Offices of the Official Solicitor and Public Trustee

Executive Officer (EO)

The Offices of the Official Solicitor and Public Trustee (OSPT)

Background

The OSPT is an Arms’ Length Body of the Ministry of Justice and combines the duties and responsibilities of two separate independent statutory office holders - the Official Solicitor to the Senior Courts and the Public Trustee. There are around 135 staff who support the work of the OSPT, including lawyers, lay case managers and administrators; the office is based in Central London. The OSPT promotes access to justice for the most vulnerable members of our society who might otherwise be unable to use the services offered by the justice system due to their lack of mental capacity or because of their young age. The OSPT is committed to providing the best level of service she can for her clients.

The Post

The OSPT has one Executive Officer (EO) vacancy for a split role of Diary Manager to the Official Solicitor in her Private Office and case manager in the Civil Litigation Pre-Acceptance Team (PAT).

Private Office

The Official Solicitor is supported by a small Private Office team. The Diary Manager has responsibility for managing the Official Solicitor’s busy and often changing diary, ensuring the best use of her time. Other duties include responding to and liaising with internal and external stakeholders on behalf of the Official Solicitor, receiving (and sign posting) MoJ Commissions and acting as the contact point for the receipt and approval of final position statements from the Official Solicitor’s Family Litigation team.

In addition to diary management, the Diary Manager also oversees the Private Office inbox, regularly reviewing and responding to incoming communication or sign-posting to the appropriate senior manager.

The Diary Manager also works closely with the Senior Operational Team and corporately has responsibility for:

• Secretariat at the Management Advisory Board and Full Leadership Team meetings.

• Administration of the OSPT R&R scheme.

• Administration of OSPTs Compliance Controls

• Part of the editorial group for the OSPT Intranet.

Civil Litigation

The Civil Litigation team deal with a wide range of Civil Litigation proceedings in the High Court and the County Court, including, but not limited to Possession cases, Clinical Negligence cases, Personal Injury cases, Local Authority Damages cases, Human Rights Act 1998 cases and Judicial Review where a party has been assessed to lack litigation capacity. The variety of work makes it very interesting and rewarding. The Official Solicitor's role is usually that of a litigation friend and she instructs solicitors and counsel in cases as is required.

Case Manager

The PAT deal with all new referrals to the Civil Litigation team and ensure that the Official Solicitor’s criteria for accepting cases is fully met before the case is ready for allocation to a case manager. The case manager within the PAT manages a small caseload of PAT cases. Alongside managing their own caseload, the role also requires the case manager to provide administrative support to senior members of the PAT.

The duties of an EO within the Civil PAT team also include:

• Assisting in managing the Civil Litigation inbox.

• Opening new files on the inhouse case management system.

• Chasing required documents from Solicitors.

SKILLS & QUALITIES: describe the skills and qualities the applicant should be able to demonstrate

The skills set out below are essential skills required for these roles:

• Excellent communication skills, both written and spoken.

• The ability to build and maintain strong working relationships with internal and external stakeholders.

• Excellent organisational and time management skills in order to meet deadlines and balance competing work priorities.

• Self motivated with the ability to use own initiative in the decision-making process.

• Excellent attention to detail.

• Able to work autonomously.

It is essential that you have experience of using Microsoft computer packages, i.e. MS Teams, Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint.

If you would like to discuss the role, or work of the office in more detail you can do so by contacting Julie Taylor at Julie.Taylor@ospt.gov.uk.

Application and selection process

The Civil Service Success Profile will be used to assess suitability.

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the lead behaviour, Delivering at Pace. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to interview.

A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

BEHAVIOURS

You will be required to provide evidence of the following behaviours under the success profile (Strengths will also be tested at interview)

• Delivering at Pace (Lead behaviour)

• Working Together

• Communicating and influencing

• Managing a Quality Service

Interviews will be held virtually, using the Teams platform.

We can offer;

• a central London location, when working from the office

• flexible and smarter working options

The OSPT is based at 102 Petty France, London, but the successful candidate does not have to be London-based. We currently operate a hybrid working arrangement. This means that at least 40% of the working week is office based (subject to change). The successful candidate will be appointed to a MoJ office location, which may include their nearest Justice Collaboration Centre or Justice Satellite Office. 

This is an exciting and interesting area of work which offers unique challenges and provides great openings for continuous learning.

This is also an exciting and unique opportunity to work within Private Office. It offers its own unique challenges and great potential to grow within the role.

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