Governance & Reporting Manager (Portfolio Management Office) - Legal Aid Agency (Ref: 19058)

Job Title & Grade: Governance & Reporting Manager (Portfolio Management Office), SEO

Contract Type: Permanent

Salary range (depending on location):

National - 42,914 - 46,182

London - 49,325 - 53,081

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 areresponsible 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 Governance & Reporting Manager (Portfolio Management Office) defines, establishes and maintains project management standards within the organisation, working in collaboration with stakeholders to create sustainable practices which add value to the portfolio. This includes implementing and sharing best practices, and developing and applying project procedures, tools, and techniques to standardise methodologies. They provide expert guidance, support, and insight on projects, acting as the source of all project information and metrics.

Key Responsibilities:

These may be further shaped and adjusted dependent on business needs and team resources / skills.

• Delivery & Leadership Lead the PMO to support the project in the delivery of Business Case benefits and outcomes.
• Resources Manage the PMO team and support the Project Manager in the identification, recruitment, development, deployment and reassignment of resources throughout the project lifecycle.
• Stakeholder Management Advise the project team on appropriate tools and techniques for managing stakeholder relationships. Provide assurance to the project manager on the effectiveness of stakeholder management arrangements.
• Risks & Issues Establish the processes and standards for managing risks and issues. Provide assurance to stakeholders on the effectiveness of Risk and Issue management arrangements.
• Governance & Assurance Ensure appropriate governance is in place and arrange external reviews e.g. Gateway Reviews at appropriate points in the project lifecycle. Monitor the effectiveness of controls and ensure that recommendations from external reviews are acted upon.
• Change Management Establish and implement protocols to change the scope of projects and/or programmes and update configuration documents as required.
• Project Performance & Controls Establish and operate project controls on behalf of the project manager, reporting on project progress and status to appropriate bodies.
• Guidance & Support Identify, develop and share best practice project management processes, tools and templates. Provides direction and guidance to the project team.
• Business Case Support the Project Manager in the development of Business Case with input from specialists as necessary.
• Line Management There will be line management of Project Delivery Professional(s) within the Professional Delivery Group as part of this role, including the management of direct reports HR and well-being, development with a focus on coaching and mentoring, ensuring quality and standards of PPM are upheld.

Essential Knowledge, Experience and skills

• Governance framework ownership and operation - Demonstrable experience establishing and maintaining governance structures, cycles and artefacts (outputs/documents) across a complex portfolio.
• Board and assurance coordination - Ability to lead end-to-end coordination of commissions, board packs and governance forums, ensuring quality, timeliness and adherence to standards.
• Quality assurance of reporting and data integrity - Proven ability to assure reporting inputs, ensuring consistency, traceability and alignment across multiple stakeholders and functions.
• Stakeholder management and cross-functional integration - Strong experience building effective relationships across delivery, digital and policy to enable governance, assurance and decision-making.

Desirable Knowledge, Experience and skills

• Continuous improvement of PMO processes and tools - Experience designing and embedding improvements to governance processes, templates, tools and information management practices.
• Audit and recommendations tracking - Experience supporting assurance reviews and systematically tracking and embedding recommendations to improve delivery maturity.
• Forward planning and governance scheduling capability - Experience maintaining governance forward looks, aligning cycles and ensuring timely flow of decisions across multiple boards and forums.

Assessment approach

Application Process

To apply please provide a statement of suitability showing how you meet the essential criteria in no more than 1000 words.

Your statement should demonstrate your ability to do all the essential criteria listed. Using examples can help strengthen your application.

Please note we do not require a CV.

Please note that we only require a Statement of Suitability for your application. The wording on this advert may suggest that an Experience question is also required, however this is not necessary.

Interview / assessment Process

If you are successful through the application stage, you will be invited to an interview / assessment centre in person or via Microsoft Teams where you will be assessed against the following:

Strengths relevant to the role and the following Behaviours:

• Working Together
• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a quality Service
• Changing and Improving

Your Experience of implementing, promoting, or understanding diversity and inclusion policy - Diversity is the presence of difference, this can include one or more of the protected characteristics (Gender, Age, Race, Disability etc.) or it can be about working patterns, whether we like to jump into a task or reflect on it before acting. Inclusion is how we welcome, value, and celebrate diversity, giving everyone a voice, tapping into ideas, and enabling everyone to be themselves at work and achieve their potential.