Defence Business Services (DBS) – ASSISTANT CASE OFFICER 2 ARMED FORCES CRIMINAL LEGAL AID AUTHORITY Upavon, England
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About the job
Job summary
Are you a dedicated person who is passionate about making a difference?
Defence Business Services (DBS) is one of the largest shared service organisations in Europe that provides a wide range of corporate services, to over 1.2 million end users, including serving and past military and families, as well as MoD civil servants and industry. DBS aims to be the ‘best business services partner for the UK Defence and Security Communities’ by providing critical business services, including Human Resources, Pay, Veterans, Finance and Procurement, that enable our customers to focus on strategic Defence priorities and maintain National Security.
Our Vision - To support UK defence customers with outstanding service every time.
- Our Mission – Together we will proudly support Defence, continuously improving and delivering flexible, timely, sustainable and value for money services that underpin the whole force and enhance operational capability.
DBS is committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues. We are building an inclusive culture and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society.
We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us through opportunities to develop your skills and experience. We also offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career accessible to you and offer a Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%. Where your role permits, we support a blended working approach alternatively known as hybrid working (40% office based pro rata).
Come and join the DBS community today!
Job description
- The Armed Forces Criminal Legal Aid Authority (AFCLAA) is a tri-service organisation whose primary purpose is to provide legal aid case management and funding for those Service and Civilian personnel who are being prosecuted through the Service Justice System (primarily Court Martial trials), covering all types of offences from minor service discipline offences through to manslaughter. The work is varied, interesting and can be fast paced.
- This role is advertised at 37 hours per week and office based however, DBS are working hard to improve our access to, and use of, digital technology, empowering our people to work remotely.
- The incumbent will work directly to the Case Officers.
- Have primary responsibility for processing Legal Aid applications. This includes reviewing the applications, obtaining all relevant documentation, completing the means test assessment and ensuring all supporting evidence is received to support the means test assessment and for audit trail purposes.
- Will issue legal aid contribution offers with specified deadlines for return, hastening units for responses where necessary
- Upon acceptance of an offer, will ensure the agreed payment plan has been set up as directed, with evidence supplied and responsible for granting Legal Aid and the subsequent formal instruction of legal representatives for Court Martial, Summary Appeals and Service Civilian Court in the UK and Overseas.
- Liaise with military units all ranks and grades, HQ Military Court Service (MCS), Military Court Centres (MCCs) in the UK and Overseas and Service Prosecuting Authority (SPA).
- Ensure all details held on the case files, AFCLAA, CRM database and Sharepoint are accurate, including trial/hearing dates and trial results received from the Headquarters Military Court Service and Military Courts.
- As each Case Officer is responsible for circa 150-200 ‘live’ cases at any given time, the ACO will be responsible for ensuring accurate records/audit trails for circa 300-400 ‘live’ case files, all at different stages of the Legal Aid process.
- Respond to telephone enquiries regarding legal aid/team cases, maintaining a full audit trail.
- Provide/share cover to the ACO1 and Business Support Officer during absence, annual leave and busy periods.
- Ad Hoc duties as required.
Person specification
The successful candidate will be enthusiastic, pro-active, and conscientious. Possess a high standard of computer literacy and have good communication/interpersonal skills and work well in a team. Personal attributes are a confident person who can deal with the Service Chains of Command at any level.
Good organisational skills with the ability to prioritise their work, be methodical and works well under pressure both independently and within the team. Have a keen eye for detail and always demonstrates discretion.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Leadership
- Changing and Improving
- Delivering at Pace
- Working Together
- Managing a Quality Service
We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:
- Leadership
- Changing and Improving
- Working Together
- Managing a Quality Service
Benefits
Professional and personal development of skills- Alternative working patterns
- Hybrid working where role permits
- 25 days paid annual leave rising (1 day per year) to 30 days upon completion of 5 years’ service
- In addition to 8 public holidays per year, you will also receive leave for HM The King’s birthday
- Minimum of 15 days special leave in a rolling 12 month period for volunteer reserve commitments
- Special paid leave to volunteer up to 6 days per year
- Enhanced shared parental leave and adoption leave
The post does not offer relocation expenses.
Please be advised that the Department is conducting a review of all pay related allowances which could impact on those allowances that the post currently being advertised attracts.
External recruits who join the MOD who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.
This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
Please ensure that at the application and interview stages of the campaign you review the Success Profiles Framework to assist you in the demonstration of your skills and experience.
Your suitability for the role will be assessed using the Success Profile elements that have been chosen for this campaign. Each element will be scored accordingly, and the successful candidate will be appointed on merit.
Applications will be sifted on all Success Profile elements, but in the event of a high number of applications, an initial sift will be conducted on 2 x behaviours "Working Together" & "Managing a Quality Service".
In this instance the remaining elements will be tested at interview.
At application stage you will be assessed against the following:
Behaviours:
- Leadership
- Changing & Improving
- Working Together
- Managing a Quality Service
At interview you will be assessed against the above, PLUS the following:
Behaviours:
- Delivering at Pace
In the rare case where individuals have exact matching scores, the order of merit will be determined based on the behaviour scores at interview in the following order:
- Working Together
- Managing a Quality Service
- Changing and Improving
If candidate scores are still exact, the merit order will then be determined on the sift score in the below order or priority:
- Working Together
- Changing and Improving
We want to offer opportunities to all who are successful at interview for our roles, but this isn’t always possible, so we do hold candidates on an active reserve list for 12 months.
Application sifting is scheduled to take place on week commencing ; TBC
Interviews are currently taking place face to face and will be conducted week commencing: TBC
A minimum of 2 full working days’ notice will be provided for interviews. Grade 6 & 7 posts will be given 7 days’ notice if psychometric tests are selected. We endeavor to stick to these dates, but these are subject to change around business needs.
To assist with your application please find attached below:
1. DBS Candidate Information Guide
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact: [email protected]
MOD Recruitment Satisfaction Survey – we may contact you regarding your experience to help us improve our customer satisfaction. The survey is voluntary and anonymous. You may however be given the opportunity to provide additional information to help us improve our service which includes the collection of some personal data as defined by the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The MOD Privacy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights.
As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical.
The role currently being advertised has not been assessed as business critical and is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system. Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected, and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
- relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
- certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals
Working for the Civil Service
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
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