Policy Advisor – Weddings & Marriage in the Civil, Family, Tribunals and Administration of Justice Directorate

This vacancy is only available to existing Civil Servant employees and employees of accredited non\-departmental public bodies (NDPBs). Please review the "Eligibility" section before you apply.

General Information

Salary
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
Working Pattern
Full Time, Part Time, Part Time/Job Share, Flexible Working
Vacancy Approach
Cross Government
Location
Leeds, London
Region
London, Yorkshire and the Humber
Closing Date
12\-Jun\-2026
Post Type
Permanent
Civil Service Grade
HEO
Number of jobs available
1
Reserve List
12 Months
Job ID
18124

Descriptions \& requirements

Job description
Policy Advisor – Weddings \& Marriage

HEO

Civil, Family, Tribunals and Administration of Justice Directorate

The Civil, Family, Tribunals and Administration of Justice Directorate is recruiting permanently for an HEO Policy Advisor – Weddings \& Marriage. This campaign is open to current civil servants on level transfer and suitable candidates on promotion.

Location:

Successful candidates will have the option to be based at one of the following locations:

• 102 Petty France, London


• 5 Wellington Place, Leeds

Occasional travel between the two locations may be required. We offer a hybrid working model, allowing for a balance between remote work and time spent in your base location (102 Petty France or 5 Wellington Place Leeds).

Ways of Working

At the MoJ we believe and promote alternative ways of working, these roles are available as:

• Full\-time, part\-time or the option to job share


• Flexible working patterns

If we receive applications from more suitable candidates than we have vacancies for at this time, we may hold suitable applicants on a reserve list for 12 months, and future vacancies requiring the same skills and experience could be offered to candidates on the reserve list without a new competition.

*We welcome and encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce and pride ourselves as being an employer of choice. To find out more about how we champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace, visit:* https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry\-of\-justice/about/equality\-and\-diversity

Salary

Existing Civil Servants will have their salary calculated in accordance with the Department’s pay on transfer / pay on promotion rules. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ)

MoJ is the largest government department, employing over 90,000 people with a budget of approximately £10 billion. Each year, millions of people use our services across the UK \- including at 500 courts and tribunals, and 133 prisons in England and Wales.

Further information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry\-of\-justice

The Work of The Family Justice Policy Unit

Civil, Family, Tribunals and Administration of Justice Directorate

The directorate is a high\-profile, friendly and supportive team, responsible for policy for Civil, Family and Tribunals justice systems. Our work is varied, interesting and most importantly, impactful. Our purpose is to ensure justice is delivered swiftly and effectively so that people are treated fairly and have confidence in the justice system. We work ly with Ministers and senior officials to make sure that the Government continues to make progress on its priorities, as well as engaging with stakeholders across the justice system, at both a local and national level.

Family Justice Policy Unit

The unit is responsible for the policy and legal framework for family private law to resolve disputes within families (e.g., divorce and child arrangements) and family public law (w the state, usually a local authority, intervenes to protect a child at risk of significant harm). Policy professionals in the unit help to provide a more effective, transparent and responsive family justice system for the public.

We are a friendly, supportive, and dedicated team, w flexible working is encouraged (including job sharing).

Policy Advisor – Weddings \& Marriage \- the role

The Government has announced a major programme of social reform, requiring a full public consultation in early 2026, followed by legislation when Parliamentary time allows. This role sits within the team working on the delivery of the following reform:

• Weddings and marriage law – reforming marriage law to give couples more choice in how they marry, simplify processes, and reduce costs, while protecting the dignity and integrity of marriage.

This fast\-paced policy role offers an opportunity to work on some of the Ministry of Justice’s most high\-profile and sensitive family justice reforms. We expect pre\-legislative scrutiny in the second Session, meaning the role is likely to involve working on primary legislation \- a rare and challenging experience.

This work will modernise marriage law to better reflect the realities of modern society, affecting a significant proportion of the population. Over 200,000 weddings take place each year, and the reforms are expected to support economic growth of over £500 million over ten years, alongside the creation of thousands of jobs.

The post\-holder will engage across government, particularly with the Home Office and MHCLG, to address overlapping issues such as forced and sham marriages. They will also work with registry services, religious groups, and frontline practitioners to understand operational realities and improve effectiveness.

Skills and Experience

Essential:

• Ability to build strong relationships and interact confidently, c building trust with stakeholders both across, and external to, government.


• Familiarity with working in a policy environment, with an understanding of how to progress proposals through government processes.


• Strong written and oral briefing skills.


• Strong organisational skills and be capable of managing a high volume of work at pace.

Desirable:

• Experience of working on primary or secondary legislation.

Candidates applying from HMPPS should note that the Ministry of Justice does not have the same conditions of employment as HMPPS. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the terms and conditions they will adopt should they be successful.

*The MoJ is proud to be Level 3 Disability Confident. Disability Confident is the approach through which we offer guaranteed interviews for all people with disabilities meeting the minimum criteria for the advertised role as set out in the job description.*

Application process

You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework.

You must ensure that any evidence submitted as part of your application, including your CV, statement of suitability and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note that plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

Experience

You will be asked to provide a CV during the application process to assess any demonstrable experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the role.

You will also be asked to upload a Statement of Suitability of no more than 500 words stating what you would bring to the role, with reference to the Skills and Experience listed above.

Successful applicants will then be invited to an interview, testing both behaviours and strengths.

Candidates invited to Interview

Please note that interviews will be carried out remotely.

You will be assessed against the following behaviours at the interview stage w you will be asked to provide examples of how you have demonstrated them. In addition, you will also be asked strength\-based questions.

Behaviours:

• Delivering at Pace


• Communicating and Influencing

Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade:

CS Behaviours 2018

It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain:

• WHO \- What it was? How you approached the work/situation? What the Outcomes were, what did you achieve? *Or*


• STAR \- What was the Situation? What were the Tasks? What Action did you take? What were the Results of your actions?

Strengths:

It is difficult to prepare for strength type questions. However, you can think through your answers, focus on your achievements and aspects you enjoy and decide how these can be applied in the organisation and role. While strengths questions are shorter and we do not expect a full STAR response, the panel is interested in your first reaction to the question and information or reasoning to support this. Further information on Civil Service Strengths can be found .

Interviews are expected to take place July 2026\.

Contact information

Please do get in touch if you would like to know more about the role or what it is like working in our team. For more information, please contact Chris Palmwalker (chris.palmwalker@justice.gov.uk).

Annex A \- The STAR method

Using the STAR method can help you give examples of relevant experience that you have. It allows you to set the scene, show what you did, and how you did it, and explain the overall outcome.

Situation \- Describe the situation you found yourself in. You must describe a specific event or situation. Be sure to give enough detail for the job holder to understand.

W* are you?

Who was t* with you?

• What had happened?

Task \- The job holder will want to understand what you tried to achieve from the situation you found yourself in.

• What was the task that you had to complete and why?


• What did you have to achieve?

Actions \- What did you do? The job holder will be looking for information on what

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