ Training Approvals, Authorisations & Appraisal Committees – including dealing with the receipt of appraisals and applications and providing administrative support to the committees across South West region.
• General Bench Support – comprising of sending out communications to the magistracy across South West region and dealing with responses appropriately.
• Magistrates Rota – to provide support to the wider teams in managing the day to day running of the magistrate’s rota across South West region.

Your skills and experience

• Friendly and approachable manner with excellent customer service skills.
• Ability to multitask, whilst working in a fast-paced environment.
• Good written and verbal communication skills.
• IT proficient with the ability to learn and adapt to different technologies and software packages.
• Excellent organisational skills.

For a full job description, please see the supporting document in the advert below before applying.

Lead Criterion: Statement of Suitability. A sift based on the statement of suitability may be held if a large number of applications are received.

Further details:

The role can accommodate a hybrid approach, postholders will be subject to the current policy for hybrid working and required to work in the office for 60% of their time. Where people have reasonable adjustments, we will treat these in line with normal policies and procedures to consider what adjustments can be made.

Standard full time working hours are 37 hours per week. 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.

We have 1 positions available:

1 permanent contract at Taunton Magistrates/Southampton - This role is offered on a part-time basis only, requiring (27.75 hours) per week.

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.

Fixed term appointments (FTA) on promotion

MoJ employees may apply for FTA opportunities in MoJ that are advertised at a higher grade than their current substantive grade. Where an employee accepts an FTA on promotion, this promotion will be temporary, and the employee will revert to their substantive grade upon return to their home business area, as per the loan policy for OGD loans. Before applying, employees must seek approval from their line managers to ensure they can be released for the duration of the FTA and can return to their substantive role at the end. If there is no role available at the end of the FTA, the employee will be subject to redeployment and potentially redundancy procedures.

Loans/Detached Duty

The terms of the loan or detached duty will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant (candidate). This includes grade on return. Prior agreement to be released on a loan or detached duty basis should be obtained before commencing the application process.

Occasional travel to other courts

For this post, occasional travel across South West region will be required for cover when needed.

Technical Skills

Using your CV as a reference, please provide a summary of the key responsibilities from your previous experience that is most relevant to the Operational Support Officer position. Begin with your most recent experience and work backwards. For each position, include the job title, duration of employment, and a concise overview of your main duties. (Maximum 250 words).

This section is intended to help us understand where and how you gained your experience.

Please avoid repeating content from your Statement of Suitability. That section should focus on what you can do, supported by specific examples. This question, by contrast, is about what you’ve done and the context in which your experience was gained.

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.