8045 - Judicial Legal Information Officer, Judicial Office

Role title: Judicial Information Officer

Team/Directorate: Strategy and Change Directorate

Overview of the Judicial Office

The Judicial Office (JO) reports to, and is accountable, to the Lady Chief Justice (LCJ). It was established in 2006 to provide support to the LCJ and to the wider judiciary in upholding the rule of law and in delivering justice impartially, speedily and efficiently, following the Constitutional Reform Act 2005.

In addition, we support, and are accountable to, the Senior President of Tribunals, whose responsibilities extend to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The JO is an interesting and unique place to work. Everything we do is in support of upholding the independence and impartiality of the judiciary. We work closely with HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS), the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and others across Government as well as with the legal professions.

We are an Arm’s Length Body sponsored by the Ministry of Justice. This creates an interesting and complex environment in which to work where we agree our priorities with the senior judiciary and receive our funding to deliver them from the Ministry of Justice. The Judicial Office has been through a period of significant growth resulting from an expansion of our remit and responsibilities.

See JO staff talk about working here:

Overview of the team

Judicial Library and Information Services 

The Judicial Library and Information Service (jLIS) is a team of 14 people which provides legal publications and information to judges and legal advisers to ensure that they are equipped to carry out their duties effectively.   

This includes: 

• Provision of legal and online publications to 1,700 salaried judges, 7,500 fee-paid judges and 1,100 legal advisers in the courts and tribunals.  The framework which governs the provision of this service is set out in the “Protocol for the Provision of Legal Publications to the Judiciary” which is overseen by the Judges’ Council Library Committee. 

• A central legal research enquiry service for judges across England and Wales through the library at the Royal Courts of Justice, which provides judges with access to an unrivalled collection of print and online legal information and regular current awareness bulletins.

• Managing the judicial help desk for the publication of court and tribunal judgments.  This entails liaising with judges and The National Archives to ensure that judgments are published in a timely manner and providing advice and guidance to judges who wish to publish their judgments

The FtT SEC

This Chamber is home to three different tribunals. The largest is the Social Security and Child Support Tribunal (SSCS). It decides appeals about an individual’s entitlement to a range of disability, work related and other benefits, appeals about liability to make child support payments and entitlement to vaccine damage payments and compensation under the Infected Blood Compensation Scheme. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal hears appeals about whether and how much compensation can be paid to someone who has sustained injury as a victim of a crime of violence. The Asylum Support Tribunal hears appeals about decisions refusing asylum support or cancelling an existing award.