Summer Interns

General Information

Salary: £25,582

Working Pattern: Full Time

Vacancy Approach: External

Location: Brighton and Hove, Canterbury, Chatham, Chelmsford, Dartford, Guildford, Luton, Milton Keynes, Norwich, Oxford, Peterborough, Reading, Watford

Region: South East

Closing Date: 16-Mar-2026

Post Type: Internship

Civil Service Grade: AO

Number of jobs available: 22

Reserve List: 12 Months

Job ID: 15275

Descriptions & Requirements

Job Description

Proud to serve. Proud to keep justice going.

We are offering an exciting opportunity to come and join us on a temporary placement to support our services over the summer period.

About Us

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is an agency of the Ministry of Justice and is responsible for the administration of criminal, civil, and family Courts and Tribunals in England and Wales. Our roles support our Court users and colleagues within HMCTS, ensuring justice works for everyone.

Key Purpose

We are offering an exciting opportunity to come and join us on a temporary placement to support our courts over the summer period. These roles will give you an insight into how our courts run, and you will be part of a team supporting the important work to ensure our courts and services run smoothly. Successful candidates will be assigned to teams to carry out a variety of general administrative duties to progress cases through the court/tribunal system or provide support to other functions within HMCTS.

In some positions, role holders will have regular direct contact with court/tribunal users, including members of the Judiciary, service users, and the legal profession. Working within an administrative team, HMCTS will provide successful candidates with regular management support and ensure appropriate training is delivered.

Working as part of a flexible team, you will be expected to undertake a range of the responsibilities and functions specified. It is not intended that each post will be responsible for the full range of duties.

Post holders are expected to commence across June and July 2026, dependent on the deployment site. Successful candidates would be expected to work a minimum of 10 weeks of the 12-week contract, with annual leave being provided on a pro-rata basis. As these placements provide business cover during peak leave periods, they do not support hybrid working and will be office based only. These roles are offered on a full-time basis only. Our full-time working hours are 37 hours per week.

Due to the short nature of the roles, these are not eligible for skilled worker sponsorship and candidates must have the appropriate right to work at the time of appointment.

Essential Skills, Knowledge, and Criteria

• Ability to work collaboratively in a team environment
• Excellent communication skills
• Strong IT, administration and organisational skills
• You must be eligible to work in the UK for the entire duration of the internship

Locational Appointment / Preference

Role availability varies by location. No alternative working arrangements are available, and once placements are confirmed, no location changes can be made. You will be given the option to select up to 3 preferred locations for your placement. Please ensure you only select locations that you would be willing to commute to and work from for the whole duration of the placement. Whilst the post holder will be allocated to a specific office base, there may be a need for flexibility to work on a regular or ad hoc basis at other local HMCTS offices.

We will hold a reserve list for 6 months. The reserve list will be based on the location preferences, as indicated in your application. We will appoint in merit list order for each location outlined in the vacancy. If you are subsequently offered a role from the reserve list for a location preference indicated in your application and decline it, you will be removed from the reserve list for the vacancy, across all locational preferences.

We currently have the following number of vacancies at these locations:

• London Pay Range Locations (within M25):
• 1 post at Dartford County Court, DA1 1DX
• 2 posts at Watford County Court, WD18 0BW
• National Pay Range Locations (outside M25):
• 3 posts at Brighton County Court, BN2 0RF
• 2 posts at Norwich County Court, NR3 1UR
• 2 posts at Chelmsford County Court, CM2 0PP
• 2 posts at Luton County Court, LU1 2EN
• 2 posts at Peterborough County Court, PE1 1EJ
• 2 posts at Guildford County Court, GU1 4PS
• 1 post at Luton Crown Court, LU1 2AA
• 1 post at Medway County Court, ME4 4AR
• 1 post at Canterbury County Court, CT1 1ZA
• 1 post at Oxford County Court, OX1 1TL
• 1 post at Milton Keynes County Court, MK9 2DT
• 1 post at Reading County Court, RG1 1HE

We have other Summer Intern campaigns for HMCTS Regions across the country. If you apply for more than one Region, you will only be considered for one. If selected for appointment, the Recruitment Team will contact you to identify your preferred location to progress; remaining applications will be withdrawn. We are unable to transfer applications between regions or place candidates at sites not listed.

Eligibility and Pre-Employment Vetting Checks

Vetting levels for suitability of employment will be conducted to Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS).

If vetting checks are not successfully completed by Friday 05 June 2026, provisional offers of employment will be withdrawn as these are short-term, time-limited roles which cannot be extended to accommodate a later start date.

Selection Process

Due to the anticipated high volume of applications, we will be applying a lead criterion at application/sift stage. This will be based on the Experience Question.

The selection process will be conducted on written applications only. No formal interview will be required.

If selected for appointment, we will try to match your selected location preference/s, but if vacancies in those do not exist, we may offer employment at alternative nearby locations.

Application

To apply for this exciting and developmental opportunity, please complete the online application form. The closing date for applications is Friday 13 March 2026.

Applications from students in the final/penultimate year of under/postgraduate study are particularly welcome as the experience will be beneficial towards your studies and likely future career aspirations.