Background

The Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales is a powerful and independent voice for victims. Their office is dedicated to improving how the criminal justice system works for all victims and witnesses.

The role of the Victims’ Commissioner is to:

• Raise awareness of the common issues faced by victims and witnesses
• Monitor how criminal justice agencies and victim support agencies comply with the Victims’ Code and Witness Charter
• Use their independent voice to influence national policymaking and holder partner agencies to account
• Speak up about what works best for victims and witnesses, and especially the most vulnerable.

The key purpose of this role will be to enable the Victims’ Commissioner to fulfil their statutory responsibilities in terms of understanding and representing the interests of victims and witnesses with a view to improving the victim experience of the criminal justice system.

Introduction and job summary

The Office of the Victims’ Commissioner is seeking a conscientious and compassionate individual with excellent communication skills to fill a key existing role within a small and busy team.

The Correspondence Manager assists the Victims Commissioner in all correspondence and communications from victims and witnesses of crime who want to share their experience of the criminal justice system. As Correspondence Manager, you will engage with victims of crime on behalf of the Victims’ Commissioner. Your duties will include managing victim correspondence to the Commissioner, briefing the Victims’ Commissioner on issues raised by victims, and drafting responses based on input and advice sourced from relevant team members.

The successful candidate will be an effective communicator, able to write plainly and clearly and be understood by all. Your main task will be to provide clear and constructive guidance and information to victims. You will be required to demonstrate an understanding for their situation, convey compassion for their predicament, offer guidance where appropriate and signpost further resources for them to access. You will analyse the issues presented to you, explore from a limited range of available options and solutions, and suggest and propose an appropriate course of action to be agreed with your line manager.

The Correspondence Manager will also provide briefings to the Victims’ Commissioner and Head of Communications on select victim issues raised in victim correspondence and provide support to the Commissioner in any meetings that may take place with victims (either in person or remotely).

You will work independently and with limited supervision, assessing and prioritising your own workloads and making adjustments as appropriate to accommodate urgent work items. You will be supported by your line manager in handling the more complex cases and will need to demonstrate resilience in the face of sometimes distressing subject material and work to established timelines.

You will contribute to the overall effectiveness of the organisation by making sure correspondence workflows and the systems that underpin these are operated efficiently, effectively, and securely, including by managing correspondence and drafting responses in a timely manner and flagging and escalating emerging issues to your line manager as appropriate. You will be expected to make suggestions about ways of improving working methods, systems and processes.

This is a challenging and rewarding role. Your work will contribute to real change on the ground for victims, and you will help build up a portfolio of compelling case studies to underpin key policy and communications work. In return, you can expect a supportive and engaging work environment, working with a small and friendly team and a strong focus on wellbeing and personal development.

Responsibilities / duties

• Manage all victim and victim-related correspondence sent to the Victims’ Commissioner’s office, ensuring responses are sent as required.
• Compose draft responses to victims, consulting with relevant policy and communications leads as appropriate, and adapting style and content to suit different audiences.
• Provide advice and information to victims, analysing the issues raised in their correspondence, exploring available options and suggesting a course of action and signposting resources.
• Take responsibility for the Victims’ Commissioner’s meetings (in person or remotely) with victims of crime, including diarising, commissioning and providing appropriate briefings, accompanying and supporting the Victims’ Commissioner, and managing any follow-ups from that meeting.
• Manage the victims’ correspondence log, maintaining accurate records and filing and ensuring all correspondence is responded to in a timely manner.
• Manage MPs’ letters on behalf of their constituents and prepare drafts for the Victims’ Commissioner’s signature within an 8-day timeline.
• On behalf of the CEO, manage the FOI log for freedom of information requests, ensuring reminders are sent for timely completion and offer advice where necessary on a response.
• Provide regular analysis report of victim correspondence themes and volumes to feed into research and policy priorities and present to the team when required.
• Work with the Head of Communications to develop a log of potential case studies for use in media and external communications.
• Working in partnership with the Diary Manager, oversee correspondence to the functional mailbox and direct incoming communications to other team members as appropriate.
• Any other responsibilities that are reasonably necessary for the effective running of the office.

Required skills, knowledge and abilities

Essential criteria

• Excellent communication skills, able to communicate clearly and effectively verbally and in writing to diverse audiences.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and an ability to build relationships with many different people.
• Well-organised and able to prioritise competing demands to ensure tasks are completed on time and to the highest quality.
• A keen eye for detail, able to work autonomously and deliver results under pressure.
• Computer literacy, particularly in Microsoft Office.

Desirable criteria

• A background in the criminal justice system.
• Experience working on victims’ issues and understanding of the victims’ policy.
• A background in handling data and maintaining databases.
• Experience of analysing datasets and identifying and reporting on themes and issues.
• Experience of presenting ideas and demonstrating thinking to senior stakeholders.

Civil Service Success Profiles and Behaviours

You will be tested against the Success Profiles and Behaviours used across the Civil Service and its agencies at application and/or at interview stage.

This will include:

Communicating and influencing – Communicate purpose and direction with clarity, integrity and enthusiasm. Respect the needs, responses and opinions of others.

Making Effective Decisions – Use evidence and knowledge to support accurate, expert decisions and advice. Carefully consider options, implications and risks of decisions.

Managing a Quality Service – Deliver service objectives with professional excellence, expertise and efficiency, taking account of diverse customer needs.