Change Manager - Legal Aid Agency

This vacancy is only available to existing Civil Servant employees and employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs). Please review the "Eligibility" section before you apply.

General Information

Salary The national salary range is £42,914 - £46,182, London salary range is £49,325 - £53,081. Your salary will be dependent on your base location Working Pattern Full Time, Part Time, Part Time/Job Share, Flexible Working Vacancy Approach Cross Government Location Birmingham, Brighton and Hove, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Jarrow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham Region East Midlands, East of England, Greater Manchester, London, North East, North West, South East, South West, Wales, West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber Closing Date 07-Jul-2026 Post Type Detached Duty, Loan Civil Service Grade SEO Number of jobs available 1 Reserve List 12 Months Job ID 19174

Descriptions & requirements

Job description Job Title & Grade: Change Manager SEO

Contract Type: Detached Duty / Loan – 24 months

Salary range (depending on location):

National - £42,914 - £46,182

London - £49,325 - £53,081

Please note that unless you are currently employed by the Civil Service and are earning more than the minimum above, if successful you will be offered the minimum for the grade depending on your location.

Location: National (any LAA office)

Please note that whilst this role is open to all Civil Service staff, you can only apply for London, Cambridge and Brighton offices if you are a current LAA staff member based in those offices. This is due to and in line with the LAA's Location Strategy and the Cabinet Office's Places for Growth Strategy.

Minimum Working Pattern:

If you are applying for a part time role, please note that to meet business demands we need cover for a minimum of 30 hours.

The Legal Aid Agency

We are an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). We are responsible for operationally administering the legal aid fund to provide criminal and civil legal aid advice to people in England and Wales.

Our people are at the heart of achieving excellence. Employing around 1,200 colleagues across England and Wales, we feel proud to have some of the best People Survey results in the Civil Service.

Transformation

Transformation are responsible for continuing to drive forward simplifying the delivery of legal aid. We want to improve the experience for the people who apply for legal aid, the providers who deliver the services and those of us in the LAA who administer the scheme, while ensuring the LAA remains a great place to work.

Transformation Team

This team is leading the transformation of our organisation through innovation, collaboration and inclusion. Originally established in May 2020, the Transformation Team has grown rapidly over the last five years. We are a hybrid team of business change and project delivery experts, and working in partnership with others is at the heart of what we do. We work together with teams across the agency, with the LAA Digital team, MoJ Project Delivery Function experts, MoJ Policy teams and wider stakeholders across the justice system and government.

The transformation portfolio spans multiple services, systems and functions, with significant impacts on:

• Front-line operational teams
• Policy design and implementation
• Digital systems and data
• External providers and partners

Job Summary

Change Managers

The Change Manager is accountable for leading the people side of change to ensure that organisational initiatives deliver their intended outcomes and benefits. Applying a structured, evidence based change management approach, the role focuses on how individuals experience, adopt and sustain change. Success is measured not by delivery milestones alone, but by adoption, usage and proficiency of new ways of working. Working alongside project, product and operational colleagues, the Change Manager ensures that change is prepared for early, actively managed throughout delivery, and reinforced after implementation so that change sticks.

The focus of any role in the Transformation Portfolio team is dynamic, reflecting our role in responding to evolving operational and policy implementation priorities.

The focus for the Change Manager role is to be:

• The owner of the people change management strategy for assigned initiatives
• The specialist responsible for enabling adoption and managing resistance
• An enabler of leaders and managers to fulfil their change roles

The role will work alongside others to establish lasting change. This role is different to those of a communications-only role, a training co-ordinator or a delivery support function, although aspects of these activities may be picked up by the Change Manager.

In particular, the role is distinct to that of a Project Manager which has a focus on owning and co-ordinating the technical and service readiness for go-live.

Key Responsibilities:

Lead the People Side of Change

• Apply a structured change management approach to support individuals and groups through transition from current to future ways of working.

Diagnose change impacts and readiness using recognised models (e.g. ADKAR) to identify w* adoption risks exist and target interventions accordingly.

• Design and own proportionate change strategies and plans aligned to delivery but focused on adoption and sustained outcomes.
• Actively contribute towards the cross-cutting change work that will allow the overall Transformation Plan to land effectively.

Drive Adoption, Usage and Proficiency

• Define what successful adoption looks like for each change, including who must do what differently and to what standard.
• Identify and actively manage resistance, working with leaders and managers to address root causes rather than symptoms.

Monitor adoption and usage indicators, adjusting change interventions w* progress stalls.

Enable Leaders, Sponsors and Managers

• Coach and support senior sponsors to fulfil their role as active and visible leaders of change.
• Equip line managers with the insight, messaging and confidence they need to support their teams through change.

Act as a trusted adviser, providing constructive challenge w* leadership behaviours or decisions risk undermining adoption.

Integrate Change with Delivery

Work in* partnership with project, product and delivery colleagues to ensure the people side of change is considered from initiation, not bolted on at the end.

• Run people change readiness assessment ahead of Delivery Board, and own the ‘release runway’ for the LAA portfolio
• Influence delivery decisions by articulating change capacity, readiness risks and cumulative impacts across initiatives.
• Ensure go live decisions are informed by people readiness, not just technical readiness.

Assure Benefits Realisation and Sustainability

• Support the transition from implementation to business as usual, ensuring reinforcement mechanisms are in place so change is sustained.
• Contribute to benefits realisation by evidencing how adoption and behavioural change underpin intended outcomes.
• Capture learning and contribute to the development of organisational change capability and maturity.

Essential Knowledge, Experience and skills

• Experience of planning, co-ordinating or delivering change activity in a complex organisation.
• Ability to assess impacts, risks, dependencies and readiness, and use evidence to inform decisions and next steps.
• Experience of working with a wide range of people, including senior leaders, delivery teams and operational colleagues, to support successful implementation.
• Ability to communicate complex information clearly, tailoring messages, reporting or advice to different audiences.
• Experience of producing clear, high-quality plans, reporting or governance material to support oversight, priori…