Crown Prosecutor

Job summary

As a Crown Prosecutor you’re based in the magistrates’ court, working with prosecution teams to review and present evidence in cases ranging from common assault to drugs offences.

The Crown Prosecutor position is our entry level lawyer role. It is ideal if you’re a newly qualified lawyer or have no criminal law experience. You gain a wealth of exposure in the criminal court, further developing your legal knowledge and career progression.

Initially you work on more straightforward cases but should progress quickly to dealing with more serious casework. On completion of your Crown Prosecutor training, you’re able to advise police and other investigators (except statutory pre-charge advice), undertake advocacy, review and undertake case preparation in summary and either-way matters heard in the magistrates’ court.

As a Crown Prosecutor, your role involves advocacy in the magistrates’ court, where you spend most of your time. You work with stakeholders including the police, court staff and defence solicitors. You support victims and witnesses attending court to give evidence in contested matters.

You benefit from a structured induction, four-month training plan and opportunities to shadow colleagues across the organisation. Once you gain further experience, you have options to progress into senior crown prosecutor, crown advocate and legal manager roles.

Find out what our Crown Prosecutors say about working at the Crown Prosecution Service by visiting cps.gov.uk/careers/prosecutor.

Job description

Your roles and responsibilities:

• You prepare and present cases for prosecution in the magistrates’ court

• You advise police and other investigators on casework in a wide range of summary-only and some either-way offences

• You decide, based on evidence, whether prosecutions should proceed or be discontinued in matters heard in the magistrates’ court

• You explain our decisions clearly to stakeholders including magistrates, counsel, victims, witnesses and the police

• You work effectively as part of a multiskilled team

A more detailed job description document is attached to this advert.

Person specification

• You must be a qualified lawyer
• You must demonstrate your commitment to public service, making a difference to the communities we serve and our Crown Prosecution Service values
• You’re focused on personal development and career progression

Qualifications

•You must be a qualified Solicitor or Barrister in England and Wales
•You must hold, or be able to obtain, a current practising certificate for England and Wales prior to appointment
•You must be entitled to practise and meet all relevant professional regulatory requirements
Pre-employment checks
You will need to provide evidence of your professional qualification and current practising status as part of pre-employment checks
This will include verification of your practising certificate, relevant qualification route, confirmation of your good standing with your regulator

OR

CILEx: You must be a Fellow of CILEx, and in addition be a CILEx Advocate/Litigator holding all three advocacy certificates providing them with a ‘general qualification’ within the meaning of s71 (3) (c) Courts and Legal Services Act 1990. You must have a right of audience in relation to any class of proceedings in any part of the Senior Courts, or all proceedings in County Court or magistrates' courts to meet the requirements for a Crown Prosecutor specified by section 1 Prosecution of Offences Act 1985.

Our job adverts reflect the currently accepted qualifications for CPS roles. Our job adverts will be updated if these requirements change.

If you’re unsure about your eligibility, contact [email removed]

Please contact us by email as soon as possible if your practising certificate has any restrictions or special arrangements.

Behaviours

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

Technical skills

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

• You must have completed a Legal Practice Course, Solicitors Qualifying Exam or Bar Vocational Course/Bar Professional Training Course. You must have completed the relevant pupillage or training contract.
• You must be a qualified barrister or solicitor.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £44,520, Crown Prosecution Service contributes £12,897 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

We want to ensure our employees can thrive at work and home and offer a range of support to achieve a balance. This includes flexibility of working hours, flexibility to support caring responsibilities and a flexible approach to deployment. While the Crown Prosecution Service operates a hybrid working policy, some roles - including the crown prosecutor role - must attend court for the full working week to carry out their role and responsibilities.

Delivering justice is a complex pursuit with work that is sometimes emotionally challenging, which is why we offer a range of benefits including:

• a Civil Service contributory pension of up to 28.9%
• 25 days’ leave, increasing to 30 days after 5 years
• lawyer training programme
• an extra privilege day to mark the King's birthday
• competitive maternity, paternity and parental leave
• flexible working and a family-friendly approach to work
• a Cycle2Work scheme, employee savings
• a range of learning and development activities, an individual learning account, and central and local development opportunities

Pay at the Crown Prosecution Service varies depending on your location.

Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Chippenham, Exeter, Hull, Ipswich, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Middlesbrough, Mold, Newcastle, Northampton, Norwich, Nottingham, Sheffield, Stoke on Trent, Swansea, Swindon, Truro: £44,520 (starting pay), £47,720 (maximum pay)

Brighton, Canterbury, Chelmsford, Eastleigh, Guildford, Portsmouth, Reading: £46,800 (starting pay), £50,000 (maximum pay)

St Albans: £46,800 + £1,050 RRA (starting pay), £50,000 + £1050 RRA (maximum pay)

London: £46,800 + £3,150 RRA (starting pay), £50,000 + £3,150 (maximum pay)

You should expect to join on the starting pay unless you are joining on a level transfer from another government department.

The Crown Prosecution Service has fixed rates (as opposed to a pay range) for its Crown Prosecutor grade – the developing rate (the starting salary) and the spot rate (the rate for the job). You typically join on the developing rate and will move to the spot rate after successfully completing a 12-month structured development programme, along with confirmation by your line manager that you’ve demonstrated the required level of competence for the role.

Crown Prosecutors court attendance

Crown Prosecutor positions are court-based only. You are required to attend court daily, to carry out your role. The Crown Prosecution Service is a Disability Confident employer and we are committed to making reasonable adjustments to enable daily attendance at court.

We encourage you to consider if the comm