Litigation Support Officer Bristol, England
Job description
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Operational Delivery
Tax Profession
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About the job
Benefits
Things you need to know
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Location
About the job
Job summary
At HMRC, we are committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues; an inclusive and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society we serve. We want to maximise the potential of everyone who works for us, and we offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make an exciting career at HMRC accessible to you.
Diverse perspectives and experiences are essential to our success, and we encourage applications from all people from all backgrounds with the experience and skills needed to perform this role.
About Large Business
Large Business (LB) is responsible for over 2,000 of the largest businesses that pay a significant proportion of the total business taxes and duties that HMRC collects.
HMRC is offering exciting opportunities to join the Litigation Team as a Litigation Support Officer based in Bristol or Edinburgh.
The posts offer excellent professional and personal development opportunities. Successful applicants will join one of the largest Civil Service departments and work in a fast paced and dynamic environment where they will support HMRC’s tax professionals and lawyers in providing high quality services.
See what it’s like to work at HMRC: find out more about us or ask our colleagues a question. Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.
Job description
This is an exciting opportunity for capable and ambitious individuals to join the LB Litigation Team. This small team is responsible for preparing HMRC’s highest profile corporate tax disputes for litigation and securing significant amounts of tax.
The Litigation Team within LB transitions tax investigations into litigation when disputes cannot be settled by agreement. Our work currently includes transfer pricing, diverted profits, and other international direct tax disputes but we are in the process of expanding our scope to cover litigation of other taxes and duties. The successful candidates will join as this expansion occurs so will be exposed to varied litigation across a range of taxes and have the opportunity to shape how we operate.
The team is a mix of tax professionals and litigation support officers, who are generally recent law graduates. We work closely with the investigation teams, technical/policy specialists and lawyers both within our Solicitors Office and Legal Services directorate and externally to prepare cases for the First-tier Tribunal (Tax) and beyond. The focus of our work is to get the evidence obtained during an enquiry into a form that can be put before the tribunal to establish the facts necessary to support our legal arguments.
You will be assigned to a number of litigation cases along with experienced tax professionals and lawyers. Full support will be provided but litigation support officers will also take ownership for specific areas of the work. The work can be fast paced but is also highly rewarding.
Both the LB Litigation Team, and the wider HMRC teams with which we work, are geographically disperse. Most meetings are via online conferencing but there will be occasions when travel is required.
Person specification
As a Litigation Support Officer, you will:
- Review and collate documentation obtained during investigations
- Prepare fact papers
- Prepare chronologies
- Identify relevant documents and produce bundles for submission to the Tribunal
- Assist with the drafting of statements of case and other key documents for submission to the Tribunal
- Assist with the preparation of witness statements
- Support experienced colleagues in engaging external expert advisors/witnesses
- Attend meetings with external legal advisors (Counsel) and prepare notes of discussions
Essential Criteria
Applications will be considered from candidates qualified to degree level in law or who have completed a Graduate Diploma in Law, have achieved CILEx level 6 or completed a pre-PEAT training contract. Applications will also be considered from candidates without the specified qualification providing they have experience as a paralegal in a litigation environment. In their statement candidates should confirm if they have the specified qualification and also give details of any experience working in a legal or litigation environment.
Candidates will be expected to demonstrate they:
- work flexibly and as part of a team, working with and maintaining good relationships with colleagues and customers,
- have determination to ensure completion of tasks and take responsibility for their own area of work and
- have good communication skills and commitment to ensuring deadlines are met.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Delivering at Pace
- Working Together
- Making Effective Decisions
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Ability to distinguish fact from assertion or speculation through reviewing a short written statement.
Benefits
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
Find more about HMRC benefits in 'Your little extras and big benefits handbook' for further information or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
As part of the selection process, you will be asked to complete:
- Your CV should detail your job history and qualifications.
- Your Personal Statement (maximum of 500 words), should illustrate how you meet the essential criteria, knowledge and experience for this role. Please read and understand the Essential Experience thoroughly (found in the Essential Criteria section), as this is what your written evidence will be assessed against.
In the event of a large number of applications an initial sift will be carried out on your CV to assess Experience.
If you progress to full sift, we will then review your Personal Statement and portfolio to assess your ability to meet the requirements of the job role, essential and desirable criteria.
Interview Process Details
During the panel interview, you will be asked about your Experience (how you meet the Essential Criteria), Behaviours, as well as Technical based questions which demonstrate the things you do well and/or are motivated by.
Additionally, you will be asked to carry out a short practical assessment. Details of the technical skills and the assessment will be issued to candidates prior to interview.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Delivering at Pace
- Working Together
- Making Effective Decisions
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Ability to distinguish fact from assertion or speculation through reviewing a short written statement.
Please Note: The successful applicant for this role will need to be eligible for and willing to undergo standard BPSS Checks following appointment into the post.
Sift and Interview details
Sift and Interview will take place within 5 weeks of advert closing date. Location to be confirmed. Due to Covid 19, interviews may be held by video.
We reserve the right to raise the score required at any stage of the process in order to manage numbers.
A reserve list may be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles – if this applies to you, we’ll let you know via your Civil Service Jobs account.
Eligibility
To check that you are eligible to apply, review this eligibility information
Important information for existing HMRC contractual homeworkers:
This role may be suitable for existing HMRC employees who are contractual homeworkers. Occasional attendance to the office will be required where there is a business need, so please review the advertised office locations for this role when applying and only select locations from the ‘location preferences’ section that you are able to travel to.
Reasonable Adjustments
We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process because of a disability, condition, or impairment. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate.
If you need a reasonable adjustment or a change to be made so that you can make your application, review this information on reasonable adjustments, and contact [email protected] as soon as possible.
Equality and Diversity
We’re committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues here at HMRC. We want everyone to feel valued, supported and comfortable being their true self at work.
We’re proud to be a diverse and inclusive employer, supporting social mobility by giving opportunities to people from all walks of life. We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us and offer a range of flexible working patterns and support. Our aim is to make a fulfilling career at HMRC accessible to you.
For more information on how we make this happen, review this information on our culture and values.
Applications received from candidates with a criminal record are considered fairly in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders Policy.
We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible after considering operational and customer service needs. We can’t guarantee that we can meet all requests to work flexibly, as agreement will be subject to business ability to accommodate, and any request to work a more flexible arrangement should be made prior to your acceptance of the provisional offer.
Customer facing roles in HMRC require the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English and/or Welsh where required. Where this is an essential requirement, this will be tested as part of the selection process.
The Civil Service runs a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Locations
HMRC has a presence in every region of the UK. For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations.
Security Update
For more information on the level of security checks we will carry out, review this information on security checks
Further Information
The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. The evidence you provide in your application must relate to your own experiences.
Any instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will be investigated and, if proven, the relevant application/s will be withdrawn from the process.
Duplicate applications for the same vacancy will also be withdrawn.
Transferring into HMRC from Civil Service If you are currently working for an ‘Other Government Department’ (OGD) and would like to consider the impact on your pay when joining HMRC, please see the attached document "Combined T&C and OGD Pay English”, found at the bottom of this advert. Further information on staff transfers can be found on gov.uk
Problems during the application process
If you experience accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.
If you think you’ve made a mistake on a submitted application (e.g. you’ve ticked the incorrect eligibility box), please contact [email protected] at least two working days before the vacancy closes. After this, we won’t be able to reopen your application.
Please use the subject line to insert appropriate wording e.g. Please re-open my application - 289874 & vacancy closing date 12.06.2023.
For reasonable adjustments queries or requests, please see details within reasonable adjustments section above.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
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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Contact point for applicants
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