Office of the Pubs Code Adjudicator
Lower Ground
Victoria Square House
Victoria Square
Birmingham
B2 4AJ
Email:
xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
17 October 2019
Dear Mr Schade,
Thank you for your email, received on 20 September 2019, in which you requested
information from the office of the Pubs Code Adjudicator (PCA) under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (the Act).
The Act entitles you to:
• know whether the information you have requested is held by the PCA; and
• be provided with that information, subject to any exemptions in the Act which may
apply.
You have requested the following information:
• Please disclose the job description and salary ranges for all staff in your office.
I can confirm that the office of the PCA does hold some information relevant to your request.
Please note that the PCA does not employ any staff directly. I have interpreted your request
in relation to “staff” to mean employees seconded to the PCA from Government
Departments. I have not included temporary staff members who are engaged through
employment agencies or consultants to the PCA.
I can confirm that information relating to job descriptions have been taken from job adverts
held by this office and is set out in the accompanying annex to this letter. You may wish to
be aware that for a small number of roles, these are under development and current job
descriptions are not held.
If you do not believe that the office of the PCA has provided an appropriate response to your
request, you are entitled to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be
submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original request
and should be made in writing, quoting the above reference, to
xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx or:
PCA
Lower Ground
Victoria Square House
1
Victoria Square
Birmingham
B2 4AJ
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can
be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely,
Sunita Kumar
Office of the Pubs Code Adjudicator
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Annex
Job Description
Current Pay
Scale
Director
SCS payband 1
Information not held
G7 – Arbitration Lawyer
£47,775 - £55,550
You will have the opportunity to influence the office in the development of
its new regulatory functions, leading on the advice to the Pubs Code
Adjudicator (PCA) in relation to his arbitration functions under the new
statutory framework. This post provides the opportunity to gain significant
legal experience across the advisory and litigation legal landscape in
areas of both public and private law. There may also be an opportunity
to develop further skills in supporting the PCA in its investigatory
functions over time. Line management responsibility is available for the
right candidate.
You will be part of a small and friendly team supporting the PCA to carry
out his duties to arbitrate disputes in accordance with his statutory duties.
As the senior arbitration lawyer you will work closely with the Head of
Legal (an experienced lawyer from the Government Legal Service),
advising and leading arbitration case workers, and as necessary,
external legal advisers. You will provide advice direct to the PCA on all
legal aspects of arbitration cases referred to the PCA. You will play a
key role on interpreting this new and intellectually stimulating area of law.
You will lead on innovative development of statutory arbitrations in a
public law context, gaining significant experience in a litigation and
advisory context in an area that is fast paced with significant Political and
media interest.
Previous litigation and/or arbitration experience would be advantageous.
No previous experience is required of the Pubs Code and training will be
provided.
Professional Qualifications
Applicants must be (or about to become) qualified to practise as a
Solicitor, Barrister or Chartered Legal Executive in England and Wales.
You must have completed a training contract/pupillage/qualifying
employment or have been exempted from this by the Law Society, the
Bar Council or CILEx. Applicants qualified in a jurisdiction outside
England and Wales will be required to undertake the Qualified Lawyers
Transfer Scheme within 12 months of appointment. The PCA will not
meet the cost.
We also welcome applications from those who expect to qualify shortly.
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Person specification
This is an exciting and fast moving role which will suit someone looking
to develop their legal skills set in both the litigation and advisory context.
It will require case management skills, statutory interpretation skills in a
new and technical area of law and cost effective service provision. It will
require someone who can gain the trust of, and work with, people at all
levels of seniority, up to and including Director General level.
This post will suit someone who:
• is a self-starter who can work on their own initiative and is
comfortable taking decisions
• has a proven ability to manage and effectively prioritise a busy
and diverse litigation workload, delivering high-quality work on
time
• is a confident verbal and written communicator in a range of
settings, including in commercial and politically sensitive
environments
• is able to get up to speed and interpret new areas of law quickly
and provide accurate and timely legal advice on case
management to support the PCA’s arbitration functions
• has experience of, or an aptitude for, effective people
management (for people seeking line management
responsibilities)
Responsibilities
• Provide impartial, effective and quality advice to the PCA on
arbitration cases
• Develop consistent and effective interpretation of a new area of
law, which is robust against legal challenge
• Advise on all legal aspects of arbitration case management and
preparation, including in relation to case management
conferences and oral hearings, as required
• Discuss and share best practice to ensure lessons are learned
from complaints, including developing PCA Advice to appropriate
stakeholders on PCA views arising out of arbitration cases
• Contribute to the wider functioning of the PCA office as
appropriate
• Sound understanding of public law
• Reliable legal judgement and appreciation of legal risk
• The ability to think strategically and creatively, see legal issues in
their wider context and advise accordingly
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• Sound analysis, using secure legal research to produce timely
and fit for purpose advice
• The ability to communicate advice effectively both in writing and
orally
Grade 7 – Regulatory Policy
£47,775 - £55,550
You will have the opportunity to develop and influence the operation of
some of the PCA’s core functions as the office continues to develop its
regulatory role in an exciting area of law which straddle public and private
areas of law. The successful candidate(s) will gain significant experience
in working within a regulator at an important time as the first statutory
review of the PCA and the Pubs Code is undertaken.
The posts will focus on identifying and analysing evidence to help the
PCA to target its activities; and developing and communicating regulatory
policies and interventions to do so. Main areas of responsibility:
• Regulatory analysis
• Policy recommendations
• Communications strategy
• Stakeholder engagement
• BEIS sponsorship
• Briefing, correspondence and managing Freedom of Information
(FoI)
• Potential management of a small team including an SEO
G7 Casework and Policy
£47,775 - £55,550
This is a rare opportunity to take up a new post as a Policy and
Casework Lead in the high profile, pioneering Office of the Pubs Code
Adjudicator. It will suit someone with high quality leadership, policy and
analytical skills.
You will have the opportunity to influence the core functions of the Pubs
Code Adjudicator as the office continues to develop its regulatory role in
a new area. The successful candidate will gain significant policy and
legal casework experience, leading on policy development through
continuing analysis of arbitration decisions and regulatory activities, as
well as gaining excellent exposure to the high profile pub sector, which
generates strong media and political interest.
This is a new post in which the job holder will play a large role in
developing policy whilst ensuring professional excellence in arbitration
casework and enquiry line operations. This includes developing,
implementing and maintaining processes and systems to ensure
arbitrations are progressed without undue delay and proactively
managing the administration of arbitration referrals and effective data
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capture. The post holder will use the evidence gathered in arbitrations
to develop policy.
The post holder will work effectively with caseworkers to promote
consistency and best practice. You will need to develop an excellent
knowledge of the Pubs Code statutory framework to ensure that you are
able to provide guidance to caseworkers
• Lead casework meetings, and support caseworkers in case
management meetings with senior colleagues
• Have excellent attention to detail on both internal and external
correspondence from the arbitration casework team
• Escalate issues when necessary to senior members of the PCA
team and follow up any agreed actions. Support other PCA team
members in the delivery of services for the PCA, including in
relation to validation of accurate data into the arbitration case
management system to support publication of accurate PCA data,
input into handling challenges to the appointment of the arbitrator,
and managing the introduction
• Be the responsible liaison point between the arbitration casework
team and the PCA Management Board, in particular responsible
for the monthly reports to Management Board.
What are we looking for:
The PCA's stakeholders are passionate, well informed and challenging
so the successful candidate will need to be a skilled communicator,
able to establish and maintain strong relationships based on trust and
mutual respect. This role also requires an ability to look ahead and to
be proactive as well as being able to react quickly and professionally
as and when issues arise.
The Casework Manager and Policy Lead role involves dealing with a
new area of law and the policy implications of arbitration decisions
being made by the Adjudicator and Deputy Adjudicator are still
unfolding. Delivery of a clear policy direction will involve clear and
creative thinking; using analytical evidence to inform policy decisions
and ensuring that the PCA's policy position is widely known and
understood across the sector through a highly effective stakeholder
engagement and communications strategy.
You will be part of a newly formed team and an important part of the
role is to build capacity and provide strong leadership and
management both within the team and across the PCA more widely
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G7 Operations and Finance
£49,269 - £56,863
Information not held
SEO Senior Policy Adviser- Intelligence and Compliance
£35,765 - £40,500
We are looking for an SEO to play an important role in the Intelligence
and Compliance Team in the PCA. Making sure that the PCA has the
intelligence needed to make evidence based decisions on enforcing the
Code is a top priority for the Office. This is a new post which involves
interrogating the information to assess how effectively the Code is being
observed and devising and prioritising approaches to secure compliance
from the companies in scope.
This post reports directly to the Grade 6 Head of Intelligence and
Compliance, who is a member of the PCA’s senior Management Board.
The successful post holder will have day to day responsibility for
managing the flow of evidence from stakeholders from across the
industry, analysing what that evidence tells the PCA about the
effectiveness of the Code, and making initial assessments of action that
may be required to ensure compliance.
The successful candidate will be willing to work flexibly across the Office
working with policy and legal colleagues. The post will suit someone with
good analytical and organisational skills who is comfortable drawing
strategic conclusions from evidence and making recommendations
seeing the big picture in an environment where key stakeholders have
strongly held positions.
Person specification
The Pubs Code is complex and detailed legislation. It constitutes a
significant market intervention giving tied tenants new rights. The Code
has been in force only since July 2016, and stakeholders from both the
pub company and tenant sides of the industry have been robustly testing
its boundaries.
The successful candidate will need to quickly get to grips with the
complex legal framework and the strongly held positions of key
stakeholders. Crucially, they must be capable of sorting through evidence
that may be anecdotal, incomplete or partial to identify meaningful
information about the operation of the Code. The successful candidate
should be comfortable with using and analysing data (including numerical
data). They must be able to use sound judgement to identify robust data
and information sources and be able to analyse the evidence to draw key
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conclusions. Part of analysing the evidence will be the ability to recognise
patterns in the data, outline costs, benefits, risks and potential
responses.
The successful candidate will be one who does not just react to issues as
they arise, but who actively analyses the market, spots trends and
identifies proactive steps to promote compliance.
Applications will be welcome from members of Government analytical
professions (or those with similar qualifications and experience) who wish
to expand their policy experience.
SEO Correspondence and Stakeholder Manager
£35,765 - £40,500
We are looking for an SEO to play an important role in the Policy and
Communications Team in the PCA. The post involves creating and
implementing a correspondence management system and managing
stakeholder engagement as part of the PCA’s wider strategic
communications strategy. This will include managing Freedom of
Information requests; preparing correspondence; liaising with
representative groups from the sector and where appropriate working
with the sponsor team in BEIS on parliamentary handling and
communications with the Minister. The successful candidate will be able
to take ownership of this challenging work stream and build capacity
within the organisation to deliver and maintain a coherent approach to
the PCA’s external communications.
It is essential that all correspondence accurately reflects the developing
legal and policy position within the PCA. The successful post holder will
be drawing on the knowledge and expertise of legal and case work
colleagues as well as being expected to build their own knowledge of the
Pubs Code. This post will suit someone with strong organisational and
management skills who is able to see the big picture in an environment
where key stakeholders have strongly held positions.
The post holder will also lead on PPM at the PCA for stakeholders and
wider policy/communications work strands, understanding how these
areas contribute to the PCA’s strategic priorities.
Person specification
The PCA’s stakeholders are informed, engaged and passionate, so the
successful candidate will need to be a skilled communicator, able to use
appropriate styles and methods suitable for the audience in order to
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maximise understanding and impact. This role also requires an ability to
react quickly and professionally as and when issues arise.
Attention to detail is critical in this role. The successful candidate will also
be resilient and have proven experience of working with senior people in
a challenging environment.
An understanding of PPM processes is required, with previous
experience of managing projects and work strands desirable
HEO – Caseworker
£29,550 -£31,800
You will be part of a small team supporting the Pubs Code Adjudicator so
that he can carry out his duty to enforce the Pubs Code. As a case
worker you will be working directly with the PCA (Director General). You
will manage your own caseload of arbitration cases, supported by senior
PCA colleagues. You will be expected to exercise judgement in how you
carry out your work, but full support and training will be given.
In particular you will need to:
• Clarify precisely what the complaint is about. This may be clear
from the complaint received or it may be necessary to
communicate with the person to obtain further information.
• Review all the material provided by the customer and other
relevant parties and identify any further information or evidence
you require in conjunction with the Arbitrator’s decisions.
• Ensure an understanding of the facts and check for accuracy with
both parties.
• Prepare cases for the arbitration process in an efficient and timely
manner.
• Discuss and share best practice to ensure lessons are learned
from complaints.
• Make an effective contribution to the casework team, the PCA
office and wider organisation activities in the development of a
new area of law.
Person specification
This role will suit someone with case work or equivalent experience, who
is organised and can work flexibly and accurately to ensure a
proportionate and fit for purpose approach in a fast paced, developing
environment. You will be assessing the initial referrals made,
corresponding appropriately with the parties and liaising with the
Arbitrator.
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It will suit someone who is/has:
• a self-starter who can work on their own initiative and is
comfortable taking decisions.
• a proven ability to manage and effectively prioritise a busy and
diverse workload, delivering high quality work on time.
• a confident verbal and written communicator in a variety of
different settings, corresponding with a wide range of people.
• understanding of the core elements of regulatory investigations
and has the ability to rapidly gain an in-depth understanding of
the Pubs Code.
• able to convey complex concepts using simple language.
• willing to work flexibly in a small organisation.
HEO – Stakeholder and Operations
£29,550 -£31,800
About the job
This post is responsible for:
• Ensuring the day to day smooth running of the office
management systems and processes
• Leading as the first point of contact with national stakeholders
• Providing support to Paul personally including meeting support,
minute taking, drafting etc.
• Leading on the continuous improvement of office processes, as
we become firmly established.
Depending on the interests of the successful candidate, there is also
considerable scope to become more involved in other aspects of work of
the PCA.
We are a new, small office and duties will be varied. They will include:
• Providing communications support for the PCA and the office
including working with a wide range of senior industry figures
• Complex diary management for the PCA
• Day-to-day management of PCA finances and accounts, including
the raising of the levy and procurement
• Manage HR processes
• Ensure the office is fully functional
• Supporting governance arrangements including preparation for
the bi-weekly management boards, National Audit Office end of
10
year requirements and publication of PCA documents on
.GOV.UK website
• Leading on the management and analysis of all correspondence
via the office in-box
Person specification
You will be:
• a self-starter who can work independently and is comfortable
taking decisions
• able to work on your own initiative
• a confident communicator to a wide range of different audiences
• someone with the ability to produce high quality and timely
documents and letters
• a good organiser preferably with some experience of project
management processes and tools
• able to understand and preferably have some experience of
working with finance and accounts processes.
Executive Officer
£23,900 - £26,575
Successful candidates will have their own portfolio of work, and also work
flexibly with colleagues across the office to enable the PCA to run
effectively and smoothly.
Your portfolio of work may include some (but not all) of the following:
• Support for stakeholder events and senior external meetings,
including convening the event, liaising with event organisers,
producing an outline agenda, ensuring resources and/or
presentation materials are available, ensuring action log and
follow up takes place where appropriate;
• Prepare factual briefing by collecting, organising and analysing
information to draw initial conclusions, and compile standard
monthly reports;
• Link to suppliers and consultants to purchase the goods and
services the office needs, maintaining records to evidence this;
• Work as part of the arbitration team to facilitate case
management. Core responsibilities include first steps in managing
arbitration referrals, case opening and validation, collation and
verification of arbitration evidence;
• Administering timesheet systems for senior arbitrators enabling
effective cost allocation to different cases;
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• Secretarial support for the PCA and Deputy PCA.
In addition, you will be involved with day to day administrative activities
involved in supporting a small office.
Person specification
We are a small, relatively new organisation with a high national profile
inside and outside Parliament. It’s an interesting, sometimes exciting
place to work. You will need to be organised and work flexibly and
accurately so that the PCA can give a proportionate and fit for purpose
approach in a fast paced, developing environment.
The role will suit you if you are:
• keen to work flexibly in a small organisation providing support to
the wider team.
• able to deliver results with a “can-do” attitude.
• happy to develop systems and processes as well as following
them.
• a self-starter who can work on their own initiative and are
comfortable taking decisions.
• able to prioritise a diverse workload, delivering high quality work
on time.
• a confident verbal and written communicator in a variety of
different settings, corresponding with a wide range of people.
• able to convey complex concepts using simple language.
We are looking for candidates who can demonstrate excellent written and
oral communication skills alongside strong IT skills including a working
knowledge of Microsoft Outlook, Word and Excel.
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