Policy Lead, Independent Review of the Prison System

G7

Prisons Directorate

The Prisons Directorate is recruiting temporarily for G7 Policy Lead. This campaign is open to all staff within the Ministry of Justice.

It is being advertised on Detached Duty or Loan terms dependent on which part of MoJ is your home unit and will be for a period of up to 8 months.

Due to the urgent nature of the Review, we will expect a short release date to take up the post if successful. Consequently, candidates are asked to confirm release before applying.

In addition, candidates must already hold SC level vetting given the urgent requirement for the successful candidate to take up the role.

The number of G7 roles available through this recruitment are subject to confirmation on funding which will be locked down prior to individual(s) being notified of success. There is the potential for up to 3 roles being available.

Location:

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

1. 102 Petty France, London

2. 5 Wellington Place, Leeds (occasional travel between Leeds and London may be required post Covid-19)

For Policy Group to meet its evolving business needs all Policy Group staff are expected to attend their base location (102 Petty France or 5 Wellington Place Leeds) at least 2 days a week. This hybrid working arrangement is not contractual and as a result staff could be asked to attend their base location more frequently.

Occasional travel between the two locations may be required. We offer a hybrid working model, allowing for a balance between remote work and time spent in your base location (102 Petty France or 5 Wellington Place Leeds).

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.  

Security Clearance

This role requires SC clearance and to be eligible to apply you must already hold SC level clearance. You will be asked to provide your SC confirmation prior to interview.

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 the Independent Review of the Prison System

The former Deputy Prime Minister commissioned an Independent Review of the Prison System to take a comprehensive system-wide view of the prison system and the pressures it faces. This is being chaired by Amber Rudd, the former Home Secretary, and launched at the end of June.

The prison system faces ongoing and future challenges that are not widely understood by the public, both in terms of the risks within the system and opportunities to respond to them. These challenges cut across capacity, safety and decency, security rehabilitation, and are shaped by the age, condition, and configuration of the prison estate.

Previous investment decisions have mitigated some pressures, but the underlying risks remain structural and long-term in nature. Addressing them effectively requires a clear articulation of the strategic case for reform of the prison system, grounded in an assessment of the risks of inaction and the principles that should guide future investment.

The Independent Review will provide independent, evidenced based recommendations to inform future policy and spending decisions, including ahead of the next spending review.

The Review team will be independent of the Department and work to Amber Rudd while the Prison Policy Director will provide the Departmental Sponsor to the review.

Policy Lead in the Review Team - the role

This role provides an exciting opportunity to work on a high-profile review. Addressing systemic issues and setting direction for the prison system over the long-term will be essential to deliver the Department’s mission to deliver punishment that works by reducing reoffending and ultimately protecting the public.

The Review team is looking to recruit high performing policy officials who will lead on a range of work for the review, spanning policy analysis, evidence gathering and stakeholder engagement of the broad scope of issues to be covered by the review.

The job holder will be expected to work flexibly and at pace to fulfil a range of responsibilities within the review team that may evolve over time. The Review team is headed by a Deputy Director. A G6 is responsible across Policy, Evidence and Stakeholder teams, and these roles sit under the G6, and we are expanding policy team through this campaign. A further G7 team leads on Evidence and Stakeholders.

The role will remain flexible due to the nature of the Review and changing phases, but would broadly include:   

• Ownership of specific areas of the Review, to be determined by the steers of the Chair

• Managing relationship with Panel members

• Drafting substantial parts of the Review at pace and to a very high standard

• Ownership and delivery of policy to support recommendations for the review, working with analysts, lawyers, operational partners and external stakeholders.

• Proactively creating and maintaining positive, professional and trusting working relationships with a wide range of high-profile stakeholders and officials both within MOJ and people within and outside the organisation.

• Working with multi-disciplinary teams across the MoJ and HMPPS to establish the evidence base for the review. 

• Producing and delivering high-quality written and oral briefings for the Independent Chair and Senior Panel members and for their meetings with senior stakeholders and Ministers.

Skills and Experience

You will need to be self-motivated and comfortable working in a fast-paced environment. With the nature of the Review you need to be able to work flexibly, picking up additional tasks and responsibilities and supporting other team members as required. Successful candidates will demonstrate the following skills and experience:

Essential:

• Proven ability as an effective leader of high performing teams that prioritises wellbeing and positive culture

• Ability to quickly build positive relationships and engage confidently with stakeholders at all levels, including senior colleagues across MOJ and its agencies and external senior influential figures

• Proven ability to lead as a ‘self-starter’ and in driving forward work whilst dealing with ambiguity.

• Ability to identify and analyse relevant information from a range of sources, including critically assessing qualitative and quantitative data, resulting in robust recommendations and conclusions

• Excellent communication skills including high-quality drafting and distilling complex information for seniors

• Resilient and organised, able to confidently adapt to changing demands and requirements

Desirable:

• Experience of working on an Independent Review

• Confident understanding of prisons (either operational or policy)

• International policy experience

Additional Information

• 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.

• 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 CV, 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 a CV during the application process 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 1000 words stating what you would bring to the role, with reference to the Skills and Experience listed above.

Successful applicants will then be invited to an interview, testing both behaviours and strengths.

Candidates invited to Interview

Please note that interviews will be carried out remotely.

At interview you will be assessed against behaviours 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:

The following Behaviours will be tested at interview:

• Seeing the Bigger Picture

• Delivering at Pace

• Communicating and Influencing

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?

Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade:

Success Profiles: Civil Service behaviours - GOV.UK

Strengths:

It is difficult to prepare for strength type questions. However, you can think through your answers, focus on your achievements and aspects you enjoy and decide how these can be applied in the organisation and role. While strengths questions are shorter and we do not expect a full STAR response, the panel is interested in your first reaction to the question and information or reasoning to support this. Further information on Civil Service Strengths can be found via this link Success Profiles: Strengths - GOV.UK

Interviews are expected to take place 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. Hannah.edwins@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.