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INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS

TEMPORARY PRINCIPAL PSYCHOLOGIST(Principal)

TEMPORARY SENIOR FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST (Deputy Principal)

TEMPORARY TRAINEE FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST (Staff Officer)

TEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGY ASSISTANT (Executive Officer 1)

January 2020 onwards

Pack includes:- advert; job descriptions; person specifications; guidance for candidates

The Probation Board for Northern Ireland is an Equal Opportunities Employerand welcomes applications from all sections of the community

Information for Applicants – Psychology Posts January 20201 | P a g e

PBNI – “Changing Lives for Safer Communities”

INDEX

1. Background

2. Conditions of service

3. Advert

4. Psychology Role Profile s

5. Guidance for candidates in relation to the PBNI interview and selection processes


BACKGROUND

The Probation Board for Northern Ireland (PBNI) is a Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) sponsored by the Department of Justice; its statutory responsibilities are set out in the Probation Board (NI) Order 1982.

The PBNI has almost 400 staff working across 27 sites throughout Northern Ireland.

The PBNI prepares in the region of 9000 court reports each year and at any one time supervises 4,400 offenders who are subject to court orders including probation, community service and custody probation orders. The PBNI places great importance on its relationship with the courts, its work with community partners, its contribution to public safety, and its commitment to serve all sections of the community.

The PBNI is engaged in changing the lives of offenders for safer communities. The work includes supervising offenders, delivering unpaid work through community service, preparing court reports and delivering behavioural change programmes. In addition, the PBNI works directly with the victims of crime. The fundamental goal and focus is helping create safer communities.

Further information on the work of the PBNI may be accessed through the website www.pbni.org.uk


http://www.pbni.org.uk/

CONDITIONS OF SERVICE

Salary

Temporary Principal Psychologist – Point 1 £48,829 to point 5 £53,518 [NICS for Grade 7 Principal] for full-time hours (pro-rata for part-time hours), subject to review.

Temporary Senior Forensic Psychologist - Point 1 £37,272 to point 5 £40,979 [NICS for Deputy Principal Grade] for full-time hours (pro-rata for part-time hours), subject to review.

Temporary Trainee Forensic Psychologist - Point 1 £30,526 to point 5 £32,157 [NICS for Staff Officer Grade] for full-time hours (pro-rata for part-time hours), subject to review.

Temporary Psychology Assistant - Point 1 £27,299 to point 5 £28,167 [NICS for Executive Officer 1 Grade] for full-time hours (pro-rata for part-time hours), subject to review.

Pay on appointment will be to the minimum of the pay band.

Location

Locations throughout Northern Ireland.

A list will be established of suitable candidates for Temporary Principal Psychologist, Temporary Senior Forensic Psychologist, Temporary Trainee Forensic Psychologist and Temporary Psychology Assistant posts throughout Northern Ireland. This will be valid for a 12 months’ period. This list may be used to fill temporary vacancies.

Whilst candidates will be appointed to initial base locations, as indicated above, Temporary Principal Psychologists, Temporary Senior Forensic Psychologists, Temporary Trainee Forensic Psychologists and Temporary Psychology Assistants are required to work across the full geographical areas covered by the PBNI (ie Northern Ireland), hence appointees may be moved to other offices / teams, as operationally necessary, under the Transfer and Mobility Policy (see below).

Hours of Work

Temporary Principal Psychologist / Temporary Senior Forensic Psychologist / Temporary Trainee Forensic Psychologist / Temporary Psychology Assistant: Full-time 37 hours per week (Subject to review). In general, these hours are related to a 5 day week. Occasionally there are a limited number of part-time posts available.

Please note on occasions it may be necessary for you to work unsocial hours outside of normal office hours, including at the weekend.

Staff undertaking programme delivery work will work regular unsocial hours in the delivery of evening programmes.

Transfer & Mobility Policy

In certain circumstances to meet its obligations as a public service employer, PBNI may have to direct an employee to a particular function / location under this policy. Some examples of the reasons for staff moves are:-


An increased workload in a particular location

Sickness leading to the need for temporary cover

The need to rebalance skills, experience and number of staff in posts across Northern Ireland

The need to fill vacant posts

Learning & Development

The Board is committed to the continued development of employees.

Performance, Attendance and Conduct

Any issues in relation to performance, attendance or conduct will be dealt with under the appropriate PBNI policy and procedure. The PBNI reserves the right to dismiss an employee where there are sufficient grounds to do so.

Annual Leave

The annual leave year is from 1 February to 31 January. Entitlement on appointment is 25 days, rising to 30 days after 5 years’ total service, on the basis of full-time employment (pro-rata for part-time):

Official holidays - 12 days per annum in addition to annual leave (pro rata for part time).

Pension

You are automatically enrolled into the NILGOSC pension scheme but may opt out if you wish. (Eligibility to join the NILGOSC pension scheme is restricted to those employees with a minimum of a 3 month contract.) This is contributory pension scheme which currently draws a percentage of salary from the officer as detailed below. A further contribution may be made by the Board.

From 01/04/2019

Band Pensionable pay range Contribution rate 1 Up to £14,800 5.5%2 £14,801 - £22,600 5.8%3 £22,601 - £37,700 6.5%4 £37,701 - £45,700 6.8%5 £45,701 - £90,400 8.5%6 More than £90,400 10.5%

Vetting/Security Clearance

As this post involves working with children and adults in regulated activity successful candidates will be required to undergo an Enhanced Access NI disclosure, with check against the barred lists. It will be decided whether any criminal record is materially relevant to the particular post.

Please note that the Access NI Code of Practice and Explanatory Guide may be accessed via the web AccessNI Code of Practice | nidirect or a hard copy will be made


https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/publications/accessni-code-practice

available upon request to the PBNI’s HR team – contact 028 9052 2640 or email [email protected].

During employment you may still be required to undergo further checks dependent on your role, e.g. candidates offered to work in a prison location must successfully undergo a Counter Terrorist Check.

Extra Mural Activities

To ensure that all applicants receive fair and equal treatment in respect of such matters the following procedures shall apply.

(i) Paid Employment

Where an applicant is considering accepting work outside the PBNI for payment or reward, or wishes to continue such work after appointment, details of the proposed arrangement shall be forwarded to the Head of Human Resources upon receipt of the conditional offer. This will then be considered as a request under the PBNI’s extra mural activity policy.

(ii) Professional Services Provided on a Voluntary Basis

Where an applicant providing professional services including direct delivery of service, training, education or consultancy, he/she shall follow the same procedures as for paid employment at (i) above.

Selection Process

Applicants will be subject to a selection process, if shortlisted. Interviews could take place in Belfast and it is anticipated that these could take place, as and when required, during 2018/2019. Location will be confirmed in invite interview letter.

Applicants will only be appointed after satisfactory qualifications (where applicable), references and security checks have been received; as well as driving licence and car insurance. Failure to meet requirements within the set timeframe may result in the offer of appointment being withdrawn.

Recruitment Policy

The PBNI Recruitment Policy may be accessed via the PBNI Website This policy should be read in conjunction with the PBNI Equal Opportunities Policy via the PBNI website

Data Protection

PBNI takes extremely seriously its obligations under data protection law to store and share your personal information securely and in line with legislation and our lawful purposes. The Privacy Notice for PBNI Staff and Board members may be accessed via the PBNI website.


http://www.pbni.org.uk/recruitment/

http://www.pbni.org.uk/recruitment/


mailto:[email protected]

Temporary Principal Psychologist(Grade 7 Principal)

Salary: £48,829 - £53,518 (subject to review)

Temporary Senior Forensic Psychologist(Deputy Principal)

Salary: £37,272 - £40,979 (subject to review)

Temporary Trainee Forensic Psychologist(Staff Officer)

Salary: £30,526 - £32,157

Temporary Psychology Assistant(Executive Officer I)

Salary: £27,299 - £28,167

The Psychology Department of the Probation Board for Northern Ireland provides many services including: - psychological input into client assessments, pre-sentencing reports, risk management meetings, programmes and interventions, and collaborative work with colleagues in Community Forensic Mental Health Teams. In addition, the Psychology Department is undertaking pioneering work in relation to Domestic Violence, Substance Misuse and Mental Health in relation to the Criminal Justice process and which has drawn interest from Criminal Justice systems around the world.

We are open to receiving speculative applications from suitably qualified and experienced individuals to join the Probation Board for Northern Ireland’s Psychology Department on a temporary basis for potential vacancies that may arise.

Additional information and an application form may be obtained bydownloading from https://www.pbni.org.uk/recruitment/vacancies/ e-mailing to [email protected] to Probation Board for Northern Ireland, Human Resources Department, 80-90 North Street, Belfast BT1 1LD.

There is no closing date for the receipt of completed application forms. If, and when, a suitable vacancy arises the completed forms received by that date will undergo a selection process.

Further information on the Board may be sourced at https://www.pbni.org.uk/ .

PBNI is an Equal Opportunities Employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.

Changing lives for safer communities


https://www.pbni.org.uk/


https://www.pbni.org.uk/recruitment/vacancies/

PROBATION BOARD FOR NORTHERN IRELAND

TEMPORARY PRINCIPAL PSYCHOLOGIST

Locations throughout Northern IrelandFull time and Part time posts

Point 1 £48,829 to point 5 £53,518 [NICS for Grade 7 Principal] for full-time hours (pro-rata for part-time hours), subject to review.

Essential Criteria

Applicants must have:

1. Graduate Membership of the British Psychological Society (BPS) with the Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC); and

2. attained a post graduate qualification in Forensic or Clinical Psychology as recognised by the British Psychological Society (BPS); and

3. registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC); and

4. a minimum of two years’ post qualifying experience working within a relevant forensic setting; and

5. managed or supervised other grades of psychologists; and

6. a valid driving licence and use of a car for official business or require consideration of reasonable adjustment in respect of disability to meet the travel requirements of the position.

Desirable Criteria

It is desirable that applicants have experience of development and oversight of:

1. Offending behaviour programmes and interventions; and / or

2. Project work.


TEMPORARY SENIOR FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST


Point 1 £37,272 to point 5 £40,979 [NICS for Deputy Principal Grade] for full-time hours (pro-rata for part-time hours), subject to review.

Essential Criteria


1. Graduate Membership of the British Psychological Society (BPS); and

2. either attained a post graduate qualification in Forensic Psychology (recognised by the British Psychological Society (BPS) or the Health Care Professions Council) orattained a post graduate qualification in Clinical Psychology (as recognised/ accredited by the BPS) and have a minimum of six months’ experience in a forensic setting(s) (as recognised /accredited by the BPS); and

3. registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC); and

4. managed or supervised other grades of psychologist; and


Desirable Criteria

It is desirable that applicants have:

1. experience of carrying out risk assessments, report writing and psychological interventions to inform management of offenders and supervised life licencees referred to the psychology service, attending hearings and giving evidence to Parole Commissioners; and/or

2. clinical oversight which contributes to the development, management and evaluation of the offending behaviour programmes and interventions; and/or

3. can contribute to the design, delivery and evaluation of training as well as staff/student induction programmes within the Psychology Dept;


TEMPORARY TRAINEE FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST


Point 1 £30,526 to point 5 £32,157 [NICS for Staff Officer Grade] for full-time hours (pro-rata for part-time hours), subject to review.

Essential Criteria



2. attained a postgraduate qualification in Forensic Psychology (as recognised /accredited by the BPS); and

3. a minimum of six months’ experience in a forensic setting(s); and


Desirable Criteria

It is desirable that applicants, by the closing date, have a minimum of one year’s experience in a forensic setting(s).


TEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGY ASSISTANT


Point 1 £27,299 to point 5 £28,167 [NICS for Executive Officer 1 Grade] for full-time hours (pro-rata for part-time hours), subject to review.

Essential Criteria



2. attained at least a second class Honours Degree in Psychology which confers Graduate Basis for Registration (GBR) with the British Psychological Society; and

3. completed at least six months’ work experience related to psychology; and


Desirable Criteria

It is desirable that applicants have experience of working within a forensic setting.

Applications are particularly welcomed from members of the Protestant Community and from males as these groups are currently under represented.

PBNI is an Equal Opportunities Employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.

If a reserve list is established for the above posts this will be valid for a 12 month period.

Additional information and application form may be obtained by downloading from www.pbni.org.uk or emailing [email protected] or writing to: Probation Board for Northern Ireland, Human Resources Department, 80-90 North St, Belfast, BT1 1LD

Completed application forms may be emailed to [email protected] or sent to Probation Board for Northern Ireland, Human Resources Department, 80-90 North St, Belfast, BT1 1LD.

There is no closing date for when applications must be received.

Interviews will take place as and when required.





Role Profile

Job title: Temporary Principal Psychologist

Grade: Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) Grade 7

Responsible to: Head of Psychology and Interventions

Responsible for: Psychology staff

Job purpose: The Temporary Principal Psychologist will be accountable to, and will deputise for, the Head of Psychology and Interventions.

The post holder will be responsible for the the day-to-day supervision and management of the Psychology team and the delivery of psychological services in PBNI.

He/she will supervise and assist in the assessment, treatment and management of offenders referred to the Psychology Department.

Duties:

1. Responsible for the supervision and management of psychologists, including the management and reviewing of staff/team performance.

2. Reports to the Head of Psychology and Interventions and deputises as required.

3. Work as a member of team, providing specialist psychology services to PBNI.

4. Carry out risk assessment, report writing and psychological interventions to inform management of offenders and supervised life licensees referred to the psychology service, attend hearings and give evidence to Parole Commissioners.

5. Contribute to Public Protection Arrangements for Northern Ireland.

6. Provide specialist psychological consultation to the management of complex cases.

7. Contribute to the development, management and evaluation of offending behaviour programmes and interventions.

8. Responsible for the delivery of staff training and staff/student induction programmes within the Psychology Department.

9. Responsible for the formulation, implementation, monitoring and review of the psychology team business plan and development of projects within the department.

10.Responsible for the development and implementation of research within the psychology department.

11.Undertake specific project work related to psychological services and programmes/ interventions as required.


12.Responsible for the maintenance of databases.

13.Monitoring and ensuring compliance with PBNI policies and procedures in respect of Health & Safety, Finance systems, Accommodation and Supplies systems, Human Resources, IT Services and Information Management systems.

14.Effective use of information technology. Liaises with team members regarding new technology practices and procedures to ensure best practice within the relevant work area.

15.Contributing to recruitment and selection processes as required.

16.Maintaining and updating professional knowledge by identification of own training and development needs, updating practice and attending relevant training courses, as agreed with line manager.

17.Ensure registration with the Health Care Professions Council is maintained as required of the post.

18.This is a mobile grade and the post holder must be prepared to work in all locations where PBNI operate within Northern Ireland including prisons.

19.Hold and maintain a valid driving licence and have use of a car.

20. Participate as required by Human Resources in recruitment and selection.

21.Participate as required in disciplinary, grievance and dignity at work procedures.

22.Must fully participate and complete any security vetting processes as required of the post.

23.Any other duties commensurate with the grade and as required by the nature of the role.

During employment the Temporary Principal Psychologist is expected to evidence the competencies for a Grade 7 as detailed in the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) Competency Framework. Whilst this is not a NICS post the competencies required of the Temporary Principal Psychologist are analogous to the NICS grade 7 and as such the NICS Competency Framework is relevant and will be used for this post.

The above reflects the main elements associated with this position. It is not intended to be exclusive or exhaustive.


TEMPORARY PRINCIPAL PSYCHOLOGIST – COMPETENCY FRAMEWORK

Whilst for the role, you are required to fulfil all levels, for the purposes of this process the competency level has been set at level 4 and any of the competency areas.

Strategic Cluster – Setting Direction

1. Seeing the Big Picture Seeing the big picture is about having an in-depth understanding and knowledge of how your role fits with, and supports, organisational objectives and the wider public needs. For all staff, it is about focusing your contribution on the activities which will meet PBNI/DOJ and Programme for Government goals and deliver the greatest value. This is about understanding the political context and taking account of wider impacts, including the broader legislative agenda, to develop long term implementation strategies that maximise opportunities to add value to the citizen, support economic, sustainable growth and help to deliver the Northern Ireland Executive’s priorities.

Effective Behaviour People who are effective are likely to…

Ineffective Behaviour People who are ineffective are likely to…

Level 1 Gather information from a range of relevant sources inside and outside their area of work to inform own work.

Take actions/decisions without regard to the bigger picture.

Understand what is required of them in their role, and how this contributes to team and business area priorities.

Show little understanding in the work of the business area, not appreciating they have a role in meeting priorities.

Consider how their own job links with, and impacts on, colleagues and others in partner organisations.

Work on own tasks in isolation showing little interest in the wider context and relevant developments outside their immediate area.

Level 2 Keep up to date with a broad set of issues relating to the work of PBNI.

Have a narrow view of their role, without understanding PBNI’s wider activities.

Develop understanding of how own and team’s work supports the achievement of PBNI priorities and delivery to the citizen.

Carry out own tasks without considering how their work impacts or interacts with other teams.

Focus on the overall goal and intent of what they are trying to achieve, not just the task.

Fail to identify occasions when professional judgement and personal initiative are called for in order to deliver business objectives.

Take an active interest in expanding their knowledge of areas related to own role.

Rely solely on the knowledge they have already established about their role.

Level 3 Be alert to emerging issues, legislation and trends which might impact or benefit own and team’s work.

Ignore changes in the external environment that have implications for PBNI policy and considerations.

Understand own business area strategy and how this contributes to PBNI policies and priorities.

Show limited interest in, or understanding of, PBNI priorities and what they mean for activities in their area.

Contribute to the development of policies, plans and service provision to meet citizens’ diverse needs based on an up-to-date knowledge of needs, issues and relevant good practice.

Make limited contribution or apply outdated practices which are unable to meet the diverse needs of citizens.

Ensure own business area/team activities are aligned to PBNI, policy and priorities.

Be overly focused on team and individual activities without due regard for how they meet the demands of the organisation as a whole.

Actively seek out and share experience to develop understanding and knowledge of own work and of team’s business area.

Take actions which conflict with or mis-align to other activities in PBNI/business area.

Seek to understand how the services, activities and strategies work together in the business area to create value for the customer/end user.

Commit to actions without consideration of the impact on the diverse needs of customers/end users – apply a ‘one size fits all’ approach.


Level 4 Anticipate economic, social, political, legislative, environmental and technological developments to keep activity relevant and targeted.

Demonstrate a lack of knowledge and insight into wider issues, developments and impacts related to own business area.

Identify implications of PBNI/Departmental and political priorities and strategy on own business area to ensure plans and activities reflect these.

Operate within own business area without sufficient regard to how it creates value and supports the delivery of PBNI/departmental goals.

Create policies, plans and service provision to meet citizens’ diverse needs based on an up-to-date knowledge of needs, issues and relevant good practice.

Continue to apply outdated practices which are unable to meet the diverse needs of citizens.

Ensure relevant issues relating to their activity/policy area are effectively fed into strategy and big picture considerations.

Miss opportunities to ensure important issues are considered by senior staff; raise small details as big picture issues.

Adopt a Justice Sector wide perspective to ensure alignment of activity and policy.

Only consider the context of own business area and not those of others or of the organisation as a whole.

Bring together views and perspectives of stakeholders to gain a wider picture of the landscape surrounding activities and policies.

Lack clarity of, or interest in gaining, wider stakeholder perspectives.


2. Changing and Improving People who are effective in this area are responsive, innovative and seek out opportunities to create effective change. For all staff, it is about being open to change, suggesting ideas for improvements to the way things are done, and working in ‘smarter’, more focused ways. At senior levels, this is about creating and contributing to a culture of innovation and allowing people to consider and take managed risks. Doing this well means continuously seeking out ways to improve policy development and implementation and building a more flexible and responsive organisation. It also means making use of alternative delivery models including digital and shared service approaches where possible.



Level 1 Review working practices and come up with ideas to improve the way things are done.

Remain attached to outdated procedures and technologies.

Learn new procedures, seek to exploit new technologies and help colleagues to do the same.

Adopt new processes without reporting difficulties that occur.

Co-operate with and be open to the possibilities of change and consider ways to implement and adapt to change in own work role.

Be negative about change and unwilling to consider how change could help in own role.

Be constructive in raising issues with managers about implemented changes and the impact these are having on the service.

Be resistant to listening to ideas or plans for change, showing little interest in the reasons for change and how they can adapt their behaviour to thrive in the new environment.

Respond effectively to emergencies. Resistant to sudden changes to usual work routine. Level 2 Understand and apply technology to achieve efficient and effective business and personal results.

Avoid use of technology and stick to tried and tested means of delivering business objectives.

Consider and suggest ideas for improvements, sharing this feedback with others in a constructive manner.

Be reluctant to consider ways to improve services in own business area, even when improvements are urgently required.

Conduct regular reviews of what and who is required to make a project/activity successful and make ongoing improvements.

Stick rigidly to the original brief, not adapting support/input to changing needs.

Put aside preconceptions and consider new ideas on their own merits.

Avoid considering different approaches, accepting the established way of doing things.

Help colleagues, customers and corporate partners to understand changes and why they have been introduced.

Dismiss colleagues’ concerns about change and miss opportunities to discuss with them what is behind their concerns.

Identify, resolve or escalate the positive and negative effects that change may have on own role/team.

Implement change in a thoughtless and unstructured way, having not considered the possible effects it may have on others.

Level 3 Find ways to improve systems, policy development and structures to deliver with more streamlined resources.

Retain resource intensive systems and structures that are considered too difficult to change.

Regularly review procedures or systems with teams to identify improvements and simplify processes and decision making.

Repeat mistakes and overlook lessons learned from changes that have been less effective in the past.

Be prepared to take managed risks, ensuring these are planned and their impact assessed.

Have ideas that are unfocused and have little connection to the realities of the business or customer needs.

Actively encourage ideas from a wide range of sources and stakeholders and use these to inform own thinking.

Not listen to suggested changes and not give reasons as to why the suggestion is not feasible.

Be willing to meet the challenges of difficult or complex changes, encouraging and supporting others to do the same.

Resist changing own approach in response to the new demands – adopting a position of ‘always done things like this’.

Prepare for and respond appropriately to the range of possible effects that change may have on role/team.

Take little responsibility for suggesting or progressing changes due to perceived lack of control of processes.


Level 4 Understand and identify the role of technology in public service delivery and policy implementation.

Ignore developments in technology that could benefit public service delivery and policy implementation.

Encourage a culture of innovation focused on adding value – give people space to think creatively.

Take a narrow and risk adverse approach to proposed new approaches by not taking or following up on ideas seriously.

Effectively capture, utilise and share customer insight and views from a diverse range of stakeholders to ensure better policy development and implementation of improved service delivery.

Fail to effectively capture, utilise and share customer insight appropriately in the development and implementation of policies and services.

Spot warning signs of things going wrong and provide a decisive response to significant delivery challenges.

Remain wedded to the course that they have set and unresponsive to the changing demands of the situation.

Provide constructive challenge to senior management on change proposals which will affect own business area.

Spend limited time on engaging experts and relevant individuals in developing and testing proposals, failing to pass on relevant staff feedback.

Consider the cumulative impact on own business area of implementing change (culture, structure, service and morale).

Give limited time to acknowledging anxieties and overcoming cynicism.


3. Making Effective Decisions Effectiveness in this area is about being objective, using sound judgement, evidence and knowledge to provide accurate, expert and professional advice. For all staff, it means showing clarity of thought, setting priorities, analysing and using evidence to evaluate options before arriving at well-reasoned, justifiable decisions. At senior levels, leaders will be creating evidence based strategies, evaluating options, impacts, risks and solutions. They will aim to maximise return while minimising risk and to balance political, legislative, social, financial, economic and environmental considerations to provide sustainable outcomes.



Level 1 Make and record effective decisions following the appropriate decision making criteria, framework or guidance.

Compromise the consistency and quality of decision making.

Ask questions when unsure what to do. Fail to research or use relevant information or support to carry out tasks.

Undertake appropriate analysis to support decisions or recommendations.

Make decisions or recommendations without the evidence to back them up.

Investigate and respond to gaps, errors and irregularities in information.

Overlook anomalies in evidence presented.

Speak up to clarify decisions and query those constructively.

Miss opportunities to take part in constructive conversations about decisions made.

Think through the implications of own decisions before confirming how to approach a problem/issue.

Give limited consideration to the impact of their decisions.

Level 2 Demonstrate accountability and make unbiased decisions.

Avoid making decisions that lie within own remit; continually push decisions up.

Examine complex information and obtain further information to make accurate decisions.

Miss important evidence or make hasty judgements.

Speak with the relevant people in order to obtain the most accurate information and get advice when unsure of how to proceed.

Encounter problems by failing to check issues and relevance of information before using it.

Explain clearly, verbally and in writing, how a decision has been reached.

Share decisions in a way that leads to frustration or additional work.

Provide advice and feedback to support others to make accurate decisions.

Provide limited or no assurance that the right decisions are being made in team/work area.

Monitor the storage of critical data and customer information to support decision making and conduct regular reviews to ensure it is stored accurately, confidentially and responsibly.

Take little care with data and information storage; allow inaccuracies and mishandling to occur.

Level 3 Make decisions when they are needed, even if they prove difficult or unpopular.

Miss opportunities or deadlines by delaying decisions.

Identify a range of relevant and credible information sources and recognise the need to collect new data when necessary from internal and external sources.

Only use evidence sources that support arguments or are easily accessible.

Recognise patterns and trends in a wide range of evidence/data that may affect policy and draw key conclusions.

Come to conclusions that are not supported by evidence.

Explore different options outlining costs, benefits, risks and potential responses to each.

Give little consideration to the people and resources impacted by decisions.

Recognise scope of own authority for decision making and empower team members to make decisions.

Create confusion by omitting to inform relevant people of amendments or decisions causing delays in implementation.

Invite challenge and, where appropriate, involve others in decision making to help build engagement and present robust recommendations.

Consistently make decisions in isolation or with a select group.


Level 4 Push decision making to the right level within their teams, not allow unnecessary bureaucracy and structure to suppress innovation and delivery.

Involve only those in their peer group or direct reporting line in decision making.

Weigh up data from various sources, recognising when to bring in experts/researchers to add to available information.

Under-estimate the work required to consider all of the evidence needed, and do not involve experts sufficiently early.

Analyse and evaluate pros and cons and identify risks in order to make sound policy decisions that take account of the wider context, including diversity and sustainability.

Take decisions without regard for the context, organisation risk, alignment with wider agendas or impacts (economic, social and environmental).

Draw together and present reasonable conclusions from a wide range of incomplete and complex evidence and data – able to act or decide even when details are not clear.

Get confused by complexity and ambiguity and consider only simple or straightforward evidence.

Identify the main issues in complex problems; clarify understanding or stakeholder expectations to seek best option.

Rely too heavily on gut instinct and provide unclear, incoherent or illogical analysis of core issues.

Make difficult decisions by pragmatically weighing the complexities involved against the need to deliver objectives.

Make expedient decisions that offer less resistance or risk to themselves rather than decisions that are best for the business.


People Cluster – Engaging People

4. Leading and Communicating At all levels, effectiveness in this area is about leading from the front and communicating with clarity, conviction and enthusiasm. It is about supporting principles of fairness of opportunity for all and a dedication to a diverse range of citizens. At senior levels, it is about establishing a strong direction and a persuasive future vision, managing and engaging with people with honesty and integrity, and upholding the reputation of the PBNI and the wider justice sector.



Level 1 Put forward their own views in a clear and constructive manner, choosing an appropriate communication method e.g. email / telephone / face to face.

Talk negatively about the organisation, their team or colleagues.

Act in a fair and respectful way in dealing with others. Show bias or a lack of respect and treat some groups more favourably than others.

Write clearly in plain, simple language and check work for spelling and grammar, learning from previous inaccuracies.

Make little effort to ensure they express themselves in an effective manner that others can easily understand.

Ask open questions to appreciate the point of view of others.

Withhold work information and refuse to share knowledge that would help others do a better job.

Level 2 Display enthusiasm around goals and activities – adopting a positive approach when interacting with others.

Express limited interest in goals and activities.

Listen to, understand, respect and accept the value of different views, ideas and ways of working.

Adopt a biased, exclusive or disrespectful manner in their dealings with others.

Express ideas effectively, both orally and in writing, and with sensitivity and respect for others.

Demonstrate no awareness of the impact of their behaviour on others or consider the potential reactions of others to the ideas put forward.

Confidently handle challenging conversations or interviews.

Unable to deal objectively with conflicts and disputes when they arise.

Confront and deal promptly with inappropriate language or behaviours, including bullying, harassment or discrimination.

Avoid challenging inappropriate language or behaviours.

Level 3 Take opportunities to regularly communicate and interact with staff, helping to clarify goals and activities and the links between these and policy and strategy.

Be rarely available to staff and others, communicate infrequently.

Recognise, respect and reward the contribution and achievements of others.

Take credit for others’ achievements and fail to acknowledge contributions.

Communicate effectively orally and in writing in a succinct, engaging manner; know when to stand ground when needed.

Give in readily when challenged.

Communicate using appropriate styles, methods and timing, including digital channels, to maximise understanding and impact.

Communicate in a set way with little variation, without tailoring messages, style and timing to the needs of the target audience.

Promote the work of PBNI and play an active part in supporting organisational values and culture.

Be ignorant of and/or dismissive of broader organisational values and goals, such as equality and diversity.

Convey enthusiasm and energy about their work and encourage others to do the same.

Communicate information without consideration for the audience or with limited/low levels of enthusiasm and effort.


Level 4 Be visible to staff and stakeholders and regularly undertake activities to engage and build trust with people involved in area of work.

Only speak to staff and stakeholders in a face-to-face environment when pressured to do so.

Clarify policies, strategies and plans, giving clear sense of direction and purpose for self and team.

Leave team unclear about vision and goals of their immediate business area.

Stand by, promote or defend own and team’s actions and decisions where needed.

Leave team members to cope alone in difficult situations – provide little support for their teams.

Confidently engage with stakeholders and colleagues at all levels to generate commitment to goals.

Miss opportunities to transform the team, wait for others to take the lead.

Lead by example, role modelling ethics, integrity, impartiality and the elimination of bias by building diverse teams and promoting a working environment that supports PBNI values and policies.

Act in ways that are at odds with PBNI values and policies.

Be open and inviting of the views of others and respond despite pressure to ignore, revert or concede.

Set out a course of action and apply it without listening to others or adapting where relevant.

Communicate effectively, orally and in writing, and use a range of communication tools and methods to convey messages (e.g. meetings, presentations, briefings, internet etc.)

Communicate information in a set way without consideration for the audience or with limited/low levels of enthusiasm and effort.


5. Collaborating and Partnering People skilled in this area create and maintain positive, professional and trusting working relationships with a wide range of people within and outside PBNI, to help to achieve business objectives and goals. At all levels, it requires working collaboratively, sharing information and building supportive, responsive relationships with colleagues and stakeholders, whilst having the confidence to challenge assumptions. At senior levels, it is about delivering business objectives through creating an inclusive environment, encouraging collaboration which may cut across organisational and wider boundaries. It requires the ability to build constructive partnerships and effective relationships at the highest levels.



Level 1 Proactively contribute to the work of the whole team. Focus on own objectives at the expense of supporting

colleagues. Get to know fellow team members/colleagues and understand their viewpoints and preferences.

Be overly critical and blaming of people who have different working styles or development needs.

Seek help when needed in order to complete own work effectively.

Miss opportunities to generate better outcomes for the customer through collaboration with others.

Be open to taking on different roles. Assume specific, unvarying role responsibilities. Try to see issues from others’ perspectives and check understanding.

Look at issues from own viewpoint only.

Listen to the views of others and show sensitivity towards others.

Not treat all colleagues fairly, equitably or with respect.

Level 2 Demonstrate interest in others and develop a range of contacts outside own team to help get the job done.

Ignore the knowledge and expertise that a wider network of colleagues and partners can bring to the work of the team.

Change ways of working to facilitate collaboration for the benefit of the team’s work.

Continue to work in set ways that make it difficult for colleagues to contribute to or benefit from the team’s work.

Proactively seek information, resources and support from others outside own immediate team in order to help achieve results.

Take a narrow approach to resolving resourcing issues in own area and fail to explore other resourcing opportunities and possibilities.

Readily identify opportunities to share knowledge, information and learning and make progress by working with colleagues.

Rarely share information, or restrict it to immediate colleagues only.

Listen attentively to others and check their understanding by asking questions.

Show a lack of interest or skill in interacting with others.

Take responsibility for creating a working environment that encourages equality, diversity and inclusion.

Adopt a biased, exclusive or disrespectful manner in their dealings with others.

Level 3 Establish relationships with a range of stakeholders to support delivery of policy and business outcomes.

Devote little or no time to networking or engaging with immediate stakeholders, preferring to work in isolation.

Invest time to generate a common focus and genuine team spirit.

Demonstrate limited capability to get the best from people and create barriers or negative feelings between and within teams.

Actively seek input from a diverse range of people. Display little appreciation of the value of different contributions and perspectives.

Readily share resources to support higher priority work, showing pragmatism and support for the shared goals of the organisation.

Create reasons why resources and support cannot be shared.

Deal with conflict in a prompt, calm and constructive manner.

Show lack of concern for others’ perspectives.

Encourage collaborative team working within own team and across the organisation.

Support individual or silo ways of working.


Level 4 Actively build and maintain a network of colleagues and contacts to achieve progress on objectives and shared interests.

Only seek to build contacts in immediate work group, neglect to create a wider network beyond this.

Demonstrate genuine care for staff and others – build strong interpersonal relationships.

Neglect to maintain relationships during difficult times.

Encourage contributions and involvement from a broad and diverse range of staff by being visible and accessible.

Operate within a narrow frame of reference and avoid adopting a fuller perspective with associated complexity.

Effectively manage team dynamics when working across different teams and other boundaries.

Be overly protective of own initiatives and miss opportunities to network across boundaries.

Actively involve partners to deliver policy and business outcomes through collaboration that achieves better results for citizens.

Struggle to manage, or actively ignore other parties’ agendas.

Seek constructive outcomes in discussions, challenge assumptions but remain willing to compromise when it is beneficial to progress.

Push forward initiatives on the basis of personal agenda or advantage and refuse to compromise; stay wedded to one outcome.


6. Building Capability for All Effectiveness in this area is having a strong focus on continuous learning for oneself, others and the organisation. For all staff, it is about being open to learning and keeping their knowledge and skill set current and evolving. At senior levels, it is about ensuring a diverse blend of capability and skills is identified and developed to meet current and future business needs. It is also about creating a learning and knowledge culture across all levels in the organisation to inform future plans and transformational change.



Level 1 Identify own skills, knowledge and behaviour gaps to inform own development plan and discuss these with the line manager.

Take a passive approach to personal development, mostly relying on others to identify learning points or dismissing constructive feedback.

Recognise and take time to achieve own learning and development objectives.

Lack interest in personal development; decline all opportunities to learn, e.g. through attending programmes or engaging in workplace learning.

Find ways to learn and personally improve in the completion of day-to-day tasks.

Maintain a rigid view of daily tasks, missing opportunities to learn or improve how they do things.

Improve own performance by taking on board feedback from colleagues from different backgrounds.

Ignore or undervalue the contributions and views of others from different backgrounds.

Share learning with team and colleagues; contribute to the team’s shared learning and understanding.

Keep knowledge and expertise to themselves rather than share for the benefit of the whole team.

React constructively to developmental feedback and make changes as a result.

Do little to follow through on constructive developmental feedback, ignore or dismiss its value.

Level 2 Take ownership of team and individual development by identifying capability needs and consistently achieving development objectives.

Fail to address own capability needs or identify learning opportunities.

Take responsibility for the quality of own work and seek opportunities for improvement through continuous learning.

Resist opportunities to broaden work responsibilities.

Proactively support the development plans of others. Resist learning and development requests from others.

Take account of the diverse contributions of team members and delegate work to improve capabilities of all.

Tend to keep work to themselves that could be a helpful development opportunity for a team member, failing to ensure equality of opportunity.

Encourage and be open to developmental feedback from others.

Be disinterested in giving or receiving constructive feedback.

Level 3 Identify and address team or individual capability requirements and gaps to deliver current and future work.

Manage others in a weak or ineffective manner, allowing capability gaps to persist.

Develop team members, devoting time to coach, mentor and develop others.

Choose to only develop team members who reflect own capabilities, styles and strengths.

Value and respond to different personal needs in the team using these to develop others and promote inclusiveness.

Be insensitive to, and unaware of, the diverse aspirations and capability of all members of the team.

Proactively manage own career and identify own learning needs with line manager, plan and carry out workplace learning opportunities.

Passively expect others to identify and manage their learning needs.

Continually seek and act on feedback to evaluate and improve their own and team’s performance.

Make no attempt to learn from or apply lessons of feedback.


Level 4 Ensure that individual and organisational learning and development opportunities are fully exploited in order to enhance organisational capability.

Ignore emerging learning and development opportunities and the sharing of that learning to benefit the organisation.

Role model workplace-based learning, encourage development and career management for all staff.

Not follow up on learning to ensure colleagues practise and apply new learning to the benefit of the organisation.

Coach and support colleagues to take responsibility for their own development (through giving accountability, varied assignments and on-going feedback).

Make token efforts to coach and develop people, allow staff to de-prioritise own development.

Establish and drive intra and inter team discussions to learn from experience and adapt organisational processes and plans.

Stay ignorant of the experience of colleagues and take little notice of the potential learning available.

Identify capability requirements needed to deliver future team objectives and manage team resources to meet these needs.

Allow team capability needs to go unaddressed and fail to use development opportunities and effective performance management to maximise team capability.

Prioritise and role model continuous self-learning and development, including leadership, management and people skills.

Place low priority on people management and development, seldom seek feedback or challenge, and prioritise professional expertise over leadership, management and people skills.


Performance Cluster – Delivering Results

7. Delivering Value for Money Delivering value for money involves the efficient, effective and economic use of taxpayers’ money in the delivery of public services. For all staff, it means seeking out and implementing solutions which achieve a good mix of quality and effectiveness for the least outlay, thus reducing the risk of fraud and error. People who do this well base their decisions on evidenced information and follow agreed processes and policies, challenging these appropriately where they appear to prevent good value for money. At senior levels, effective people embed a culture of value for money within their area/function. They work collaboratively across boundaries to ensure that PBNI maximises its strategic outcomes within the resources available.



Level 1 Challenge others appropriately where they see wastage.

Be careless or wasteful with resources or see where resources are being wasted but not raise this with team or manager.

Be careful with all types of resource (e.g. money, time, materials, fuel, energy) that they use.

Frequently choose convenience over cost effectiveness.

Keep track of spend and make sure work is approved and signed off as necessary.

Not follow appropriate control or authorisation processes for work, services or resource use.

Handle numbers confidently; collate information ensuring accuracy of financial and performance data.

Produce inaccurate financial and performance data with errors or omissions.

Maintain recognised financial procedures and practices.

Cut corners and not keep accurate financial records.

Level 2 Manage information and financial data so that it is accurate, easily located and reusable.

Ignore financial management information procedures.

Can account for expenditure and create well supported argument for extra expenditure e.g. overtime.

Misunderstand basic financial concepts.

Take opportunities to challenge misuse of resources in order to achieve value for money and sustainable ways of working.

Favour the easiest method even if it is not the most cost effective – struggle to identify value for money opportunities.

Understand that all actions have a cost and choose the most effective way to do something in a resource-efficient way.

Avoid using recommended tools and allow their team to do likewise.

Ensure that recognised control procedures and practices are maintained.

Use control and governance procedures and practices inappropriately or irregularly and allow their teams to do the same.

Monitor resources against plans and budget, identify and flag up variances.

Not manage resources against plan.

Level 3 Recommend actions to achieve value for money and efficiency and reduce fraud and error.

Ignore financial experts – not ask for advice or seek advice at the right time.

Cultivate and encourage an awareness of cost, using clear simple examples of benefits and how to measure outcomes.

Reserve resources for own team without considering wider business priorities or the organisation’s financial environment.

Work confidently with performance management and financial data to prepare forecasts and manage and monitor budget against agreed plans.

Misinterpret or over-estimate performance and financial data used to forecast and monitor budgets and plans.

Follow appropriate financial procedures to monitor contracts to ensure deliverables are achieved.

Ignore the organisation’s financial procedures or break rules for the sake of expediency.

Monitor the use of resources in line with organisational procedures and plans and hold team to account.

Be unable to justify own and team’s use of resources.


Level 4 Understand impacts of financial position in own area and that of the organisation and use insight to curtail or support business and investment activities.

Overlook the impact of decisions on the whole organisation and make recommendations without awareness of the wider financial position.

Achieve the best return on investment and deliver more for less on specific budgets by managing resources and maximising the use of assets.

Deliberately spend money up to the level of the available budget, ignoring the effectiveness of committing the expenditure.

Balance policy aspiration and delivery, outline risk and benefits of different options to achieve value for money ensuring all submissions contain appropriate financial information.

Be overly focused on minimising expenditure rather than ensuring it is well spent and will provide lasting added value.

Weigh up priority and benefits of different actions and activities to consider how to achieve cost-effective outcomes.

Omit financial information from decision making and business planning.

Work with financial processes and tools to evaluate options and ensure financial and management information are accurately reflected in business plans.

Present business plans and cases that are not supported by robust or accurate financial and management information.


8. Managing a Quality Service Effectiveness in this area is about being organised to deliver service objectives and striving to improve the quality of service, taking account of diverse customer needs and requirements. People, who are effective plan, organise and manage their time and activities to deliver a high quality and efficient service, applying programme and project management approaches appropriately and effectively to support service delivery. At senior levels, it is about creating an environment to deliver operational excellence and creating the most appropriate and cost effective delivery models for public services.



Level 1 Communicate in a way that meets and anticipates the customer’s requirements and gives a favourable impression of PBNI. .

Communicate with customers in a negative or unprepared way.

Actively seek information from customers to understand their needs and expectations.

Act without thinking through the necessary steps and disregard the customer’s circumstances.

Act to prevent problems, reporting issues where necessary.

Allow service levels to drop or problems to occur before reporting.

Gain the knowledge needed to follow the relevant legislation, policies, procedures and rules that apply to the job.

Miss opportunities to learn or find out about relevant guidance and rules.

Encourage customers to access relevant information or support that will help them understand and use services more effectively.

Keep customers in the dark about relevant and useful information or partners.

Take ownership of issues, focus on providing the right solution and keep customers and delivery partners up to date with progress.

Treat people unfairly or make unrealistic commitments.

Level 2 Explain clearly to customers what can be done. Give customers and delivery partners an unrealistic

picture of what is possible, focus on what cannot be done.

Work with team to set priorities, create clear plans and manage all work to meet the needs of the customer and the business.

Always rely on others to focus and plan their work.

Ensure that levels of service are maintained – flag up risks or concerns in order to meet customer requirements.

Focus on immediate service delivery problems and neglect overall quality or customer/end user needs.

Keep internal teams, customers and delivery partners fully informed of plans and possibilities.

Provide infrequent, unclear, insufficient updates to others in need of the information.

Promote adherence to relevant policies, procedures, regulations and legislation, including equality, diversity and health and safety.

Pay little attention to highlighting and explaining the reasons for compliance.

Identify common problems or weaknesses in policy or procedures that affect service and escalate these.

Show a lack of desire to improve the quality of service.

Level 3 Make effective use of project management skills and techniques to deliver outcomes, including identifying risks and mitigating actions.

Has minimal understanding of what could go wrong or needs to be resolved as a priority.

Develop, implement, maintain and review systems and service standards to provide quality, efficiency and value for money.

Focus on delivering the task to the exclusion of meeting customer/end user requirements and needs.

Work with team to set priorities, goals, objectives and timescales.

Allocate or delegate work without clarifying deadlines or priorities.

Establish mechanisms to seek out and respond to feedback from customers about policy and service provided.

Unable to explain common customer problems or needs and how these are evolving.

Promote a culture that tackles fraud and error, keeping others informed of outcomes.

Not give sufficient priority and attention to ensuring that fraud and error are being tackled.

Develop proposals to improve the quality of service with involvement from a diverse range of staff, stakeholders or delivery partners.

Generate limited proposals to create service improvements and do so with little involvement of staff.


Level 4 Exemplify positive customer service behaviours and promote a culture focused on ensuring customer needs are met.

Take little action when customer needs are not being met.

Establish how the business area compares to customer service expectations/industry best practice and identify necessary improvements in plans.

Ignore external trends that impact on the business area.

Make clear, pragmatic and manageable plans for policy and service delivery using programme and project management disciplines.

Allow programmes or service delivery to lose momentum and focus and have no contingencies in place.

Create regular opportunities for staff and customers to help improve service quality and demonstrate a visible involvement.

Make changes to service delivery with minimal involvement from others.

Ensure the service offered thoroughly considers customers’ needs and a broad range of available methods to meet this, including new technology where relevant.

Maintain a limited or out-dated view of how to respond to customers’ needs.

Ensure adherence to legal and regulatory requirements in service delivery and build diversity and equality considerations into plans.

Disregard non-compliance with policies, rules and legal requirements and allow unfair or discriminatory practices.


9. Delivering at Pace Effectiveness in this area means focusing on delivering timely performance with energy and taking responsibility and accountability for quality outcomes. For all staff, it is about working to agreed goals and activities and dealing with challenges in a responsive and constructive way. It is also about leaders providing the focus and energy to drive activities forward through others and encourage staff to perform effectively during challenging and changing times. At senior levels, it is about building a performance culture to deliver outcomes with a firm focus on prioritisation and addressing performance issues resolutely, fairly and promptly.



Level 1 Work in an organised manner using own knowledge and expertise to deliver on time and to standard.

Show little interest in own work or in getting the job done properly.

Work with enthusiasm to get the job done. Wait to be told what to do and rely on others to sort out problems.

Take responsibility for the quality of own work and keep manager informed of how the work is progressing.

Ignore own part in ensuring their team can deliver and avoid supporting colleagues to get the job done even when the need is clear.

Remain focused on delivery. Be easily discouraged or distracted. Maintain consistent performance. Give up quickly when things do not go smoothly. Participate in quality assurance of products or services.

Miss the opportunity to suggest improvements through quality assurance.

Level 2 Create regular reviews of what and who is required to make a project/activity successful and make ongoing improvements.

Fail to maintain pace and progress.

Be interested and positive about what they and the team are trying to achieve.

Display limited interest or positivity for their role or purpose.

Take ownership of problems in their own area of responsibility.

Avoid responsibility for dealing with problems.

Remain positive and focused on achieving outcomes despite setbacks.

Fail to adjust or react negatively when things change or go wrong.

Check own and team performance against outcomes, make improvement suggestions or take corrective action when problems are identified.

Neglect performance reviews and so be unable to give timely and constructive feedback.

Set and achieve challenging goals and monitor quality. Blame others for poor quality work. Level 3 Successfully manage, support and stretch self and team to deliver agreed goals and objectives.

Give people work to do without supporting them to develop the skills and knowledge they need for the job.

Show a positive approach in keeping their own and the team’s efforts focused on the goals that really matter.

Allow work flow to lose momentum or drift away from priorities.

Take responsibility for delivering expected outcomes on time and to standard, giving credit to terms and individuals as appropriate.

Give little or no support to others in managing poor performance; allow others’ problems and obstacles to hamper progress.

Plan ahead but reassess workloads and priorities if situations change or people are facing conflicting demands.

Show no consideration for diversity-related needs of the team when organising the workload.

Regularly monitor own and team’s work against policy, milestones or targets and act promptly to keep work on track and maintain performance.

Allow poor performance to go unchallenged, causing workload issues for other team members.

Coach and support others to set and achieve challenging goals for themselves.

Allow organisational and other obstacles, including a lack of support, to stand in the way of own and others’ aspirations.


Level 4 Get the best out of people by giving enthusiastic and encouraging messages about priorities, objectives

Lose focus, giving a confusing sense of what is important.

and expectations. Clarify business priorities, roles and responsibilities and secure individual and team ownership.

Take the credit for delivery of outcomes without acknowledging the contribution of their teams.

Adopt clear processes and standards for managing performance at all levels.

Fail to set standards for timeliness and quality of monitoring in their own area of responsibility.

Act as a role model in supporting and energising teams to build confidence in their ability to deliver outcomes.

Overly focus on task delivery at expense of motivating and building capability to perform.

Maintain effective performance in difficult and challenging circumstances, encouraging others to do the same.

Fail to take a constructive approach to adversity, resorting quickly to blaming others for shortcomings.

Review, challenge and adjust performance levels to ensure quality outcomes are delivered on time, rewarding success.

Allow performance to drop without challenging quickly and responsively – continually focus on the negatives.


10. Achieving Outcomes through Delivery Partners Being effective in this area is about maintaining an economic, long-term focus in all activities involving delivery partners (whether from the private, public or voluntary sectors). For all, it is about having a commercial, financial and sustainable mind-set to ensure all activities and services are delivering added value and working to stimulate economic growth. At senior levels, it is about identifying economic, market and customer issues and using these to promote innovative business models, delivery partnerships and agreements to deliver greatest value; and ensuring tight controls of finances, resources and contracts to meet strategic priorities.



Level 1 Understand the relevant terms and conditions, including required deliverables, of relevant contracts.

Demonstrate little understanding of what suppliers are obliged to deliver, how or by when.

Be aware of, and comply with, PBNI procurement processes and know when to access appropriate expertise.

Not recognise or understand PBNI procurement procedures.

Check suppliers and partners are providing relevant and timely data to support claims and assist with the contract delivery.

Allow inaccurate or late records; take no monitoring action on contracts to ensure that requirements have been met.

Learn about customers’ and suppliers’ needs. Take no steps to learn who their suppliers and customers are or to understand their interests and concerns.

Level 2 Be able to identify and access PBNI procurement and appropriate expertise.

Make poor quality decisions or take actions without having engaged with appropriate PBNI expertise.

Understand and be able to explain the PBNI approach to assigning contractual and financial delegations.

Enter into business arrangements without having the authority to do so.

Recognise when deliverables and/or services derived from a business arrangement are not being delivered to the required level of quality or standard and take appropriate action.

Not raise issues or take action when costs or outcomes drift significantly from agreements.

Fully meet commercial confidentiality and data security requirements in contracts.

Put confidentiality and other security requirements at risk.

Level 3 Consider, in consultation with experts, alternative ways of working with partners and contractors to identify more efficient outcomes, balancing cost, quality and turnaround times.

Overlook opportunities for continuous improvement in service delivery.

Work with experts in engaging effectively and intelligently with delivery partners in order to define and/or improve policy and service delivery.

Lack impact when engaging with experts and delivery partners through misunderstanding relevant issues.

Gather and use evidence to assess the costs, benefits and risks of a wide range of delivery options when making decisions.

Take a narrow view of options and focus only on cost, rather than long-term value and impact.

Identify and understand relevant legal and commercial terms, concepts, policies and processes (including project approvals and assurance procedures) to deliver agreed outcomes.

Show a lack of understanding about relevant commercial concepts, processes and systems.


Level 4 Work effectively with different partner organisations (in tandem with experts) to commission and source solutions to achieve policy and organisational goals.

Take a narrow view on options for delivering policy and business goals.

Understand the key drivers that will influence a private or third sector organisation and the levers that can be used in negotiating/influencing contractual arrangements.

Show little or no understanding or appreciation of the economic or other drivers that will influence the behaviours of suppliers.

Be able to recognise and understand the commercial tools such as pricing models, open-book accounting, supply chain management that experts can deploy to extract value from contracts.

Have little or no knowledge or understanding of the commercial tools used to extract value from contracts.

Interact confidently and effectively as an intelligent, knowledgeable and highly credible customer with counterparts from delivery organisations and appropriate experts.

Demonstrate low levels of knowledge or understanding, and lose respect from suppliers or other partners.

Question and challenge the value being delivered through business arrangements with delivery partners.

Overlook or ignore the detail or shortcomings in contract delivery.

Motivate improved performance by suppliers; challenge any gaps between contractual commitments and actual delivery through joint working with procurement experts.

Take it for granted that suppliers are delivering what is needed.


Role Profile

Title: Temporary Senior Forensic Psychologist

Grade: Deputy Principal

Purpose: To perform the role of second line middle manager and/or specialist function

Reporting to: Principal Psychologist

Staffing responsibilities:

Normally SO/EO grade (Dependent on role)

Behavioural Competencies

The role holder is required to display the following competencies in performing their role:

Effective Communication

Communicates all needs, instructions and decisions clearly. Adapts the style of communication to meet the needs of the audience. Asks probing questions checking for understanding.

Maximizing Potential Encourages others to learn and develop, giving them clear and direct guidance and feedback on their performance. Encourages and supports staff, making sure they are motivated to achieve results.

Problem Solving Gathers information from a range of sources to understand situations, making sure it is reliable and accurate. Analyzes information to identify important issues and problems. Identifies risks and considers alternative courses of action to make good decisions.

Planning and Organising

Plans activities thoroughly for self and others. Builds milestones into plans, monitors progress and adjusts them as necessary in response to any changes. Provides clear direction and makes sure that staff know what is expected of them.

Customer Focus Provides a high level of service to customers. Maintains and improves service delivery. Earns the confidence of customers, works out their needs and priorities and responds promptly and positively to their requirements.

Respect for Diversity Understands other people’s views and takes them into account. Is tactful and diplomatic when dealing with people, treating them with dignity and respect at all times. Understands and is sensitive to social, cultural, and racial differences.

Strategic Perspective Concentrates on issues that support the broad organizational strategy. Maintains a broad view, and understands and considers the interests and aims of other units or outside the organization.


Behavioural Competencies (continued)

Openness to Change Supports, promotes and puts into practice change. Introduces new ways of doing things and encourages others to accept them. Overcomes barriers to change.

Personal Responsibility

Readily accepts responsibility for self and others. Takes responsibility for managing situations and problems. Leads by example, showing a commitment and a determination to succeed. Continues to learn and develop.

Specialist Knowledge and Skills

Demonstrates a thorough knowledge of the job and effectively applies and delivers professional/specialist/technical knowledge, skills and advice to colleagues and others as appropriate.

Negotiating and Influencing

Uses logic and reason to influence others. Persuades people by using powerful arguments. Identifies clear aims in negotiations and achieves satisfactory outcomes.

Resilience Shows reliability and resilience in difficult circumstances. Remains calm and confident, and responds logically and decisively in difficult situations.

Activities

The role holder is required to effectively deliver the following key requirements:

Supervise the work of teams and individuals

Manage the performance of teams and individuals

Manage and co-ordinate project teams Ensure the effective management of

finance and resources Develop individuals and teams to

enhance performance Carry out, monitor and evaluate

performance reviews. Delegate work to others Work as part of a team Contribute to disciplinary and grievance

procedures Contribute to recruitment and selection

procedures Provide customer service Chair meetings and represent PBNI at

other agency meetings Prepare and deliver presentations Make best use of information

technology

Input, present and retrieve data using a computer

Provide specialist advice and knowledge

Promote and develop quality within the organization

Monitor the quality of service provision Maintain standards of professional

practice Monitor the implementation of change

plans Gather, evaluate and analyze

information to support others or to support action

Use information to prepare strategic position papers and briefings and make strategic decisions

Contribute to policy formulation Maintain standards for security and

confidentially of information Promote equality, diversity and Human

Rights in working practices Monitor compliance with Health and

Safety Legislation


Main Duties and Responsibilities

The role holder is primarily responsible for contributing to the delivery of psychological services in PBNI. The role holder also assists in the assessment, treatment, and management of offenders. In addition, he/she assists in identifying training needs, the development of delivery of staff staffing, the delivery of staff training and staff induction programmes within PBNI. Key duties and responsibilities will vary from time to time depending on operational needs.

1. Reports to the Principal Psychologist and deputises when appropriate.

2. Work as a member of team, providing specialist psychology services to PBNI.

3. Carry out risk assessment, report writing and psychological interventions to inform management of offenders and supervised life licensees referred the psychology service, attend hearings and give evidence to Parole Commissioners

4. Contribute to Public Protection Arrangements for Northern Ireland

5. Provide specialist psychological consultation to the management of complex cases

6. Contribute to the development, management and evaluation of offending behaviour programmes and interventions

7. Contribute to the delivery of staff training and student induction programmes

8. Responsible for the supervision and management of psychologists, including the management and reviewing of staff/team performance

9. Responsible for the formulation, implementation, monitoring and review of the psychology team business plan and development of projects within the department

10.Responsible for the maintenance of databases

11.Development and implementation of research with the psychology department

12.Monitoring compliance with PBNI policies and procedures in respect of Health & Safety, Finance systems, Accommodation and Supplies systems, Human Resources, IT Services and Information Management systems.

13.Effective use of information technology. Liaises with team members regarding new technology practices and procedures to ensure best practice within the relevant work area

14.Contributing to recruitment and selection processes as required

15.Maintaining and updating professional knowledge by identification of own training and development needs, updating practice and attending relevant training courses, as agreed with line manager

16.Any other duties commensurate with the grade and as required by the nature of the role.


Temporary Senior Forensic Psychologists may be assigned to a field team, prison setting or headquarters to work in support of service delivery. They will be expected to travel a reasonable distance from home (up to 35 miles) and staff may be transferred as required.



Role Profile

Title: Temporary Trainee Forensic Psychologist

Grade: Staff Officer

Purpose: To contribute to the provision of psychological services in the PBNI, as they relate to business aims and objectives

Reporting to: Senior Psychologist

Staffing responsibilities:

No line supervisory responsibility




Communicates all needs, instructions, and decisions clearly. Adapts the style of communication to meet the needs of the audience. Asks probing questions checking for understanding.

Team working Works effectively as a team member and helps build relationships within it. Actively helps and supports others to achieve team goals.

Customer Focus Provides a high level of service to customers. Works out customer needs and priorities and responds promptly and positively to their requirements.


Plans and carries out activities in an orderly and well-structured way. Prioritises tasks, uses time in the best possible way, and works within appropriate policy and procedures.

Problem Solving Gathers information from a range of sources to understand situations, making sure it is reliable an accurate. Analyses information to identify important issues and problems. Identifies risks and considers alternative courses of action to make good decisions.



Takes personal responsibility for own actions and for sorting out issues or problems that arise. Is focused on achieving results to required standards and developing skills and knowledge.



Openness to Change Understands the need for change and willing to adapt to it. Is flexible and prepared to try out new ideas.

Resilience Shows reliability and resilience in difficult circumstances. Remains calm and confident, acts in an appropriate way, controls emotions and acts decisively.


Activities


Provide customer service Work as part of a team Assist in the assessment, treatment

and management of offenders Contribute to public protection

arrangements in Northern Ireland Undertake psychometric testing of

offenders Contribute to the development,

management and evaluation of group or individual programmes

Contribute to the delivery of staff training and student induction programmes

Maintain standards of professional practice

Actively engage in personal development working towards achievement of chartered status

Make best use of information technology

Comply with Health and Safety Legislation

Promote equality, diversity and Human Rights in working practices

Maintain standards for security and confidentially of information


1. Work as part of a team providing services to offenders.

2. Assist in the assessment, treatment and management of offenders referred to the Psychology Department.

3. Working with and delivering services to the complete range of offenders and to all sections of the community and individuals within various social groups.

4. Contribute to the public protection arrangements in Northern Ireland.

5. Contribute to the development, management and evaluation of group or individual PBNI accredited programmes.

6. Undertake psychometric testing of offenders for the purposes of risk assessment and for offending behaviour programmes.

7. The work is community based but involves assessment of remand prisoners which will require work within a prison establishment.

8. Contribute to the delivery of staff training and student induction programmes.

9. Participating in establishing and maintaining professional working relationships within the PBNI and with appropriate agencies, organizations and individuals in the community.

10. Attending and positively contributing to all relevant meetings, case conferences, programme reviews as required and consistent with role and job responsibilities.

11. Work in accordance with effective practice principles, adherence to national and service standards, and PBNI policy and procedures in all elements of work. Use of appropriate methods and models of work to ensure the delivery of a high quality service.


Main Duties and Responsibilities (continued)

12. Maintaining and updating professional knowledge by identification of own training and development needs, updating practice and attending relevant training courses, as agreed with line manager.

13. Maintaining administrative work including all necessary offender records. Maintaining standards for security and confidentiality of information.

14. Compliance with PBNI policies and procedures in respect of Finance systems, Accommodation and Supplies systems, Human Resources, IT Services and Information Management systems.

15. Compliance with Health and Safety policy and procedures. Contribute to and promote the health, safety and security of all staff and service users in the working environment.

16. Any other duties commensurate with the grade and as required by the nature of the role. The nature and the balance of duties may vary between teams.

Other features of the job

Temporary Trainee Forensic Psychologists are required to work towards full Chartership with the British Psychological Society within a timescale agreed with their Supervisor.

Temporary Trainee Forensic Psychologists are designated as essential car users and as such it is essential they have a driving licence and use of a car, which will permit them to meet the travel requirements of the position in full, although consideration will be given to reasonable adjustment in respect of disability.



Role Profile

Title: Temporary Psychology Assistant

Grade: Executive Officer I

Reporting to: Trainee Forensic Psychologist




Communicates all needs, instructions and decisions clearly. Adapts the style of communication to meet the needs of the audience. Asks probing questions checking for understanding.

Maximizing Potential Encourages others to learn and develop, giving them clear and direct guidance and feedback on their performance. Encourages and supports staff, making sure they are motivated to achieve results.

Problem Solving Gathers enough relevant information to understand specific issues and events. Uses information to identify and solve problems and draw logical conclusions to make good decisions.

Customer Focus Provides a high level of service to customers. Works out customer needs and priorities and responds promptly and positively to their requirements.


Plans activities thoroughly for self and others. Builds milestones into plans, monitors progress and adjusts them as necessary in response to any changes. Provides clear direction and makes sure that staff know what is expected of them.



Readily accepts responsibility for self and others. Takes responsibility for managing situations and problems. Leads by example, showing a commitment and a determination to succeed. Continues to learn and develop.

Openness to Change Supports, promotes and puts into practice change. Introduces new ways of doing things and encourages others to accept them. Overcomes barriers to change.



Behavioural Competencies (continued)Information for Applicants – Psychology Posts January 202041 | P a g e

Resilience Shows confidence to perform own role without unnecessary support in normal circumstances. Remains calm and confident in difficult situations, acts in an appropriate way and controls emotions.

Activities


Supervise the work of teams and individuals

Manage the performance of teams and individuals

Develop individuals and teams to enhance performance

Carry out performance reviews Delegate work to others Work as part of a team Contribute to disciplinary and grievance

procedures Contribute to recruitment and selection

procedures Develop and promote effective

communication systems Participate in meetings Provide customer service Input, present and retrieve data using a

computer

Make best use of information technology

Provide specialist advice and knowledge

Prepare position papers/briefings Promote and develop quality within the

organization Monitor the quality of service provision Maintain standards of professional

practice Implement change plans Manage information and maintain

standards for security of information. Gather, evaluate and analyze

information to support others or to support action.

Maintain standards for security and confidentially of information

Promote equality, diversity and Human Rights in working practices

Comply with Health and Safety Legislation


Key duties and responsibilities vary from time to time depending on operational needs. Psychology Assistant will be supervised and supported by senior psychology staff. Psychology Assistant will have specific areas of responsibility and PBNI operate a practice of developing competencies and skills across a range of areas including

1. Cognitive Behavioural Programmes 2. Risk Assessment and Interventions3. Public Protection Arrangements4. Life sentence Prisoners and services to vulnerable prisoners

Duties will include1. To assist with the development and implementation of psychological programmes

and interventions.

2. To assist in monitoring standards of programme delivery, conduct audits, the maintenance of standards of psychology activities across locations.


Main Duties and Responsibilities (continued)

3. To assist in supporting the training and Continuing Professional Development of all psychology staff.

4. To assist in supporting the preparation for accreditation approval of cognitive behaviour programmes.

5. To assist the psychology department projects and research e.g. data input, analysis of data, attending working groups and drafting reports.

6. Assist in the maintenance of psychology psychometric data bases and general administration within the Psychology Dept.

7. Work as a member of a multi- disciplinary team.

8. Effective use of information technology. Liaise with team members regarding new technology practices and procedures to ensure best practice within the relevant area of work.

9. Maintaining and updating professional knowledge by identification of own training and development needs, updating practice and attending relevant training courses, as agreed with line manager.

10. Ensuring compliance with PBNI policies and procedures in respect of Health and Safety, Finance Systems, Accommodation and Supplies systems, Human Resources, IT services and Information Management Systems.

11. Travel to and work in all locations in which PBNI operate within Northern Ireland including prison establishments in order to fulfil the duties of the post.

12. Any other duties commensurate with the grade and as required by the nature of the role.

Executive Officers may be assigned to a field team, prison setting or headquarters to work in support of service delivery. EOs will be expected to travel a reasonable distance from home (up to 35 miles) and staff may be transferred as required.



Positive and Negative Indicators

Title: Temporary Senior Forensic Psychologist (TSFP) / TemporaryTrainee Forensic Psychologist (TTFP) / Temporary Psychology Assistant (TPA)

Grade: Deputy Principal /Staff Officer /Executive Officer I

Behaviour Competencies

1. Effective Communication (ALL POSTS)

2. Problem Solving (ALL POSTS)

3. Customer Focus (ALL POSTS)

4. Planning and Organising (ALL POSTS)

5. Respect for Diversity (ALL POSTS)

6. Openness to Change (ALL POSTS)

7. Personal Responsibility (ALL POSTS)

8. Specialist Knowledge and Skills (ALL POSTS)

9. Resilience (ALL POSTS)

10. Team Working (TTFP ONLY)

11. Maximizing Potential (TSFP + TTFP)

12. Negotiating and Influencing (TSFP ONLY)

13. Strategic Perspective (TSFP ONLY)


1. Effective CommunicationCommunicates all needs, instructions, and decisions clearly. Adapts the style of communication to meet the needs of the audience. Asks probing questions checking for understanding.

Positive Indicators:

o Deals with issues directly.

o Clearly communicates needs, instructions, decisions and the reasons behind them.

o Communicates face to face wherever possible and if it is appropriate.

o Speaks with authority and confidence and is comfortable dealing with people at all levels within and outside the organization.

o Content, style and language of communication are suited to the audience. Explains technical/specialist matters in a way that can be understood by the non-specialist.

o Explains self clearly and ensures that the listener has a full understanding of what is meant and why, particularly in a crisis situation.

o Demonstrates the capacity to actively listen as well as talk; probes and asks questions to establish/clarify people’s needs and their priorities.

o Can think on his/her feet and provide a coherent response/advice at short notice, in uncertain situations or with limited information.

o Drafts quickly and accurately. Produces clear, concise and well structured written work which summarizes and identifies the key points and requires little or no amendment of substance.

o Makes effective and confident presentations when required.

o Manages group discussions effectively. Acknowledges others’ contributions and discusses these constructively.

o Is prepared to challenge constructively and is able to say ‘no’ without causing offence.

o Goes to meetings prepared with all available facts and information.

o Follows the PBNI’s policies on security and confidentiality, disclosing information only to authorized

people.

Negative Indicators:

o Is hesitant, nervous and uncertain when speaking or speaks in a rambling way.

o Speaks without first thinking through what to say.

o Uses inappropriate language or jargon.

o Appears uncomfortable dealing with people in the organization or from other agencies.

o Is unable to provide clear guidance or explanation, particularly during a crisis situation or under pressure. Assumes others understand what has been said without actually checking.

o Does not consider the target audience.

o Avoids answering difficult questions

o Does not give full information without being questioned.

o Writes in an unstructured way. Is unable to present salient points logically or clearly. Uses poor spelling, punctuation and grammar.

o Does not listen, and interrupts at inappropriate times.

o Attends meetings ill-prepared and without all available facts and information.


o Does not actively participate in meetings or manage group discussions effectively. Is not able to challenge views/opinions constructively.


2. Problem Solving

Gathers information from a range of sources to understand situations, making sure it is reliable and accurate. Analyzes information to identify important issues and problems. Identifies risks and considers alternative courses of action to make good decisions.


o Has the ability to solve problems, generate new ideas and solutions.

o Accurately identifies appropriate information requirements and purpose. Takes in and assimilates information quickly and accurately.

o Takes an in-depth and considered approach drawing upon all the relevant supporting material; gathers different versions of events to build up a picture of a situation.

o Carries out research to identify relevant facts that are not immediately available. Gets to the core of the issue and separates the essential from the non-essential.

o Analyzes information carefully to make sure it cannot be misunderstood. Structures the information logically to meet customer/organizational needs.

o Identifies and checks for in accuracies, inconsistencies and/or inadequacies in information and takes appropriate remedial action.

o Makes sure that decisions are made using as much reliable information as possible. Refers to procedures and precedents, as necessary, before making decisions.

o Does not always accept an issue at face value; is able to look beyond the immediate to wider factors and considerations. Identifies and links causes and effects.

o Considers the views and motives of everyone involved when drawing conclusions.

o Assesses and takes account of risk when making decisions; thinks through the possible implications of information and advice provided to managers or colleagues.

o Uses information to support decisions, influence and gain the commitment of others.


o Does not deal with or solve problems and does not identify underlying issues.

o Does not gather enough information before coming to conclusions.

o Does not consult other people who may have extra information.

o Does not research background.

o Does not refer to procedures and precedents, as necessary, before making decisions.

o Shows no interest in gathering or using intelligence.

o Does not gather or analyze evidence; does not generate new ideas or solutions.

o Makes assumptions about the facts of a situation.

o Reacts without considering all the angles. Does not assess or think through risk factors/implications when making decisions or providing advice/information. Is unable to identify or link causes and effects.

o Does not notice problems until they have become significant issues.

o Gets stuck in the detail of complex situations and cannot see the main issues.

o Becomes distracted by minor issues.

o Leaves others to solve problems and does not see it as part of the role or is afraid to take

unpopular decisions.


3. Customer Focus

Provides a high level of service to customers. Maintains and improves service delivery. Earns the confidence of customers, works out their needs and priorities and responds promptly and positively to their requirements.


o Presents an appropriate image to the public and other organizations.

o Acknowledges and understands a broad range of social and cultural customs and beliefs.

o Understands what offends people and changes actions appropriately.

o Focuses on the customer in all activities. Interacts personally with customers to help understand and respond to their needs.

o Tries to sort out customers’ problems as quickly as possible.

o Responds quickly to customer requests.

o Apologizes for mistakes and sorts them out as quickly as possible.

o Notes factors which may cause operations to be disrupted or are obstacles for improvement and takes appropriate measures to minimize the effects.

o Makes sure that customers are satisfied with the service they receive; monitors the quality of service delivered and acts on findings.

o Knows the limitations of what can be delivered and manages customer expectations.

o Keeps customers updated on progress.

o Balances customer needs with organizational needs.

o Demonstrates a commitment to meeting standards and strives to deliver a consistently high quality

of service.

o Contributes ideas for quality improvements, making suggestions on different ways of working which could improve efficiency.

o Seeks suggestions and ideas from staff which are acted upon and feedback given.


o Is not customer focused – does not consider individual needs.

o Does not tell customers what is going on.

o Presents an unprofessional image to customers.

o Only sees a situation from their own view, not from the customer’s view.

o Shows little interest in the customer – only deals with the immediate problem.

o Focuses on the organizational issues rather than customer needs.

o Shows little consideration for diversity issues, social and cultural customs and beliefs.

o Does not demonstrate respect for or sensitivity to customer needs.

o Does not demonstrate a commitment to meeting standards to deliver a high quality of service.

o Does not contribute to quality improvements or different ways of working.


o Does not manage customer expectations appropriately; is unaware of limitations of what can be

delivered.

4. Planning and OrganisingPlans activities thoroughly for self and others. Builds milestones into plans, monitors progress and adjusts them as necessary in response to any changes. Provides clear direction and makes sure that staff know what is expected of them.


o Sets clear longer-term objectives for self and staff and provides staff with sense of direction.

o Identifies important activities and milestones, establishing importance and urgency.

o Is realistic about what can be achieved within organizational constraints and recognizes potential sensitivities and problems.

o Plans alternatives and contingency plans; takes timely corrective action – does not let things drift

o Makes sure people know what a task or responsibility involves, and have the necessary abilities to

carry it out.

o Defines, clarifies and assigns roles and responsibilities.

o Makes sure people have a workload that is manageable and fair, as well as being challenging.

o Manages resources well, correctly identifying the most appropriate response to situations.

o Where possible, takes account of the views of staff before taking decisions.

o Carefully checks everything is in place before starting a major initiative.

o Assesses new information and reorganizes the workload to meet new demands.

o Makes linkages across different pieces of work and takes wider considerations into account.

o Organizes action around who is available, their skills, and other resources.

o Constantly monitors and assesses progress, making sure people work to decisions, plans and

policies.

o Concentrates on detail while being aware of the overall objectives.

o Is able to work on a number of things at the same time.

o Copes under pressure: maintains a sense of humour and perspective.


o Takes an unsystematic approach to tasks.

o Sets unrealistic timescales/deadlines for completion of tasks.

o Deals with tasks as they arrive, without considering priorities.

o Waits until problems arise. Is easily thrown off balance by the unexpected; does not have contingency plans and unable to take corrective action.

o Cannot work effectively in difficult circumstances or cope under pressure.

o Does not differentiate between the levels of importance of tasks.

o Leaves role and responsibilities unclear. Does not give clear sense of direction.

o Does not check for or spot mistakes or inconsistencies.

o Consistently fails to meet deadlines due to poor planning.


o Tries to achieve everything personally.

o Takes inappropriate short cuts.

o Disregards staff’s views or suggestions on priorities, workload or deadlines.

o Takes a fixed approach – does not monitor and re-assess plans.

o Does not consider costs when planning activities.


5. Respect for DiversityUnderstands other people’s views and takes them into account. Is tactful and diplomatic when dealing with people, treating them with dignity and respect at all times. Understands and is sensitive to social, cultural, and racial differences.


o Sees issues from other people’s viewpoints.

o Is polite, tolerant and patient when dealing with people, treating everyone with respect and dignity.

o Respects the needs of everyone involved when sorting out disagreements.

o Shows understanding and sensitivity to people’s problems and vulnerabilities.

o Deals with diversity issues and gives positive support to staff who may feel vulnerable.

o Listens to and values other’s views and opinions.

o Uses language in an appropriate way and is sensitive to the way it may affect people.

o Acknowledges and respects a broad range of social and cultural customs, beliefs and values within the

law.

o Understands what offends others and adapts own actions accordingly.

o Respects and maintains confidentiality, wherever appropriate.

o Delivers difficult messages sensitively.

o Challenges inappropriate attitudes, language and behaviour that is abusive, aggressive or

discriminatory.

o Takes into account other’s personal needs and interests.

o Supports minority groups both inside and outside the organization.


o Does not consider other people’s feelings.

o Does not encourage people to talk about personal issues.

o Criticizes people without considering their feelings and motivation.

o Makes situations worse with inappropriate remarks, language or behaviour.

o Is thoughtless and tactless when dealing with people.

o Is dismissive and impatient with people.

o Does not respect confidentiality.

o Unnecessarily emphasizes power and control in situations where it is not appropriate.

o Intimidates others in an aggressive and overpowering way.

o Uses humour inappropriately.

o Shows bias and prejudice when dealing with people.


6. Openness to ChangeSupports, promotes and puts into practice change. Introduces new ways of doing things and encourages others to accept them. Overcomes barriers to change.


o Develops new systems and procedures.

o Encourages staff to be flexible and to think of totally new approaches or solutions to problems. Generates new ideas and breaks away from established ways of thinking.

o Encourages others to recognize the need for change and helps them to adapt to it.

o Actively promotes change and manages resistance to it.

o Shows understanding of others people’s fear of change.

o Plays a positive and constructive role in the introduction of change. Keeps staff informed and

addresses concerns.

o Encourages people to think of improvements and to take these forward.

o Actively supports and promotes change in the organizational culture.

o Uses the skills of people who can take change forward.

o Changes things in a controlled way.

o Develops innovative approaches within own professional field.

o Always looks to improve performance and encourages effective working practices.


o Sticks to the job description so strictly that they cannot be flexible.

o Finds it difficult to cope with change.

o Resists change.

o Wants to keep things the way they are.

o Does not understand the need for change.

o Prefers routines and tried and tested ways of working.

o Is quick to say that change is not working.

o Does not listen to the reasons for change.

o Does not want to be part of any changes that are being introduced.

o Discourages people from questioning traditional approaches.

o Ignores or talks down suggestions for change made by others.

o Does not promote change to staff.


7. Personal ResponsibilityReadily accepts responsibility for self and others. Takes responsibility for managing situations and problems. Leads by example, showing a commitment and a determination to succeed. Continues to learn and develop.


o Is self-motivated; sets personal goals and monitors own achievement against these, constantly seeking to improve personal performance. Is excited by the job challenge.

o Accepts responsibility for resolving issues both within, and where necessary outside, their normal

remit.

o Communicates their desire for the organization or team to succeed.

o Takes charge and deals with issues and situations objectively, regardless of own personal feelings

and opinions.

o Continually reflects on own actions, acknowledging mistakes and learning from them.

o Takes an energetic and committed approach to the job and demonstrates a positive attitude to work.

o Shows moral courage by challenging other’s decisions or actions when they are inappropriate; willing to constructively challenge and not acquiesce.

o Seeks and acts on feedback and criticism of own performance and management approach.

o Sets and communicates high standards of behaviour for themselves and others, and acts consistently

with these.

o Is open and honest with people.

o Confronts and deals with ethical difficulties.

o Confronts performance issues with members of staff.

o Concentrates and shows patience during long activities; can cope with ‘bureaucracy’ and long

timescales.

o Is assertive, independent and unbiased; willing to assert own position/prepared to voice an opinion.

o Can stand back, take a balance view and apply risk management.


o Passes responsibility upwards inappropriately.

o Is not concerned about letting others down.

o Will not deal with issues, just hopes that they will go away.

o Blames others rather than admitting to mistakes or looking for help.

o Is unwilling to take on responsibility.

o Puts in the minimum effort that is needed to get by.

o Shows a negative and disruptive attitude.

o Show little energy or enthusiasm for the work.

o Expresses a cynical attitude to the organization and their job.

o Gives up easily when faced with problems and challenges.

o Fails to recognize personal weaknesses and development needs.

o Makes little or no attempt to develop self or keep up to date.

o Demonstrates an unhelpful and ineffective attitude during times of change.


o Is not assertive; does not ‘get involved’ or contribute ideas/suggestions.


8. Specialist Knowledge and Skills



o Promotes and/or ensures professional best practice.

o Knows the limitations of what can be concluded based on the information and facts available and explains/sets these limitations in context.

o Takes account of precedent, developments and trends in making recommendations.

o Consults colleagues to test and refine ideas.

o Proposes practical courses of action which balance the professional/specialist view with what is realistic and achievable.

o Ensures safe working practices are adhered to.

o Ensures staff can focus on carrying out the professional aspect of their work and makes effective use of administrative support.

o Makes links across specialism and knows when to draw in colleagues from outside own area.

o Is prepared to offer unwelcome advice where necessary on the basis of professional

knowledge/experience.

o Delivers effective professional/specialist/technical skills and/or care.

o Keeps abreast of current issues and developments in own field/professional organization, eg through journals, networks, standards, conferences, and other meetings.

o Is aware of public/media concerns and issues relating to own professional area.


o Does not develop or update professional specialist/technical knowledge and skills.

o Does not keep abreast of current issues or public/media concerns in own area of expertise.

o Is unable to assimilate and assess the relevance of new developments in relation to the

organization.

o Is unable to demonstrate thorough knowledge/expertise or establish credibility/win confidence of

others.

o Courses of action/advice proposed are not useful, realistic or achievable.

o Is unwilling to consult with colleagues or across specialism.

o Makes recommendations before considering previous trends or precedents.

o Is hesitant to offer unwelcome advice where necessary.

o Does not ensure that best practice and organizational procedures are adhered to.

o Does not deliver accurate or comprehensive specialist knowledge and skills.


9. ResilienceShows reliability and resilience in difficult circumstances. Remains calm and confident, and responds logically and decisively in difficult situations.


o Is reliable in a crisis, remains calm and thinks clearly.

o Sorts out conflict and deals with hostility and provocation in a calm and restrained way.

o Responds to challenges rationally, avoiding in appropriate emotion.

o Deals with difficult emotional issues and then moves on.

o Manages conflicting pressures and tensions.

o Maintains professional ethics when confronted with pressure from others.

o Copes with ambiguity and deals with uncertainty and frustration.

o Resists pressure to make quick decisions where full consideration is needed.

o Remains focused and in control of situations.

o Makes and carries through decisions, even if they are unpopular, difficult or controversial.

o Stands firmly by a position when it is right to do so.

o Defends their staff from excessive criticism from outside the team.


o Gets easily upset, frustrated and annoyed.

o Panics and becomes agitated when problems arise.

o Walks away from confrontation when it would be more appropriate to get involved.

o Needs constant reassurance, support and supervision.

o Uses inappropriate physical force.

o Gets too emotionally involved in situations.

o Reacts inappropriately when faced with rude and abusive people.

o Deals with situations aggressively.

o Complains and whinges about problems rather than dealing with them.

o Gives in inappropriately when under pressure.

o Worries about making mistakes and avoids difficult situations wherever possible.


10. Teamworking

Works effectively as a team member and helps build relationships within it. Actively helps and supports others to achieve team goals.


o Understands own role in a team.

o Actively supports and assists the team to reach their objectives.

o Is approachable and friendly to others.

o Makes time to get to know people.

o Co-operates with and supports others.

o Visibly assists their team members, especially when tasks are difficult or demand is high.

o Asks for and accepts help when needed.

o Develops mutual trust and confidence in others.

o Willingly takes on unpopular or routine tasks.

o Handles differences with other people diplomatically and in a way that avoids offence and maintains respect. Knows when to seek advice from line manager.

o Contributes to team objectives no matter what the direct personal benefit may be.

o Takes time to assist new staff and to explain instructions clearly.

o Acknowledges that there is often a need to be a member of more than one team.

o Takes pride in their team and promotes their team’s performance to others.

o Establishes effective contact and involvement with outside agencies.


o Does not volunteer to help other team members.

o Is only interested in taking part in high-profile and interesting activities.

o Takes credit for successes without recognizing the contribution of others.

o Works to own agenda rather than contributing to team performance.

o Allows small exclusive groups of people to develop.

o Plays one person off against another.

o Restricts and controls what information is shared.

o Does not let people say what they think.

o Does not offer advice or get advice from others.

o Does not discourage conflict within the organization.

o Does not maintain effective working relationships and does not show sensitivity towards others.


11. Maximizing Potential

Encourages others to learn and develop, giving them clear and direct guidance and feedback on their performance. Encourages and supports staff, making sure they are motivated to achieve results.


o Understands the needs, talents, capabilities and interests of staff. Is aware of staff strengths and weaknesses and allocates work accordingly.

o Sets clear and reasonable performance standards for staff and makes it clear what is expected of them, both as a team and as individuals.

o Gives staff regular and constructive feedback on performance and readily praises their

achievements.

o Recognizes and rewards performance improvement. Makes sure excellence is rewarded.

o Helps staff to see that they can achieve their aims; encourages and helps staff to identify and follow through opportunities for training and self development.

o Encourages and supports initiative in team members.

o Raises self esteem and self confidence, and develops skills. Demonstrates the ability to set direction, inspire, motivate and persuade.

o Uses opportunities provided by work to coach and develop staff on-the-job.

o Takes early and firm action to deal with team members who do not perform and/or other issues preventing effective team working. Provides constructive support when honest mistakes are made.

o Is approachable and makes time for staff even when under pressure. Shows patience and understanding when staff are facing difficulties.

o Deals with diversity issues and gives positive practical support to staff who may feel vulnerable.

o Maintains responsibility for and interest in tasks given to staff to do

o Aware of the impact of their own behaviour on morale and performance of staff.


o Does not help staff learn by sharing knowledge with them.

o Gives the impression of being too busy to be available for staff.

o Sets unrealistic standards/objectives for individual staff and team.

o Does not review staff’s work or progress.

o Tends to do all the jobs themselves, rather than using them to develop staff.

o Does not encourage staff to see the development opportunities in everyday activities.

o Shows little interest in teaching/coaching others or providing opportunities to stimulate staff involvement/initiative.

o Avoids dealing with issues and/or does not take early action to deal with individual poor performance or obstacles to effective team working.

o Lacks patience and understanding when staff have encountered problems or difficulties.

o Gives unhelpful criticism, and does not use praise to motivate people.

o Is not aware of or shows little interest in the good work done by staff.

o Gives negative feedback rather than focusing on ways to improve.


o Creates a climate of blame when mistakes are made.

12. Negotiating and Influencing

Uses logic and reason to influence others. Persuades people by using powerful arguments. Identifies clear aims in negotiations and achieves satisfactory outcomes.


o Sells the benefits of a decision or situation to others.

o States own position clearly; backs up arguments with facts.

o Uses logic and reason to persuade and influence others.

o Presents powerful arguments.

o Handles objections by acknowledging issues and suggesting alternatives.

o Projects confidence and is assertive: can handle criticism and hostility without taking it personally.

o Involves people who have positive attitudes to get commitment from others.

o Sets clear negotiating aims and outcomes.

o Understands the negotiating position of others and considers them.

o Makes sure that everyone involved is satisfied with agreements that have been reached.

o Deals confidently and tactfully with staff from different organizations with different organizational cultures and expectations.


o Gives views without any real belief.

o Cannot explain or justify decisions.

o Gives views without any logic or reasoning.

o Is not willing to compromise to achieve a solution that everyone accepts.

o Tries to force views on others without discussion.

o Does not focus on the important points of complicated issues and objections that might be raised.

o Ignores points raised by others.

o Tries to get proposals approved without getting support beforehand.

o Is not self-assured and takes criticism personally.

o Does not deal with different organizations diplomatically and is not sensitive to different

organizational cultures.


13. Strategic Perspective Concentrates on issues that support the broad organizational strategy. Maintains a broad view, and understands and considers the interests and aims of other units or outside the organization.


o Makes sure own team’s ways of working are in line with the strategic direction of the organization.

o Has a detailed knowledge of the relevant policy area and can advise on the practical implications of

proposals.

o Analyzes issues, identifies factors and linkages and provides key information to assist in drawing up of the strategy/policy.

o Provides practical and well thought through ideas that meet the needs of senior

managers/colleagues.

o Provides advice and guidance to staff on the effects of policy and changes in their work.

o Concentrates on issues which support organizational strategy.

o Thinks across functional and unit boundaries, understanding how their actions will affect other

people.

o Thinks strategically beyond own role and specialist area. Considers policy, resource and other constraints and assesses them on their impact when formulating strategy.

o Raises awareness of strategic issues; assists staff to understand the strategy and gains their commitment to take action.

o Finds ways of exposing people to ways of working outside the service.

o Tries to influence organizational strategy, culture and direction.

o Predicts the effects of complex problems and issues and takes appropriate action.

o Considers the longer term and broader view, even when having to respond quickly.

o Predicts the effect of legislation on the organization and prepares for it.


o Is not aware of organizational strategy.

o Does not recognize the links between related activities and functions.

o Is not interested in what is going on outside own area.

o Does not see the possible damaging effects of actions or decisions on other parts of the

organization.

o Criticizes or does not support organizational policies.

o Is not willing to accept or co-operate with organizational policy.

o Does not help staff understand or provide advice on strategy to gain their commitment.

o Focuses on short-term issues, ignoring long term effects.

o Does not maintain a detailed level of knowledge and understanding on relevant policy area.

o Does not think through ideas, analyze issues or provide key information to assist in policy/strategy

formulation.

o Is not aware of the effect of own actions on other agencies.

o Does not see the wider picture.


o Is not aware of political issues.

o Does not predict and prepare for problems.

Guidance for candidatesPBNI interview and selection processes

Section 1 – The Application Form

Section 2 – The Selection Process

Section 3 - Interview Guidance for Applicants

Section 4 - Appointment Process

Section 5 - Appeals Procedure

Please ensure that you carefully read this information before making your application and before coming for interview


Section 1 – The Application Form

1.1 Making your ApplicationThe Probation Board for Northern Ireland (PBNI) uses standard applications forms. These forms are designed to afford applicants the ability to provide the necessary information to enable us to determine how you meet the competition requirements and shortlisting criteria.

1.2 Guidance on the Application Form The space available on the application form is the same for all applicants and must not be altered or reformatted. PBNI will not consider applications in the following circumstances: Applications will not be accepted if not completed on the agreed PBNI

application form Reformatted applications will not be accepted. Typescript must remain

unchanged with font size 12 or legible handwritten block capitals using black ink.

CVs, letters, additional sheets or supplementary material will not be accepted Applications will not be accepted if the Declaration of Convictions form is not

completed and returned (if required for the post) Applications will not be accepted if the Equal Opportunities Monitoring form

has not been returned Applications will not be accepted if the Disability discrimination form (DDA1)

has not been completed and returned Applications received with a shortfall in postage will not be accepted Applications not received by the stated closing date and time on the

advertisement will not be accepted Part-completed applications will not be accepted

Please note this includes DDA1 form and Declaration of Convictions form as part of the application form.

1.3 Do not use acronyms or highly complex technical detail where this is not appropriate for the role. Write for the reader who may not know your employer, or your job. Write down clearly your personal involvement in any experience you quote. Write “I” statements e.g. I planned meetings, I managed a budget, I prepared a presentation. It is how you actually carried out a piece of work that the panel will be interested in.

1.4 The examples you provide should be relevant to the question/criteria. The shortlisting panel will make a decision whether to interview based solely on the information that you supply at each question therefore it is in your interests to give comprehensive examples of your skills, knowledge and or experience. It is your unique role the panel is interested in, not that of your team.


1.5 Application Form SubmissionApplications will be accepted by email to [email protected] orApplications will be accepted by post, or hand delivery to the Human Resources Department, PBNI Headquarters, 80-90 North Street, Belfast BT1 1LD

You are encouraged to submit applications by email wherever possible. It is your responsibility to ensure that your application is received by PBNI before the closing date. Please be mindful that not all emails are transmitted instantaneously and that you should leave sufficient time to ensure that arrives well before the deadline. We advise that you keep proof of the date and time of sending in case there is a technical problem that affects the time we receive your form. All requests for hard copy application packs are welcomed and all applications will be treated equally regardless of whether they are hard copy or electronic.

1.6 Incomplete Application FormAs indicated in 1.2 above PBNI will not accept incomplete application forms; applications received after the closing deadline or application forms that have been substantially reformatted. Applicants using Royal Mail should note that 1st class mail does not guarantee next day delivery. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that sufficient postage has been paid to return the application form to PBNI. We will not accept any application where we are asked to pay any shortfall in postage. Human Resources will not examine any application forms until after the closing deadline.

1.7 Disability RequirementsPBNI will ask you to declare if you require any reasonable adjustments, due to disability. Details of any disability are only used for this purpose and do not form any part of the selection process. If you wish to discuss your disability requirements further, please contact Human Resources at [email protected]

1.8 Equal Opportunity Monitoring The Probation Board for Northern Ireland, in pursuance of our obligations under the Fair Employment and Treatment Order 1998 and section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 are required to send an equality monitoring form to all applicants for employment. This form requires applicants to give information about their:

Community Background Gender Disability Ethnicity Political Opinion Marital Status Sexual Orientation Age Whether you have Dependants.

Failure to return an Equal Opportunity Monitoring form will result in your application being rejected. The information that you provide is held in confidence and will not be shared with shortlisting or selection panels. Your information will be used to assess how fair our recruitment processes are and if appointed this information will also be used to assess how fair our internal transfers and promotions are etc.

Any concerns about how to complete this information should be addressed to the: Information for Applicants – Psychology Posts January 202064 | P a g e




Deputy Head of Human Resources PBNIHuman Resources Department 80-90 North Street BelfastBT1 1LD.

1.9 Nationality Requirements

PBNI must ensure that you are legally entitled to work in the United Kingdom. Applicants must be one of the following either:

i. A UK national

ii. A Commonwealth citizen

iii. A British Protected Person

iv. A person from the European Economic Area (EEA) or Swiss national

v. A person who is not an EEA or Swiss national, but is a family member of an EEA national who has moved to the UK from another EEA Member State for an approved purpose.

In addition to ensuring that appointees to PBNI satisfy nationality requirements, there is a broader requirement to ensure that those appointed do not contravene immigration legislation.

Whilst applicants from the Commonwealth Countries may satisfy Nationality requirements for appointment, they may also require a work permit or sponsorship licence to legally work in the UK. PBNI will check the applicant’s passport etc to confirm he/she can legally work in the UK and/or has a work permit.

For further guidance on nationality requirements please see the Home Office website, www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk

1.10 Vetting ProceduresAll positions with PBNI require that candidates are vetted to the required standard. No confirmed job offer will be made to candidates until these pre-employment checks have been satisfactorily completed. Subject to the requirement of the post applicants may be required to undergo a criminal record check at Access NI Basic, Standard, Enhanced or Enhanced with check against the vetting and barred lists. Counter Terrorist Checks (CTC) will be carried out for those staff working in prisons

1.11 Declaration of Conviction(s)Candidates completing a Declaration of Convictions form should note that answering ‘YES’ to any questions on the Convictions Declaration does not necessarily bar a candidate from appointment. Each case will be considered on its merits.


Section 2 – The Selection Process

2.1 Screening of application formsAfter the closing deadline has passed formal screening will be carried out the by the Human Resources Department and this consists of a check to determine that the: Application has been received by the closing date and time There is no shortfall in postage from applicant Applications are completed on the agreed PBNI application form (CVs, letters,

additional sheets or supplementary material will not be accepted) Applications have not been reformatted. (Typescript must remain unchanged

with font size 12 or legible handwritten block capitals using black ink). Applications are not part-completed Declaration of Convictions form has been completed and returned (if required

for the post) Equal Opportunities Monitoring form has been returned Disability discrimination form (DDA1) has been completed and returned

2.2 Applications which do not pass the above formal screening will not be progressed further and the relevant applicants will be informed that their application is invalid.

2.3 ShortlistingPBNI may decide to interview/progress only those applicants who appear, from the information available, to be most suitable in terms of relevant experience and ability. The process by which the best candidates are identified for interview/progression is called shortlisting.

2.4 You should ensure that you provide evidence of your experience on your application form, giving length of experience, examples of work, personal role and dates as appropriate. Carefully read the essential and/or desired criteria on the application form and ensure that you fully answer each one. (See also section 1.3 and 1.4).

It is not sufficient to simply list your job titles.

PBNI will not make assumptions from the title of the applicant’s post or the nature of the organisation as to the skills and experience gained.

If you do not provide sufficient detail, including the appropriate dates needed to meet the eligibility criteria; you may fail to get through the shortlisting sift.

2.5 The application will be formatted to enable separation of the essential and desirable criteria sections, and these sections will normally only be provided to the selection panel for shortlisting purposes. Applications will be anonymised with a unique identification number.

2.6 Typical short-listing will consider the following sifting rules

Each question on the application form will be rated and categorised with A, B or C rating. In most cases candidates who have a B rating across the question areas will be put forward for interview. A panel on occasions may decide to interview only those who have supplied answers rated with an A rating. This is especially true when there are high numbers of applicants.

A Rating Information for Applicants – Psychology Posts January 202066 | P a g e

Strong evidence The answer is clear and directly and fully answers the questions

askedB Rating

Acceptable evidence The answer gives an indication that evidence is present, but is a little

vague. C Rating

Poor evidence / lack of evidence The answer does not relate to the question

2.7 Shortlisting may be a three stage process as follows:

Stage One

Where the essential criteria includes, for example, a requirement:

for specific qualifications membership of, or registration with a professional body to hold a valid driving licence and have use of a car

Human Resources will carry out an initial sift of applications to confirm if the criteria has been met.

Stage Two

The selection panel will individually consider each application assessing against the remaining essential criteria.

Stage Three

It may be necessary on some occasions to further reduce the number of candidates selected for interview. In such circumstances the selection panel will individually consider each application assessing against some or all of the desirable criteria. This means that the panel will only interview those candidates who have both the essential and desirable criteria.

2.8 As indicated in 2.4 above it is vitally important that you read the questions on the application form and answer each question area fully.


Section 3 - Interview Guidance for Applicants

3.1 If this is your first experience of competence-based questions, you should pay careful attention to the following information as this guidance will give you clear information on what you can be expected to answer in an interview with a PBNI selection panel. A competence-based interview requires you to:

focus exclusively on the competences required for effective performance in the role; and provide specific examples of your experience in relation to the required competence areas.

3.2 In some instances the interview may include situational/scenario based questions and/or questions related to a specific specialism.

Situational /Scenario questions will include situations or scenarios the interview panel member will provide to you to see how you would respond to that situation. This allows you to provide a hypothetical response even if you do not have the experience in the field and will enable you to demonstrate potential going forward.

Competitions with a specialist element, for example, accountancy/ financial or technical posts, may include specialist questions to enable you to demonstrate your level of knowledge and expertise in a specific area.

3.3 The letter inviting you to interview will indicate what competency areas you will be asked to cover at interview and it will also advise if any situational/scenario or specialist questions will be asked. If an alternative selection process is to be used this will be advised to you in the invite to attend letter.

3.4 In preparation for the interview you may wish to think about having a clear structure for each of your examples, such as:

Context – Outline the situation

Challenge – What was your objective? What were you trying to achieve?

Action – What did you actually do? What was your unique contribution?

Result – What happened? What was the outcome? What did you learn?

3.5 It is strongly recommended that you familiarise yourself with the competences required for the advertised role. These competencies are included in the Role Profile. The interview panel will ask you to provide specific examples from your past experience in relation to each of the competences. You should therefore come to the interview prepared to discuss in detail a range of examples that best illustrate your skills and abilities in each competence area. You may draw examples from any area of your work/life experiences eg higher education or a voluntary capacity.


Section 4 - Appointment Process

4.1 The Merit PrincipleIn accordance with PBNI’s Recruitment Policy all appointments to PBNI are made under the ‘merit principle’. Only in exceptional cases will people be appointed out of merit order and this will be in exceptional and justifiable cases, for example where we need a certain set of skills or qualifications.

4.2 Order of MeritThe selection panel will assess candidates against an agreed interview criteria. A candidate who meets the required standard(s) and pass mark will be deemed suitable for appointment. The selection panel will then list those suitable for appointment in order of merit with the highest scoring applicant ranked first. Human Resources will allocate a candidate to a vacancy in the order listed. The order of merit/reserve list will be drawn up and held normally for 12 months.

4.3 If a candidate turns an offer of employment down, it will be offered to the other appointable candidates in merit order. Candidates who decline an initial offer of employment will remain on the order of merit/reserve list, in their original positon, and may be subsequently offered a second posting if available within the operating period of the order of merit/reserve list. If the candidate declines the second offer of employment they will move to the bottom of the order of merit/reserve list.

4.4 Further Appointments from this CompetitionWhere a further position in PBNI is identified which is considered broadly similar to that outlined in our job advertisement, consideration will be given to filling the new position from an existing recruitment.

4.5 FeedbackThe Probation Board for Northern Ireland is committed to ensuring that the processes used to recruit and select staff are fair and in accordance with the recruitment policy. We are consequently committed to providing feedback in respect of decisions taken in determining eligibility/shortlisting as well as at interview. Requests for feedback should be in writing to Human Resources - e-mailing - [email protected] is acceptable.

4.6 References References will automatically be sought for all successful candidates once he/she has confirmed their intention to take up the conditional offer. Reference checks may also be carried out in all or a selected number of suitable candidates if a number of posts are available or anticipated.

4.6 QualificationsAll candidates will be required to produce the original relevant qualifications, photocopies will not be accepted; if this information is not supplied it will result in the candidate being rejected from the competition. HR allows two weeks for this information to be supplied by the candidate.

4.7 DisabilitiesCandidates with declared disabilities who have been successful in the selection process will be contacted by Human Resources where appropriate to establish whether the individual requires any reasonable adjustments to the workplace prior to appointment.



Section 5 – Appeals Procedure

5.1 A candidate can use the appeals procedure if he/she can provide grounds that:

the process used by the PBNI is flawed or he/she has been treated less favourably than another candidate in the same

process.

The appeal must be received by the PBNI within 10 working days of the alleged incident taking place. (Explanatory note: This is taken to be 10 days from the date of the letter or email notifying you of the outcome of your application.)

5.2 The stages in the appeals process are:

a) The candidate must write to the Head of Human Resources, PBNI, 80-90 North Street, Belfast BT1 1LD, outlining the reasons and providing evidence why he/she believes there are grounds for appeal.

b) A written receipt of acknowledgement will be issued within 5 working days.

c) The Head of Human Resources will convene an appropriate panel (not previously involved in the recruitment) to consider if there are grounds for appeal.

d) Prior to considering an appeal, the Head of Human Resources will provide the panel with all relevant information.

e) It may be necessary in some instances to seek clarification from the original panel members and/or Human Resources.

5.3 The appeals panel can decide to uphold an appeal (in full or in part) or not to uphold the appeal. The outcome of the appeal will normally be conveyed to the appellant within 20 working days of receipt of the appeal.

5.4 If the panel does not uphold the appeal, then the candidate will be informed of his/her further right to appeal to a Director of Probation (or above if applicable).

a) The further appeal to the Director must be received within 10 working days of the original appeal decision. (Explanatory Note: This is taken to be 10 days from the date of the letter notifying you of the outcome of the appeal. The further appeal must be in writing to the address as stated in 5.2 a).

b) The Director will consider the evidence/reasons provided to him/her on the grounds outlined.

c) The outcome of the further appeal will normally be conveyed to the appellant within 20 working days of receipt.

d) The Director can decide to uphold an appeal (in full or in part) or not to uphold the appeal.

e) If the appeal is successful, the appellant will be informed of any appropriate action to be taken.

f) The decision of the Director is final and will conclude the appeals process.Information for Applicants – Psychology Posts January 202070 | P a g e

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