19059 - Support Officer (Portfolio Management Office) - Legal Aid Agency
| Posting date: | 18 June 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £35,335 to £42,859 per year |
| Additional salary information: | The national salary range is £35,335 - £37,847 London salary range is £40,014 - £42,859. Your salary will be dependent on your base location |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 06 July 2026 |
| Location: | UK |
| Remote working: | Hybrid - work remotely up to 3 days per week |
| Company: | Ministry of Justice |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 19059 |
Summary
Job Title & Grade: Support Officer (Portfolio Management Office) HEO x2 roles
Contract Type: Permanent
Salary range (depending on location):
National - £35,335 - £37,847
London - £40,014 - £42,859
Please note that unless you are currently employed by the Civil Service and are earning more than the minimum above, if successful you will be offered the minimum for the grade depending on your location.
Location: National (any LAA office)
Please note that whilst this role is open to all Civil Servants you can only apply for London, Cambridge and Brighton offices if you are a current LAA staff member based in those offices. This is due to and in line with the LAA's Location Strategy and the Cabinet Office's Places for Growth Strategy.
Minimum Working Pattern:
If you are applying for a part-time role, please note that to meet business demands we need cover for a minimum of 30 hours and to cover 3 days of the week.
To meet legal requirements, if you are between the ages 16-18 and you are a successful candidate, you will be required to complete an apprenticeship after your initial on the job training.
The Legal Aid Agency
We are an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). We are responsible for operationally administering the legal aid fund to provide criminal and civil legal aid advice to people in England and Wales.
Our people are at the heart of achieving excellence. Employing around 1,200 colleagues across England and Wales, we feel proud to have some of the best People Survey results in the Civil Service.
Transformation
Transformation are responsible for continuing to drive forward simplifying the delivery of legal aid. We want to improve the experience for the people who apply for legal aid, the providers who deliver the services and those of us in the LAA who administer the scheme, while ensuring the LAA remains a great place to work.
Transformation Team
This team is leading the transformation of our organisation through innovation, collaboration and inclusion. Originally established in May 2020, the Transformation Team has grown rapidly over the last five years. We are a hybrid team of business change and project delivery experts, and working in partnership with others is at the heart of what we do. We work together with teams across the agency, with the LAA Digital team, MoJ Project Delivery Function experts, MoJ Policy teams and wider stakeholders across the justice system and government.
The transformation portfolio spans multiple services, systems and functions, with significant impacts on:
• Front-line operational teams
• Policy design and implementation
• Digital systems and data
• External providers and partners
Job Summary
The Support Officer (Portfolio Management Office) performs a variety of activities to help achieve the project’s objectives. This role supports the Project Manager by operating project management processes and coordinating business management tasks and activities.
Key Responsibilities:
These may be further shaped and adjusted dependent on business needs and team resources / skills.
• Co-ordinate governance and secretariat activity across the portfolio, including scheduling boards, issuing commissions, circulating papers, tracking deadlines and supporting sign-off processes.
• Prepare and compile board packs and routine reporting by gathering updates and data from workstreams, checking submissions for completeness, quality and alignment to agreed formats.
• Support meetings through accurate minute-taking and by maintaining action, decision and follow-up logs
• Stakeholder Engagement – Manages professional relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders and serves as the lead contact for some external parties. Drafting of correspondence.
• Administer portfolio controls, including RAID logs, change requests, prioritisation actions and related governance records, ensuring updates are captured and escalations routed appropriately.
• Maintain governance repositories and portfolio records, ensuring effective document storage, naming conventions and version control.
• Manage PMO inboxes and enquiry routes, triaging requests, coordinating responses and providing timely guidance to delivery teams.
• Support reporting and performance monitoring by preparing clean, structured datasets, carrying out routine data quality checks and contributing to dashboards and first-line analysis.
• Maintain forward looks, milestones and governance calendars, helping ensure the portfolio is well prepared for routine assurance and audit activity.
• Promote consistent PMO (Portfolio Management Office) ways of working by supporting good information management, clear submissions and adherence to governance processes across the portfolio.
• Planning and scheduling – Implement and maintains systems for effective planning and scheduling.
• Risks and Issues Management– Manages potential risk areas, working with risk managers and escalating issues when necessary.
• Line Management – There can be line management as part of this role, including the management of direct report’s HR and well-being, development with a focus on coaching and mentoring, ensuring quality and standards of PPM are upheld.
Contract Type: Permanent
Salary range (depending on location):
National - £35,335 - £37,847
London - £40,014 - £42,859
Please note that unless you are currently employed by the Civil Service and are earning more than the minimum above, if successful you will be offered the minimum for the grade depending on your location.
Location: National (any LAA office)
Please note that whilst this role is open to all Civil Servants you can only apply for London, Cambridge and Brighton offices if you are a current LAA staff member based in those offices. This is due to and in line with the LAA's Location Strategy and the Cabinet Office's Places for Growth Strategy.
Minimum Working Pattern:
If you are applying for a part-time role, please note that to meet business demands we need cover for a minimum of 30 hours and to cover 3 days of the week.
To meet legal requirements, if you are between the ages 16-18 and you are a successful candidate, you will be required to complete an apprenticeship after your initial on the job training.
The Legal Aid Agency
We are an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). We are responsible for operationally administering the legal aid fund to provide criminal and civil legal aid advice to people in England and Wales.
Our people are at the heart of achieving excellence. Employing around 1,200 colleagues across England and Wales, we feel proud to have some of the best People Survey results in the Civil Service.
Transformation
Transformation are responsible for continuing to drive forward simplifying the delivery of legal aid. We want to improve the experience for the people who apply for legal aid, the providers who deliver the services and those of us in the LAA who administer the scheme, while ensuring the LAA remains a great place to work.
Transformation Team
This team is leading the transformation of our organisation through innovation, collaboration and inclusion. Originally established in May 2020, the Transformation Team has grown rapidly over the last five years. We are a hybrid team of business change and project delivery experts, and working in partnership with others is at the heart of what we do. We work together with teams across the agency, with the LAA Digital team, MoJ Project Delivery Function experts, MoJ Policy teams and wider stakeholders across the justice system and government.
The transformation portfolio spans multiple services, systems and functions, with significant impacts on:
• Front-line operational teams
• Policy design and implementation
• Digital systems and data
• External providers and partners
Job Summary
The Support Officer (Portfolio Management Office) performs a variety of activities to help achieve the project’s objectives. This role supports the Project Manager by operating project management processes and coordinating business management tasks and activities.
Key Responsibilities:
These may be further shaped and adjusted dependent on business needs and team resources / skills.
• Co-ordinate governance and secretariat activity across the portfolio, including scheduling boards, issuing commissions, circulating papers, tracking deadlines and supporting sign-off processes.
• Prepare and compile board packs and routine reporting by gathering updates and data from workstreams, checking submissions for completeness, quality and alignment to agreed formats.
• Support meetings through accurate minute-taking and by maintaining action, decision and follow-up logs
• Stakeholder Engagement – Manages professional relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders and serves as the lead contact for some external parties. Drafting of correspondence.
• Administer portfolio controls, including RAID logs, change requests, prioritisation actions and related governance records, ensuring updates are captured and escalations routed appropriately.
• Maintain governance repositories and portfolio records, ensuring effective document storage, naming conventions and version control.
• Manage PMO inboxes and enquiry routes, triaging requests, coordinating responses and providing timely guidance to delivery teams.
• Support reporting and performance monitoring by preparing clean, structured datasets, carrying out routine data quality checks and contributing to dashboards and first-line analysis.
• Maintain forward looks, milestones and governance calendars, helping ensure the portfolio is well prepared for routine assurance and audit activity.
• Promote consistent PMO (Portfolio Management Office) ways of working by supporting good information management, clear submissions and adherence to governance processes across the portfolio.
• Planning and scheduling – Implement and maintains systems for effective planning and scheduling.
• Risks and Issues Management– Manages potential risk areas, working with risk managers and escalating issues when necessary.
• Line Management – There can be line management as part of this role, including the management of direct report’s HR and well-being, development with a focus on coaching and mentoring, ensuring quality and standards of PPM are upheld.