HM Revenue & Customs
Senior Legal Costs Litigator
Get notified of more jobs like this · No spam, ever
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
About The Job
Job summary
Discover a career in your hands at HMRC. Whether you're seeking purpose, growth, or a workplace that gives you a true sense of belonging, hear from some of our employees as they share their story about what it's really like to work at HMRC.
Visit our YouTube channel to watch the full series and come and discover your potential.
At HMRC we are committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues; an inclusive and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society we serve.
We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us and we offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career at HMRC accessible to you.
Diverse perspectives and experiences are critical to our success and we welcome applications from all people from all backgrounds with the experience and skills needed to perform this role.
About HMRC Legal Group
Across HMRC Legal Group we provide legal services to the whole of HMRC. This includes:
- The conduct of independent reviews of decisions made by HMRC which are requested by customers under the legislative provisions.
- The conduct of tribunal and civil litigation on a full range of services.
- Work on new legislation.
- Drafting of statutory instruments and other legal documents.
- Legal advice to ExCom and staff.
We also provide technical accountancy and forensic services to HMRC, are head of the Compliance Accountants' and Insolvency Professions as well as handling Ministerial Correspondence and Freedom of Information requests for HMRC.
Job Description
This team specifically deals with:
The Legal Costs Team sits in the NICERS (National Minimum Wage, Insolvency, Costs, Enforcement, Readiness and Support) Team. The Costs Team is a busy team that undertakes the assessment of legal costs, both in Adverse Costs and Costs Recovery for HMRC and the Valuation Office Agency as well as work in relation to Costs Budgets. The work includes various types of costs recovery and adverse, including Tax related litigation, and general civil litigation including judicial reviews and personal injury. Our work is split in the various jurisdictions in the various tax and valuation Tribunals as well as the civil Courts at all levels. Members of the Team will often provide costs related advice and/or training to lawyers and case workers within the HMRC Legal Group.
You must be able to grasp complex or technical matters quickly and possess a keen eye for detail while maintaining a comprehensive overview. The role requires a good working knowledge of costs legislation, relevant case law, the Civil Procedure Rules, Tribunal costs procedure, Supreme Court costs rules, and associated Practice Directions. The successful candidate will be required to work under minimal supervision and can work well under pressure. Your work will be predominantly with lawyers, paralegals, and other litigators but you will also work with panel counsel, panel costs lawyers and other stakeholders.
Specific Duties Include
- Maximising costs recovery through negotiation, detailed assessment proceedings, and costs litigation.
- Assessing and challenging adverse bills of costs through negotiation and detailed assessment proceedings.
- Drafting and responding to Points of Dispute and Replies.
- Reviewing and analysing complex litigation files to assess recoverable costs both in adverse and recovery cases.
- Instructing Costs Panel or Costs Counsel where applicable.
- Advising lawyers, litigators and clients on costs recovery and costs liabilities.
- Occasionally attend and/or assist Costs Counsel at costs hearings.
- Occasionally preparing costs budgets, budget discussion reports and advising on any variations.
- Providing strategic advice on costs consequences arising from litigation, settlement offers, and procedural applications.
- Ensuring compliance with the Civil Procedure Rules; its Practice Directions, the various Tribunal costs rules, Supreme Court costs rules and relevant costs authorities.
- Provide Costs Training within the Costs Team and the wider HMRC Legal Group.
- Report to Finance monthly.
- Manage a small number of team members.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
Person specification
The Ideal Candidate Will Be Able To Demonstrate
- Ability to manage and prioritise a caseload efficiently as well as work well under pressure.
- Experience and an ability to assess claims which are high value and/or complex.
- Excellent negotiation and analytical skills to secure the best outcomes.
- A working knowledge of costs budgeting.
- Strong communication skills to liaise effectively with all levels of stakeholders.
- Excellent technical skills in the relevant area, and strong teamwork and interpersonal skills.
- Proficient IT skills including using Microsoft 365 packages including Office, Teams and SharePoint.
Please note there is no requirement for any applicants to be a Costs Lawyer and does not require a Costs Lawyer's qualification.
Essential Criteria
Candidates must have significant experience in direct costs litigation with minimal supervision. This includes, assessing bills of costs, drafting Points of Dispute, drafting Replies, negotiating settlements, attending Detailed Assessment hearings, drafting schedules of costs and drafting costs budgets. Candidates must also have significant experience of using Microsoft 365 packages.
Further Location Information
Please ensure that you only apply for a location that you are willing and able to work from, as we will only make one offer of employment. Any additional notes included in a 'Further Location Preferences (optional)' field within the application form, will not be considered. Please be aware that you cannot change your location preference after submitting your application.
Leeds Location
Moves Adjustment Payment will be available for this role, provided the successful applicant is a current HMRC colleague in Bradford and meets the eligibility requirements outlined in the HMRC's Moves Adjustment Payment guidance.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Making Effective Decisions
- Delivering at Pace
- Developing Self and Others
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £45,544, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £13,194 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
HMRC operates both Flexible and Hybrid Working policies, allowing you to balance your work and personal commitments. We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible, considering our operational and customer service needs.
We offer a generous leave allowance, starting at 25 days and increasing by a day for every year of qualifying service up to a maximum of 30 days.
- Pension - We make contributions to our colleagues' Alpha pension equal to at least 28.97% of their salary.
- Family friendly policies.
- Personal support.
- Coaching and development.
To find out more about HMRC benefits and find out what it's really like to work for HMRC hear from our insiders or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
Things you need to know
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
How To Apply
As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide the following:
- A name-blind CV including your job history of up to your last 3 roles with no more than 100 words per role.
- A 1000-word Personal Statement. Your Personal Statement to include how the candidate's skills and experience are suitable for the advertised role and include how they meet the personal specification above. The candidate should also detail how they meet the essential criteria.
Please evidence any ODP experience or qualifications you have (up to 250 words max). This is not essential for the role but may be considered by the vacancy holder where candidates have the same score at interview.
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
Sift
In the event of a large number of applications being received, an initial sift may be held on your Personal Statement.
At full sift your CV and your Personal Statement will be assessed, with the successful candidates being invited to interview.
We may also raise the score required at any stage of the process if we receive a high number of applications.
Interview
During the panel interview, your experience will be assessed and you will be asked behaviour-based questions to explore in detail what you are capable of relevant to the job role.
Interviews will take place via video link. Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.
Please note that circumstances may arise that require the planned interview format to change. We will endeavour to provide you with as much notice of any change as possible.
Eligibility
Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. Mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days (Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we may not be able to reopen your application for you. If you do make a mistake with your eligibility form, or have withdrawn yourself in error and need your application reinstated whilst the campaign is still live, please contact us via: unitybusinessservicesrecruitmentresults@hmrc.gov.uk - Use the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example - 'Please re-open my application - [insert vacancy ref] & vacancy closing date [insert date]'.
To check that you are eligible to apply for this role, please review the eligibility information before submitting your application.
Exceptionally, candidates who are not successful at this grade may be considered for appointment to similar roles at a lower grade where the eligibility criteria are met. If this applies, we will contact you directly.
The HMRC app can help you with your application
The HMRC app can provide you with your past
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Location