Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service
Royal Courts of Justice – Queen’s Bench Division - Administrative Court
Job Title: Executive Assistant to the Administrative Court Master, Senior Legal
Managers and Senior Management Team
Pay Span or equivalent: Band D
An opportunity has arisen within the Administrative Court (ACO) of the Queen’s Bench Division for a
Band D Executive Assistant to the ACO Master, Senior Legal Managers (SLMs) and Senior
Management Team (SMT).
Reporting to one of the two SLMs and working in conjunction with the other offices which conduct the
administration of the court you will play a vital role in providing administrative support to the Master,
SLMs and Management Team, arranging diaries, maintaining reports and statistics and carrying out
casework as required.
The post holder will need to be able to demonstrate a robust and proactive drive and commitment to
deliver an excellent support service to the Master, SLMs and SMT and demonstrate strong, effective
communication and leadership skills to meet the demands of this role.
Experience of working within the ACO is desirable due to the nature of the role.
The key purpose of the role is
 Utilising knowledge of ACO practice and procedure and exercising judgment and discretion to
provide administrative support to the Master and SLMs, arranging the Master’s and SLMs’ diaries,
maintaining reports and statistics, and case work as required.
 To assist in the delivery of performance against targets.
Key responsibilities
Operations
81898932

This role requires the post holder to have a strong knowledge of the
judicial context, and the ability to liaise with staff and judiciary of all
levels, including very senior figures (eg the Lord Chief Justice).
 Utilising knowledge of ACO practice and procedure and exercising
judgment and discretion to provide administrative support to the Master
and SLMs, arranging the Master’s and SLMs’ diaries, maintaining reports
and statistics, and case work as required, including but not limited to the
following:
 Maintenance of stats/ad hoc reports for the SLMs/SMT and Judiciary
 Acting as caseworker on complex or urgent cases dealt with by SLMs
 Using knowledge of ACO casework procedures, current workloads and
different case types to allocate work to Regional Lawyers

Calculations and
analysis
Communicating with
the public, the
judiciary, other court
and tribunal users
and representatives
of other agencies
and organisations
Representation
Accountability
Prioritising urgency of files and work generally for SLMs; prioritising
urgency of queries to SLMs or providing responses where appropriate;
 Attending meetings on behalf of the SLMs as required
 Maintenance of confidential ACO lawyer staff records (sick leave,
grievances, discipline procedures etc) and performance stats.
 Minute taking for ACO SMT meetings
 Using knowledge of ACO deal with enquiries by senior judiciary,
stakeholders etc.
 Liaison with Queen’s Bench Masters Listing Team regarding the
Master’s Private Law caseload
 To provide written and verbal advice to queries from staff and HMCTS
users.
 Contribute to the delivery of operational, performance and service
standard targets.
 Deal with any accommodation issues that arise and liaising with estates/
accommodation as required
 Monitor and proactively report on HMCTS Standard Operating Controls
and contribute to ongoing development.
 Ensure the risk management system and standards are applied by all
staff in line with HMCTS/MOJ policy.
 Alert others, as appropriate, to risks which are not capable of local
resolution.
 Deal with customers and complaints and address route causes of
complaints.
 Apply Continuous Improvement principles, tools and techniques to
working practices to improve efficiency of operations.
 Identify and implement solutions to local problems, referring more
complex problems to a Delivery Manager.
 Maintain effective working relationships with the judiciary, supporting
agencies, voluntary and user groups. Working with agencies to improve
the level of service offered to users.
 Provide feedback to staff, judiciary and other stakeholders on
performance against targets.
 Think beyond own area of responsibility, considering wider policy and
organisational implications of issues.
 Organise, attend and contribute at meetings of relevant User Groups.
 Represent the function you have been assigned to at an operational level
 Reporting to one of the Senior Legal Managers.
Other duties
The post holder is required to work in a flexible way and undertake any other duties reasonably
requested by line management which are commensurate with the grade and level of responsibility of
this post.
Location of Post

Located within the Royal Courts of Justice, London.
81898932
Key Civil Service Competencies
You will be required to provide evidence of the following key competencies at Level 2.
Effective Behaviour
People who are effective are likely to…
 Keep up to date with a broad set of issues relating to the work of
Seeing the Big
the Department.
Picture
 Develop understanding of how own and team’s work supports
achievement of Departmental priorities and delivery to the citizen.
 Focus on the overall goal and intent of what they are trying to
achieve, not just the task.
 Take an active interest in expanding their knowledge of areas
related to own role.
 Demonstrate accountability and make unbiased decisions.
Making
 Examine complex information and obtain further information to
Effective
make accurate decisions.
Decisions
 Speak with the relevant people in order to obtain the most
accurate information and get advice when unsure of how to
proceed.
 Explain clearly, verbally and in writing, how a decision has been
reached.
 Provide advice and feedback to support others to make accurate
decisions.
 Monitor the storage of critical data and customer information to
support decision making and conduct regular reviews to ensure it
is stored accurately, confidentially and responsibly.
 Display enthusiasm around goals and activities – adopting a
Leading and
positive approach when interacting with others.
communicating
 Listen to, understand, respect and accept the value of different
views, ideas and ways of working.
 Express ideas effectively, both orally and in writing, and with
sensitivity and respect for others.
 Confidently handle challenging conversations or interviews.
 Confront and deal promptly with inappropriate language or
behaviours, including bullying, harassment or discrimination.
Collaborating
 Demonstrate interest in others and develop a range of contacts
and Partnering
outside own team to help get the job done.
 Change ways of working to facilitate collaboration for the benefit of
the team’s work.
 Proactively seek information, resources and support from others
outside own immediate team in order to help achieve results.
 Readily identify opportunities to share knowledge, information and
learning and make progress by working with colleagues.
 Listen attentively to others and check their understanding by
asking questions.
 Take responsibility for creating a working environment that
encourages equality, diversity and inclusion.
 Explain clearly to customers what can be done.
Managing a
 Work with team to set priorities, create clear plans and manage all
Quality Service
work to meet the needs of the customer and the business.
 Ensure that levels of service are maintained – flag up risks or
concerns in order to meet customer requirements.
 Keep internal teams, customers and delivery partners fully
81898932
Delivering at
Pace
informed of plans and possibilities.
 Promote adherence to relevant policies, procedures, regulations
and legislation, including equality and diversity and health and
safety.
 Identify common problems or weaknesses in policy or procedures
that affect service and escalate these.
 Create regular reviews of what and who is required to make a
project/activity successful and make ongoing improvements.
 Be interested and positive about what they and the team are trying
to achieve.
 Take ownership of problems in their own area of responsibility.
 Remain positive and focused on achieving outcomes despite
setbacks.
 Check own and team performance against outcomes, make
improvement suggestions or take corrective action when problems
are identified.
 Set and achieve challenging goals and monitor quality.
Operational Delivery in HMCTS
This role is part of the Operational Delivery Profession. Operational delivery professionals are the
outward face of government, providing essential services to the public in a variety of roles. They work
in many different departments and agencies across the breadth of the UK, delivering service to
customers in



Face-to-face roles in HMCTS for example a court usher
Contact Centre roles in HMCTS for example call centre advisers
Processing roles in HMCTS for example Staff at the County Courts Money-Claims Centre and
Courts and Tribunal Administration
Being part of the operational delivery profession means belonging to a cross-government community
of people. This will offer you access to information on professional standards, skills development and
qualifications to help you continue to improve your development and performance and expand your
career options.
Flexible working options
HMCTS offers a flexible working system in many of its offices.
Job sharing and reduced hours
All applications for job sharing or reduced hours will be treated fairly and on a case by case basis in
accordance with the MoJ’s flexible working policy and equality policy.
Excess Fares and Relocation Allowances
This job is not eligible for relocation allowances but excess fares may be considered in accordance
with MoJs excess fares allowance policy.
HMCTS offers a range of benefits
Annual Leave
81898932
Generous allowances for paid holiday starting at 25 days per year, and rising as your service
increases. There is also a scheme to allow qualifying staff to buy or sell up to three days leave each
year. Additional paid time off for public holidays and 1 privilege day. Leave for part-time and job share
posts will be calculated on a pro-rata basis.
Pension
The Civil Service offers a choice of pension schemes, giving you the flexibility to choose the pension
that suits you best.
Training
HMCTS is committed to staff development and offers an extensive range of training and development
opportunities.
Support




A range of ‘Family Friendly’ policies such as opportunities to work reduced hours or job share.
Access to flexible benefits such as salary sacrifice arrangements for childcare vouchers, and
voluntary benefits such as retail vouchers and discounts on a range of goods and services.
Paid paternity, adoption and maternity leave.
Free annual sight tests for employees who use computer screens.
Networks

The opportunity to join employee-run networks that have been established to provide advice and
support and to enable the views of employees from minority groups to be expressed direct to
senior management. There are currently networks for employees of minority ethnic origin,
employees with disabilities, employees with caring responsibilities, women employees, and
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.
Working for the Civil Service




The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service
Commission's recruitment principles.
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity.
There is a guaranteed interview scheme (GIS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the
minimum selection criteria.
Eligibility

Staff on fixed term appointments must have been recruited through fair and open competition.
81898932