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Contents
Location
Birmingham, Brighton and Hove, Bristol, Cambridge, Canterbury, Cardiff, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Eastleigh, Exeter, Guildford, Hull, Ipswich, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Mold, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northampton, Norwich, Nottingham, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading, Sheffield, St Albans, Stoke-on-Trent, Swansea, Swindon, Truro. *Please note for Wessex – Offices are based in Eastleigh, Portsmouth or Swindon and deployment will be to all courts in Dorset, Wiltshire and Hampshire/Isle of Wight*
About The Job
Job summary
As a crown prosecutor you’re based in the magistrates’ court, working with prosecution teams to review and present evidence in cases ranging from common assault to drugs offences.
The crown prosecutor position is our entry level lawyer role, it is ideal if you’re a newly qualified lawyer or have no criminal law experience. You gain a wealth of exposure in the criminal court, further developing your legal knowledge and career progression.
Initially you work on more straightforward cases but should progress quickly to dealing with more serious casework. On completion of your crown prosecutor training, you’re able to advise police and other investigators (except statutory pre-charge advice), undertake advocacy, review and undertake case preparation in summary and either-way matters heard in the magistrates’ court.
You attend court in person for most of your working week, representing the Crown Prosecution Service on the frontline, collaborating closely with colleagues and other criminal justice agencies, including the police and judiciary. You play a vital role in maintaining public confidence in our work.
You benefit from a structured induction, four-month training plan and opportunities to shadow colleagues across the organisation. Once you gain further experience, you have options to progress into senior crown prosecutor, crown advocate and legal manager roles.
Find out what our crown prosecutors say about working at the Crown Prosecution Service by visiting cps.gov.uk/careers/prosecutor.
Job Description
Your roles and responsibilities:
* To prepare and present cases for prosecution in the magistrates’ court
* To advise police and other investigators on casework in a wide range of summary-only and some either-way offences
* To decide, based on evidence, whether prosecutions should proceed or be discontinued in matters heard in the magistrates’ court
* To explain our decisions clearly to stakeholders including magistrates, counsel, victims, witnesses and the police
* To work effectively as part of a multiskilled team
A more detailed job description document is attached to this advert.
Person specification
* You must be a qualified lawyer
* You must demonstrate your commitment to public service, making a difference to the communities we serve and our Crown Prosecution Service values
* You’re focused on personal development and career progression
Qualifications
Legally qualified: You must be a qualified solicitor or barrister able to obtain a valid Practising Certificate for England and Wales.
Academic: You must have a law degree, Common Professional Examination and/or Graduate Diploma in Law.
Professional: You must have completed a Legal Practice Course, Solicitors Qualifying Exam or Bar Professional Training Course and the relevant pupillage and training contract – or have received full exemption from the relevant professional regulatory body, either the Solicitors Regulation Authority or the Bar Standards Board.
or
CILEx: You must be a Fellow of CILEx and a CILEx Advocate/Litigator holding all three advocacy certificates providing you with a ‘general qualification’ within the meaning of s.71 (3) (c) Courts and Legal Services Act 1990. You must have a right of audience in relation to any class of proceedings in any part of the Senior Courts, or all proceedings in county courts or magistrates' courts in order to meet the requirements for a Crown Prosecutor specified by section 1 Prosecution of Offences Act 1985. If you don’t hold this CILEx qualification, you’re not eligible to apply for this vacancy. If you’re unsure whether you have qualified through CILEx, contact us to establish your eligibility for this role.
If you apply and are found not to possess any of the above, any offer of employment will be withdrawn, or contract terminated.
Equivalent qualifications won’t be accepted. If you’re unsure about your eligibility please contact NationalLawyerRecruitment@cps.gov.uk
You must be a fully qualified solicitor or barrister by 30 June 2025. If successful, we must receive your practising certificate as soon as possible. We will not be able to progress pre-employment checks until the practising certificate has been received, and a deadline for this may be set in line with business need. If you’re able to meet these requirements by this date, you’re eligible to apply.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
* Making Effective Decisions
* Communicating and Influencing
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
* You must have a Law Degree or Common Professional Examination/Graduate Diploma in Law
* You must have completed a Legal Practice Course, Solicitors Qualifying Exam or Bar Vocational Course/Bar Professional Training Course You must have completed the relevant pupillage / training contract
* You must be a qualified Barrister or Solicitor
* You must demonstrate motivation
* You must demonstrate the appropriate level of legal Intellect
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £42,320, Crown Prosecution Service contributes £12,260 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
Join the Crown Prosecution Service and find your purpose
We want to ensure our employees can thrive at work and home and offer a range of support to achieve a balance. This includes flexibility of working hours, flexibility to support caring responsibilities and a flexible approach to deployment. While the Crown Prosecution Service operates a hybrid working policy, some roles - including the crown prosecutor role - must attend court for the full working week to carry out their role and responsibilities.
Delivering justice is a complex pursuit with work that is sometimes emotionally challenging, which is why we offer a range of benefits including:
* a Civil Service contributory pension of up to 28.9%
* 25 days’ leave, increasing to 30 days after 5 years
* lawyer training programme
* an extra privilege day to mark the King's birthday
* competitive maternity, paternity and parental leave
* flexible working and a family-friendly approach to work
* a Cycle2Work scheme, employee savings
* a range of learning and development activities, an individual learning account, and central and local development opportunities
Pay at the Crown Prosecution Service varies depending on your location.
Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Carlisle, Chippenham, Exeter, Hull, Ipswich, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, Manchester, Middlesbrough, Mold, Newcastle, Northampton, Norwich, Nottingham, Preston, Sheffield, Stoke on Trent, Swansea, Swindon, Truro: £42,320 (starting pay), £46,780 (maximum pay)
Brighton, Canterbury, Chelmsford, Eastleigh, Guildford, Portsmouth, Reading: £44,570 (starting pay), £49,030 (maximum pay)
St Albans: £44,570 + £1,050 (starting pay), £49,030 (maximum pay)
London: £44,570 + £3,150 (starting pay), £49,030 (maximum pay)
You should expect to join on the starting pay unless you are joining on a level transfer from another government department.
Crown Prosecutors
Crown prosecutors are court-based positions only. Successful candidates are required to attend court daily, to carry out their role. The Crown Prosecution Service is a disability confident employer so is committed to make reasonable adjustments which enables daily attendance at court.
We encourage you to consider if the commute from home to the office/court is a feasible distance to travel before making an application. If you are successful, hybrid working will be discussed prior to taking up the post.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.
Application
CV
Submit your CV through Civil Service Jobs by 11.55pm on Monday 2 June 2025. This should include:
* three years' employment and academic history
* skills and experience
* achievements
* qualifications
Your CV will not be marked, however it will be used for eligibility requirements and provides the panel with an insight into your work history and experience at assessment and interview. Please keep it to two A4 pages and don’t provide any personal details that could identify you such as your name, age or home address.
You need to provide the specified application information in the requested format to ensure you’re considered for the post.
If you can’t provide three years’ employment or academic history, you need a character reference for clearance purposes.
Personal data
In line with GDPR, don’t send us any information that can identify children, or any of your own sensitive personal data such as racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, data concerning health or sex life and sexual orientation, genetic or biometric data in your CV and application documentation.
Assessment and interview – from Monday 16 June 2025 to Friday 27June 2025
If you meet the eligibility criteria, you’re invited to a Microsoft Teams meeting where you complete a legal assessment followed by a short interview. You are assessed and interviewed by a panel of Crown Prosecution Service colleagues to assess your suitability.
Assessed at legal assessment and interview
Motivation - assessed at interview:
We want to understand why you’re interested in the law and why you want to work for the Crown Prosecution Service. We’re looking for you to address the following three things in your application and at interview.
* A demonstrable interest in criminal prosecution and public service.
* Demonstrable knowledge and understanding of the work of the Crown Prosecution Service and our role in the wider criminal justice system.
* A strong focus on continuous learning and the ability to apply knowledge of criminal law gained from study and experience.
Ability: Legal Intellect - assessed at legal assessment:
We want to understand your legal abilities and your aptitude for criminal law. We’re looking for the following six things.
* Knowledge and understanding of the key concepts and principles of criminal law
* Reliable legal judgement and an appreciation of legal risk
* Able to think strategically and creatively, see legal issues in their wider context and advise accordingly
* Sound analysis, using secure legal research to produce timely and fit-for-purpose advice
* Fluent oral and written advocacy skills
* Demonstrable knowledge and an understanding of the work of the Crown Prosecution Service and our role in the wider criminal justice system
Behaviours - we use behaviours to help us understand your experience, to help you do a great job in this role. Crown prosecutor candidates are assessed against level 3 in the Civil Service success profiles behaviours framework. We are assessing two behaviours.
* Making effective decisions (lead behaviour) - assessment and interview
* Communicating and influencing - assessment
Please be aware - you are responsible for booking your own interview and assessment slot through Civil Service Jobs. Once you’ve selected your preferred time slot, we send you a Microsoft Teams link.
These dates may be subject to change and it’s not always possible to offer alternative dates.
Diversity at the Crown Prosecution Service is about inclusion, embracing differences and ensuring our workforce truly reflects the communities we serve. We want you to feel that you belong and can thrive, whatever your background, identity or culture. As a Disability Confident employer, we're happy to support requests for reasonable adjustments and improve your recruitment experience. If you'd like any reasonable adjustments made to our recruitment process, let us know within your application or contact nationallawyerrecruitment@cps.gov.uk
Crown Prosecution Service values
You must demonstrate Crown Prosecution Service values throughout the process. These can be found on our website.
Making offers - from Monday 30 June
You can choose three office location preferences from the list provided. If you’re successful, we aim to offer one of your choices in the first instance. Whilst every effort is made to accommodate your location preferences, the Crown Prosecution Service is a national organisation with differences in operational recovery, vacancy levels and caseloads around the country – which means you may be offered a role in another Crown Prosecution Service area outside your stated preference.
If you’re invited to interview, you are assessed and interviewed by an appropriate panel and offers are made in merit order.
Please note that the lead behaviour at interview stage is making effective decisions. We may use this to determine merit order where candidates have the same overall score.
If you are successful and already work for the Crown Prosecution Service, we will request a reference from your line manager following your offer.
Other
This is a full-time post. However, requests for flexible, part-time working and job share are considered – bearing in mind the operational needs of the business.
The Crown Prosecution Service is based in England and Wales. If you’re applying for this role and live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you must let us know when accepting this offer as you need permission to work from your home address if hybrid working is part of your role. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee of granting this approval.
The job you are applying for is covered by Article 3(a) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975, consequently Section 4(2) of that Act does not apply. For the reasons outlined you are required to disclose all previous convictions and cautions, including spent convictions. Failure to make a full declaration results in the withdrawal of an offer of employment if our checks reveal convictions that have not been disclosed.
Reserve list
If all the posts are filled for your preferred locations, you’re put on a reserve list. You may be approached about an opportunity at a location outside your initial preference. Offers are always made in merit order.
The reserve list expires 12 months after the interviews take place and positions for your first preference can’t be guaranteed.
Timeline
Dates advertised are subject to change and it may not be possible to accommodate alternative requests for interviews and assessment.
Meet and engage sessions
We’re holding an online question and answer session whilst the vacancy is live. This is your chance to ask any questions about the role or the recruitment process. You can register for this now.
* Thursday 15 May 2025 - 1pm - 1.45pm - https://meetandengage.com/ama5bxxme
* Thursday 22 May 2025 - 1pm - 1.45pm - https://meetandengage.com/ama5c1r9f
Fraud check
The Crown Prosecution Service provides a Fair Processing Notice to all new applicants after they’ve been successful at interview. These candidates are informed that, as one aspect of pre-employment screening, their personal details – name, National Insurance number and date of birth – are checked against the Internal Fraud Database. Anyone included on the database is refused employment unless they can demonstrate exceptional circumstances.
The Crown Prosecution Service, on behalf of the vacancy holder, informs applicants when they are refused employment because they’re included in the Internal Fraud Database.
Civil Service Commission
If you’re dissatisfied with the recruitment process and wish to make a complaint, please contact strategic.resourcing@cps.gov.uk with your concerns.
If you remain dissatisfied and wish to make a further complaint, you can do that through the Civil Service Commission complaints page.
Here are our Civil Service Commission recruitment principles.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
* UK nationals
* nationals of the Republic of Ireland
* nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
* nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
* nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
* individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
* Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
Apply and further information
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
* Name : National Lawyer Recruitment Team
* Email : NationalLawyerRecruitment@cps.gov.uk
Recruitment team
* Email : strategic.resourcing@cps.gov.uk
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