20474 - Senior Policy Advisor, Deaths in Detention Secretariat


Company:	Ministry of Justice
Salary:	£42,914 - £53,081
Hours:	Full-time
Location:	LONDON, SW1H 9AJ
Working pattern:	Hybrid - 3 days remote
Job type:	Permanent
Posting date:	27 Jul 2026
Closing date:	12 Aug 2026

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Summary

enior Policy Advisor, Deaths in Detention Secretariat

SEO

Prisons Directorate

The Deaths in Detention Secretariat is recruiting permanently for an SEO Senior Policy Advisor. This campaign is being run externally and so is open to all who consider themselves suitable for the roles and meet the eligibility criteria in the wider advert within Civil Service Jobs.

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

New entrants to the Civil Service will be expected to join on the minimum of the pay range.

If you are already a civil servant and are successful in an external recruitment competition for a role with us, your starting pay will be the better of:

• promotion terms or transfer terms, as appropriate; or

• pay on appointment arrangements (minimum of pay range)

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 Deaths in Detention Secretariat

This is an exciting and unusual opportunity to work across government to prevent deaths in all forms of state detention, from prisons to Mental Health Act detention, police custody and immigration detention.

The team provides the secretariat to both the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody (IAPDC) and the Ministerial Board on Deaths in Detention (MBDD). The IAPDC is a non-departmental public body which advises Ministers and officials on reducing and preventing deaths in all forms of state detention – that is, prisons and Approved Premises, immigration detention, Mental Health Act detention, and police custody. It is sponsored by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Home Office, and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). For more information about the IAPDC visit iapdeathsincustody.independent.gov.uk.

The MBDD brings together Ministers, senior officials, the IAPDC, and key stakeholders to enable learning and sharing of lessons across detention settings and to commission impactful work across detention to reduce and prevent deaths. It is advised and supported by an Expert Stakeholder Group (ESG) of charities, relevant scrutiny bodies, and other organisations and offices such as the Chief Coroner.

The MBDD meets twice a year and is co-chaired by the Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending, the Minister for Policing and Crime, and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Women's Health and Mental Health. It sets priorities for departments and agencies to make policy and operational changes to via a workplan held jointly with the IAPDC, which the Board commissions to work with co-sponsor department and detention settings to deliver impactful work to address risks and issues impacting deaths.

The Board is currently completing a process of reform, with new governance being put in place, to ensure greater impact, transitioning from the previous Ministerial Board on Deaths in Custody (and its associated Ministerial Council on Deaths in Custody), into its new form and structures.

While the IAPDC and MBDD are jointly funded and co-sponsored by MoJ, the Home Office, and DHSC, the secretariat team is hosted by MoJ and sits in the Scrutiny and Prisoner Outcomes Division with the Prisons Directorate. Further information can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice .

Senior Policy Advisor – the role

As Senior Policy Advisor, the postholder will be responsible for leading the research and policy work of the Board and the IAPDC. This is a unique role which combines providing advice to Ministers and senior officials with support for an expert advisory body that is independent of Government, working collaboratively across three departments and four detention settings – prisons, policing, immigration detention centres, and Mental Health Act detention.

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to work with leading sector experts and senior leaders to carry forward work to prevent deaths in detention. They must have excellent influencing, collaboration and networking skills, and be a high-quality researcher and drafter, capable of bringing together complex information from multiple evidence sources to reach clear conclusions.

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