Court Centre Manager

Job summary

Are you a confident leader who thrives in a fast-paced environment?

Do you want a role where you can make a real difference to the service provided to victims and witnesses?

Do you enjoy leading teams, developing people and working collaboratively with key partners across the Criminal Justice System?

If so, the Reading Court Centre Manager role could be the opportunity for you.

Based at court, you will be the key CPS presence at Reading Crown Court, building strong working relationships with the Judiciary, HM Courts & Tribunals Service and other Criminal Justice System partners.

You will take responsibility for the effective running of CPS cases at the Court, while also providing management oversight to Court Managers at two other court locations. You will make important deployment decisions, oversee Paralegals working on site and support your teams to deliver an efficient, professional and high-quality service.

At the heart of the role is ensuring that victims and witnesses receive the best possible service, while supporting the smooth running of the court and wider Criminal Justice System.

Why this role?

This is an opportunity to:

• Lead and develop people, helping your teams perform at their best.
• Make operational decisions that have a real impact on court delivery.
• Build influential relationships with the Judiciary and CJS partners.
• Champion a high-quality service for victims and witnesses.
• Be the onsite presence for the CPS at court and help bring CPS values to life every day.

If you are looking for a varied leadership role where no two days are the same and where your decisions can make a genuine difference, we would love to hear from you.

The Crown Prosecution Service is based in England and Wales. If you’re applying for this role and live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you must let us know when accepting this offer as you need permission to work from your home address if hybrid working is part of your role. There’s no guarantee that we will grant this approval.

You must be aged 18 or over at the point of starting in this role. The expected start date is approximately 8–12 weeks after the application closing date. You are expected to commence employment as soon as possible following the expiry of your notice period. Requests for significantly later start dates may not be accommodated.

Job description

Your roles and responsibilities include:

• You are responsible for the deployment and coordination of Paralegal Officers and Assistants to support the day-to-day running of the court centre, ensuring court coverage and operational delivery are maintained in line with national standards and the national agreement.
• You will lead and manage B1 Court Managers within the same Area, alongside another B2 Court Centre Manager, ensuring that they provide an effective quality service.
• You proactively build and maintain good working relationships with external agencies to ensure smooth operation and effective delivery of CPS business; troubleshooting emerging issues.
• You are responsible for identifying emerging issues in Court that would otherwise unnecessarily delay justice by intervening with the relevant Prosecutor, assigned advocate or appropriate official and then resolving them where practical or escalation where issues are more complex.
• You proactively liaise with the judiciary to resolve casework issues and act as a focal point for judiciary enquiries and ensure any issues raised are resolved in a timely manner to avoid unnecessary delay in court.
• You meaningfully engage representatives from other agencies within the CJS to ensure the smooth operation of CPS business at court, resolving issues in a timely manner (either personally or via escalation) and ensuring a proactive approach to case progression is maintained.
• You provide support and guidance so that all advocates, lawyers and paralegals are able to fulfil their responsibilities and act in accordance with the Speaking to Witnesses at Court CPS Guidance
• You are responsible for Quality Assurance monitoring of the Case Management System (CMS), dealing promptly with any issues arising from these reviews and ensuring cases progress through to finalisation ensuring CMS is used by all staff at all stages of the prosecution process in line with digital working.

A full copy of the job description is attached.

Person specification

To be eligible to apply, you need to have:

• Experience of working in fast paced environments.
• Experience of working in a customer service environment / speaking to members of the public.

It is desirable that you have the below experience but this is not required to apply:

• Experience of working within the Criminal Justice System.
• Experience of line managing people and processes.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace
• Leadership

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £38,945, Crown Prosecution Service contributes £11,282 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

Join the Crown Prosecution Service and find your purpose.

The Crown Prosecution Service is passionate about ensuring that we're a top performing organisation and a great place to work. We're a committed equal opportunities employer, creating a culture where you can bring your whole self to work, and individuality is truly appreciated.

This culture of inclusion is underpinned by our staff networks covering disability, faith and belief, LGBTQI+, race, social mobility alongside our mental health first aiders programme and wellbeing sessions.

The Crown Prosecution Service commits to offer its employees the following experience.

• You can do impactful, purposeful work that’s making a difference to your local communities.
• You are able to learn and grow, with access to the right opportunities and resources.
• We care about your wellbeing.
• We want you to feel valued, trusted and included.

We also offer the following range of benefits:

• Civil Service contributory pension of up to 28.9%
• 25 days’ leave, increasing to 30 days after 5 years
• £350 each year to spend on personal development
• lawyer training programme for all new prosecutors
• an extra privilege day to mark the King's birthday
• competitive maternity, paternity and parental leave
• flexible working including flexitime, and a family friendly approach to work
• Cycle2Work scheme, employee savings.

Diversity at the Crown Prosecution Service is about inclusion, embracing differences and ensuring our workforce truly reflects the communities we serve. We want you to feel that you belong and can thrive, whatever your background, identity or culture. As a Disability Confident employer, we're happy to support requests for reasonable adjustments and improve your recruitment experience. If you'd like any reasonable adjustments made to our recruitment process, let us know within your application or contact [email removed].