Head of Criminal Court Reform Monitoring and Evaluation

Grade 7

Civil, Family and Tribunals Policy Directorate

The Victims, Vulnerability and Criminal Law Analysis Unit is recruiting permanently for Grade 7 Head of Criminal Court Reform Monitoring and Evaluation.

Location:

Successful candidates will have the option to be based at one of the following locations:

• 102 Petty France, London

• 5 Wellington Place, Leeds

or your nearest Justice Collaboration Centre or Justice Satellite Office (with flexible working arrangements available). Occasional travel between work locations may be required. We offer a hybrid working model, allowing for a balance between remote work and time spent in your base location.

Ways of Working

At the MoJ we believe and promote alternative ways of working, these roles are available as:

• Full-time, part-time or the option to job share

• Flexible working patterns

If we receive applications from more suitable candidates than we have vacancies for at this time, we may hold suitable applicants on a reserve list for 12 months, and future vacancies requiring the same skills and experience could be offered to candidates on the reserve list without a new competition.

We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice. To find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity

Salary

Existing Civil Servants will have their salary calculated in accordance with the Department’s pay on transfer / pay on promotion rules.  

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ)

MoJ is the largest government department, employing over 90,000 people with a budget of approximately £10 billion. Each year, millions of people use our services across the UK - including at 500 courts and tribunals, and 133 prisons in England and Wales.

Further information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice

The Work of Victims, Vulnerability and Criminal Law Analysis Unit

VVCL Analysis is a multi-disciplinary team of social researchers, economists, operational researchers and statisticians. As part of the analytical restructure, the team is embedded in Civil, Family, Tribunals and Administrative Justice Directorate (CFTAJ).

We lead the Department’s analysis on everything related to victims and vulnerability, as well as work related to crime, the criminal law and criminal courts. It is an extremely interesting, fast pace and valuable are to work in, with many of our key workstreams being Departmental and/or Ministerial priorities and of key public interest, such as Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), reform of the criminal courts (response to the Leveson Review) and support services for victims of crime.

We work with colleagues across policy, analysis, data and other government departments including the Home Office and CPS to deliver impactful analysis to decision-makers.

Head of Criminal Court Reform Monitoring and Evaluation - the role

Reform of the criminal courts is one of the biggest priorities for the MoJ. This is an exciting opportunity to lead a new team to design what and how we monitor and evaluate how effective these reforms have been.

This is a great opportunity to lead analytical work in a high profile and impactful policy area, with significant senior leadership and Ministerial interest. You will work with multiple stakeholders covering criminal law, courts and victims’ policy, as well as advising Ministers and senior leaders on the evidence base to allow them to make informed decisions.

We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced G7 to lead the development and delivery of high-quality evaluation work for the reform of the criminal courts programme. This is a varied role and interesting role, with a great deal of autonomy to influence and shape one of the more significant reforms in the department’s history.

Key responsibilities include:

• Own the development of the evidence base and strategy for how we evidence the effectiveness of court reforms - including identifying key evidence gaps and taking strategic action to address these

• Influencing senior stakeholders and Ministers through the use of data and evaluation to ensure strategic decisions are evidence based

• Leading a team of analysts (2 SEOs), balancing priorities, being flexible to adapting needs, and delivering key priority analysis at pace when needed

• Provide strategic leadership, ownership and expertise on how the department will evaluate the success of the court reform programme

• Leading the development and maintenance of theory of change, logic models and overarching evaluation plans to inform policy development, spending decisions, and business cases

• Providing research advice to policy teams and ministers of different policy options

• Ensure research is robust and quality assurance is embedded throughout

• Providing expertise on evaluation and monitoring

• Collaborating with policy and analytical colleagues to embed research and evaluation thinking across the court reform programme

• Presenting complex analysis clearly to non-specialist audiences, including senior stakeholders and ministers

• Being a key member of the VVCLA SMT, putting forward ideas for improving the team and suggesting areas where we should develop best practice

Skills and Experience

Essential:

• Substantial experience as a professional researcher

• Excellent knowledge and application of Magenta book principles and guidance on evaluation

• Strong understanding of monitoring and evaluation principles and their application to policymaking in the MoJ

• Delivery of high-quality analysis projects, including complex project with competing deadlines - you must be able to deliver at pace and manage complex and moving timescales effectively

• Evidence of improving processes and procedures within analytical contexts

• Experience of strong outcomes working with policy, operational or project stakeholders

• Strong collaboration skills and stakeholder management skills

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to and experience of explaining technical/complex concepts to non-technical audiences

• The ability to interpret and analyse data to inform decision-making

• Experience collaborating across teams and disciplines

Desirable:

• GSR or GSS badging

• Line management/team leadership experience

Candidates applying from HMPPS should note that the Ministry of Justice does not have the same conditions of employment as HMPPS. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the terms and conditions they will adopt should they be successful.

The MoJ is proud to be Level 3 Disability Confident. Disability Confident is the approach through which we offer guaranteed interviews for all people with disabilities meeting the minimum criteria for the advertised role as set out in the job description.

Application process

You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework.

You must ensure that any evidence submitted as part of your application, including your work history, statement of suitability and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note that plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

Experience

You will be asked to provide your work history during the application process in order to assess any demonstrable experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role.

You will also be asked to upload a Statement of Suitability of no more than 750 words stating what you would bring to the role, with reference to the Skills and Experience listed above.

Candidates invited to Interview

Please note that interviews will be carried out remotely.

You will be assessed against the following behaviours at the interview stage where you will be asked to provide examples of how you have demonstrated them. In addition, you will also be asked strength-based questions.

Behaviours:

• Seeing the Big Picture

• Leadership

• Communicating & Influencing

• Delivering at Pace

It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain:   

• WHO - What it was? How you approached the work/situation? What the Outcomes were, what did you achieve? Or

• STAR - What was the Situation? What were the Tasks? What Action did you take?  What were the Results of your actions?

Interviews are expected to take place mid-late August 2026.

Contact information  

Please do get in touch if you would like to know more about the role or what it is like working in our team. Dr Sarah Barnes - sarah.barnes1@justice.gov.uk

Annex A - The STAR method

Using the STAR method can help you give examples of relevant experience that you have. It allows you to set the scene, show what you did, and how you did it, and explain the overall outcome.

Situation - Describe the situation you found yourself in. You must describe a specific event or situation. Be sure to give enough detail for the job holder to understand.

• Where are you?

• Who was there with you?

• What had happened?

Task - The job holder will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation you found yourself in.

• What was the task that you had to complete and why?

• What did you have to achieve?

Actions - What did you do? The job holder will be looking for information on what you did, how you did it and why. Keep the focus on you. What specific steps did you take and what was your contribution? Remember to include how you did it, and the behaviours you used. Try to use “I" rather than “we" to explain your actions that lead to the result. Be careful not to take credit for something that you did not do.

Results - Don’t be shy about taking credit for your behaviour. Quote specific facts and figures. Explain how the outcome benefitted the organisation or your area. Make the outcomes easily understandable.

• What results did the actions produce?

• What did you achieve through your actions and did you meet your goals?

• Was it a successful outcome? If not, what did you learn from the experience?

Keep the situation and task parts brief. Concentrate on the action and the result. If the result was not entirely successful describe what you learned from this and what you would do differently next time. Make sure you focus on your strengths.