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82836 - Panel Chair Support Officer

Job details
Posting date: 16 April 2024
Salary: £23,735 to £32,259 per year
Additional salary information: The national salary range is £23,735 - £27,973, London salary range is £25,081 - £32,259. Your salary will be dependent on your base location
Hours: Full time
Closing date: 16 May 2024
Location: UK
Remote working: Hybrid - work remotely up to 2 days per week
Company: Ministry of Justice
Job type: Contract
Job reference: 82836

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Summary

JOB DESCRIPTION:

EOI – Panel Chair Support Team & Hearing Support EO

About the Parole Board:

The Parole Board is an independent court-like body that carries out risk assessments on prisoners to determine whether they can be safely released into the community. It does that with great care and public safety is our number one priority. All Parole Board decisions are solely focused on whether a prisoner would represent a significant risk to the public after release. Not all decisions that Members make are popular, but they make these decisions fairly and objectively.

The Parole Board is made up of approximately 170 secretariat staff based in our London Head Office. There are approximately 320 Members who attend hearings across England and Wales.

The Parole Board is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Ministry of Justice. Staff who work for the Parole Board Secretariat are Public Servants, not Civil Servants.

About the role:

An exciting opportunity has arisen in the Operations team to work directly with Panel Chair members who have a high workload. The role is to support high sitting Chairs throughout with management of their reviews and to relieve them from some of the administration work. You will assist with all aspects of case management and administration and oral hearings. You won’t have a case load to manage in the usual way. You will provide administrative support to the member(s) on a 1-2-1 basis. They will also assist Parole Board Panel Chairs to ensure that where a video oral hearing has been directed, the hearing is ably supported and any issues are dealt with promptly.
The post holders will assist with improving the processes to maintain the efficiency and effectiveness of the Parole Board’s Chair relationships. You will be responsible for the day-to-day management of cases ensuring that all necessary steps are taken to ensure directions are complied with in a timely manner, all witnesses are in attendance at the Oral Hearings and take any additional actions to prevent hearings being adjourned or deferred.

Person specification:

The post-holder will need to be very organised and motivated and be able to work under pressure. You will be required to manage the facilitation of remote video hearings. Video hearings are held in a CVP (Cloud Video Platform). This differs from a video link in that no endpoint is required so all parties who have a camera-enabled device (laptop/tablet/smart phone) can connect fully remotely from any location, including their office or their own home.

You will apply judgement and discretion as appropriate and will develop a good working relationship with the member(s) that you are assigned. You will oversee the members caseload ensuring that all deadlines are met or appropriately escalated and will deal with sensitive material in line with laid-down guidance. You will have excellent typing, communication and organisational skills.

Main Duties:

• Provide a dedicated support who will oversee their listed cases and adjournments – case management would stay with the OH teams.
• To complete checks on listed cases at 8 weeks.
• To complete checks on listed cases before the hearing. Contacting the case manager if there are any issues.
• Work closely with case managers and other stakeholders to ensure successful progression of reviews.
• Diary management – including rescheduling adjournment OH’s.
• To monitor team inboxes and Inbox/E-mail Management of the Panel Chair(s) – panel chair to deal with the stuff they need to – push back to case managers if required.
• Delegated Authority – so the panel chair is making decisions on the matters that they need to.
• Population of Templates – with factual information – will need to be checked by the panel chairs.
• Sending adjournment notices on behalf of the Panel Chairs who are not going to submit the decision within 14 days.
• To ensure that all directed material is provided on time and the Panel Chair(s) decisions are issued or escalated in good time.
• To assist with emergencies arising from video hearings. For example, logistical and technical issues with attendance.
• Connection tests when required with hospitals for mental health cases.
• Record hearings to be arranged on a centralised spreadsheet;
• Update and monitor the Parole Board’s case management system (witness contact details for day and room numbers and guest pin);
• To develop and maintain relationships with this Chair and other panel members.
• To be available to the Chair during working hours.
• Send connection details to witnesses and the legal rep;
• You may be required to manage your Panel Chair(s) oral hearing cases.
• Set up any emergency remote video hearings, should they be directed at last minute;
• Streaming to victims during oral hearings
• Arrange hybrid hearings for cases when required.
• Ad hoc duties as directed by the team leader, where necessary. 

Experience required for the post:

• Excellent organisational skills
• Excellent communicator
• Demonstrable relationship building
• Effective oral and written communication skills
• Case management experience of meeting deadlines
• Ability to adapt and embrace change
• Excellent IT skills and experience in using programmes including Microsoft Teams, Excell and Outlook,
• Ability to work well across several different teams and build supportive relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Ability to work under pressure.
• Ability to tackle problems, offer solutions both solely and working with others.
• Ability to think ahead to anticipate and identify any risks or potential issues before they occur.
• You will be expected to work with the listings team to ensure that we utilise the availability of the panel chairs effectively to avoid diary clashes.
• Experience of handling sensitive information would be an advantage but is not essential.

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