By clicking "I accept" you consent to the use of cookies on our website to support technical features and anonymous statistics
02/11/2025, 23:55
325
£67609
£4218
£ 3000
For roles based in London, your contractual place of work will be Stratford. While the Stratford site is expected to become operational from November 2025 – March 2026, you will be required to carry out your contractual duties from Vauxhall or another reasonable location on a temporary basis during the interim period.
Please note that, as Stratford will be your contractual place of work, any subsequent move from a temporary location will not entitle you to payments for travel time or costs under the Relocation and Excess Travel Policy.
Information about the Command
The in-house legal department sits at the heart of the NCA; providing specialist advisory and litigation support across the entire organisation. NCA Legal collaborates with operational officers as well as other Government departments, agencies and police forces on a daily basis to assist with live investigations around the world and defend against legal challenges aimed to disrupt those investigations. The advice provided by the department contributes directly to the disruption of serious and organised crime.The teams include solicitors and barristers from a variety of backgrounds and with a wide range of experience alongside paralegals and a business management team.
Information about the Business Area
The Commercial and Employment Team advises the NCA on a broad range of contentious and non-contentious work. This ranges from advising on public procurement and transformation projects to advising on employee matters and policies. We ensure that decisions about the NCA’s people and contracts are made lawfully and in a way which minimises the risk of legal challenge.
NCA Legal comprises of the following teams:
Data and Operational Advisory Team, Civil Litigation Team, Financial Disruptions Litigation Team, Disruptive Actions Litigation Team and Commercial and Employment Team.
We are currently recruiting exceptional Solicitors and Barristers specialising in employment law with significant post qualification experience. As an NCA officer in the legal team you will support the Agency's mission to lead the fight against serious and organised crime.
You will be expected to use your legal skills and judgement to contribute to the strategic direction of the NCA by providing specialist employment law advice across all areas of the Agency. You will need to be able to think creatively to help manage legal risk in cases that are often novel, complex and challenging.
To apply for this role you must be either
(a) Solicitor or Barrister qualified to practise in England and Wales or Northern Ireland, with significant relevant experience; or (b) Chartered Legal Executive in England and Wales, with significant relevant experience. Upon appointment, Barristers and Solicitors qualified in Northern Ireland will be registered by the NCA with their respective professional bodies in England & Wales, to enable them to practise in both jurisdictions.
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. Professional entry criteria for Chartered Legal Executives (i.e. Fellows): Chartered Legal Executives are eligible to apply where (i) a Qualifying Law Degree (QLD) is held; or (ii) the Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) / Common Professional Examination (CPE) has been completed; or (iii) where exams have been passed (i.e. a score of 50% or above achieved), at CILEx Level 6, in all of the following seven foundation subjects in law: 1. Criminal Law 2. Equity and Trusts3. Law of the European Union 4. Obligations 1 (Contract) 5. Obligations 2 (Tort)6. Property / Land Law7. Public Law (Constitutional Law, Administrative Law and Human Rights Law)Additionally, Chartered Legal Executives may need a Practice Rights Certificate depending on the role.Please ensure the dates of any accreditations you are relying on, are entered on to your CV. Solicitors should also include their roll number.
To find out more about the role and the application process we will be holding a virtual opening evening via MS Teams on Tuesday 21st October 1800 to 1900 hours. This event is by invitation only. To register, please click on the following link
VIRTUAL EVENT
You will be asked for your name and email address. Registration will close at midday on Tuesday 21st October 2025 You will not be able to register after this date and time.
All NCA employees are members of the UK Civil Service and eligible for the Civil Service pension scheme, alongside your salary the NCA contributes £19586. Further information on the benefits of the scheme is available on the Civil Service Pension Website.
New entrants to the NCA receive 26 days annual leave, rising to 31 on completion of 5 years continuous service, plus 8 bank holidays.
If qualifying criteria is met new joiners from UK Police Forces or the UK Intelligence Community (UKIC) will have service with those employers taken into account for continuous service purposes for annual leave entitlement only, this will be up to a maximum of 31 days leave (including 1 privilege day).
Other benefits include:
Further information is available on the NCA Website.
CV
Please include your full career history, training, qualifications, key responsibilities, and achievements. Explain any employment gaps in the last two years. Ensure all accreditation dates are accurate.
Details of what is expected within you CV are as follows: Please ensure that each entry of your career history has a few sentences outlining a description and the key elements of the role. Please ensure you include all relevant experience to cover the technical requirements for this role detailing all employment law experience.
Statement of Suitability
Please provide a 750 word personal statement demonstrating how you meet the criteria below:
Significant and strong employment law knowledge and experienceLegal Professional Skills with a sound understanding of public law, reliable judgement and appreciation of legal risk.The ability to think strategically and creatively, seeing legal issues in their wider context and advising accordingly.
You will receive an acknowledgement once your application is submitted.
We aim to have sift completed and scores released within 10 working days of the closing date of the advert. For high volume campaigns this timeframe may be extended.
Scores will be provided but further feedback will not be available at this stage.
The format of this assessment will be Role Play Exercise and Interview which will be tested on via the details listed below.
Candidates who pass the sift process will be invited to the interview process. This will consist of a Role Play exercise and interview questions. The role play exercise will assess the following:
Seeing the Big Picture
Significant and strong employment law knowledge and experience
Role Play Exercise - an hour before your interview you will be sent a scenario and you will need to review this and prepare your verbal response. You will then join the interview panel and give your advice where follow-up questions may be asked (15 mins).
This will be followed by the interview questions.
In the event of a tie at the assessment stage, available roles will be offered in merit order using the following order:
Where multiple locations are advertised, appointments will be made in merit order per location.
Indicate your preferences clearly; you may be posted to any preferred location. If you decline a post at a location you selected, another offer may not be made.
Only advertised locations are available, any notes added to the application will not be considered.
If you meet the criteria for a lower grade, you may be offered that role if not appointable at the advertised grade.
Conversely, if found appointable at a higher grade but no posts are available, you may be offered a lower-grade role.
All offers are made based on merit.
We’re proud to be a Disability Confident Leader and an inclusive, equal opportunities employer.
We’re committed to creating a workplace where everyone can be their authentic self. If you’re neurodiverse, have a disability, or live with a long-term health condition, we encourage you to let us know about any reasonable adjustments you may need during the recruitment process.
If you experience accessibility issues with the advert or require reasonable adjustments, please contact our Recruitment Team at Central.Recruitment@nca.gov.uk before the advert closing date.
Please ensure you complete the ‘Equal opportunities’ and 'Reasonable Adjustments' sections in the application form to inform us on what support you may need in the recruitment process.
For more on our Disability Confident commitment, visit Disability Confident Scheme | Civil Service Careers.
Visit NCA Benefits and Support for more details.
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy
In order to monitor the effectiveness of the National Crime Agency's Diversity & Inclusion strategy, we require certain personal details about you on submission of your application for statistical and monitoring purposes only. Please note that this will be treated in confidence and will not impact your application.
The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit on merit through fair and open competition, in line with the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
If you believe your application has not been treated fairly, email: Central.Recruitment@nca.gov.uk (quoting the vacancy reference). If unresolved, you may escalate your complaint to the Civil Service Commission.
This vacancy is closed to applications.
