You've had your exam results. What next?
Carley, Senior Crown Prosecutor
Carley, Senior Crown Prosecutor
If you’re interested in a career in or around law, we have some great options for you here at the Crown Prosecution Service whatever your grades.
First of all, a reminder that you don’t have to be a lawyer to work for us. You have to want to make a difference.
Train as a lawyer - the uni route
You can train to become a solicitor or barrister to work as a prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service. To do this you need to complete a undergraduate law degree at university and then a Legal Practice Course or Bar Practice Course.
From there you need to complete a pupillage and training contract. You can apply for our legal trainee scheme at the Crown Prosecution Service – to be either a trainee solicitor or a pupil barrister.
More about our legal trainee scheme
Or you can complete that elsewhere and then apply to us to work as a crown prosecutor or senior crown prosecutor depending on your criminal law experience.
'At the age of 25 years old, I never in a million years thought that I'd be a barrister in the Crown Prosecution Service dealing with some of the most serious offences that the CPS prosecute. And it just makes me really proud.'
Carley, Senior Crown Prosecutor
Train as a lawyer – the apprenticeship route
Another option is that you work in a non-legal role at the Crown Prosecution Service and apply for our solicitor apprentice scheme. This is an internal apprenticeship where you study as a solicitor for five years alongside your Crown Prosecution Service job – with no study costs.
You complete your solicitor training within this route without having to apply for the legal trainee scheme. From there you automatically progress to a crown prosecutor role.
Progressing in a legal role
There are plenty of opportunities for you to develop within the Crown Prosecution Service. As a qualified lawyer you can become a legal manager, crown advocate, chief crown prosecutor, or potentially director of public prosecutions.
Supporting our frontline work
We have Crown Prosecution Service roles that support our frontline work – paralegal assistants, paralegal officers and victim liaison officers. Here you support lawyers in the magistrates or Crown Court to help run cases from beginning to end.
You need to be 18 years or over for these frontline roles. But you don’t need to have any law or law-related qualifications, in fact we don’t ask for any qualifications at all. Instead we recruit for these roles based on Civil Service behaviours, motivation and experience.
More about Civil Service behaviours
Supporting our legal work
We regularly advertise for admin officers, casework assistants and advocacy clerking assistants. You need to be 16 years or over to apply for most other Crown Prosecution Service roles. We also recruit apprentices linked to specific roles – not only do you get to complete an apprenticeship and gain a qualification, you also get paid the same as anyone else doing that role.
Working within our other professions
And there’s more. We offer so many roles beyond the legal profession. We regularly recruit for staff to work within our commercial, communications, digital, finance, HR and operations. Whatever your interest, there’s likely to be a role that fits.
What are the perks?
There are a lot of benefits to working for the Crown Prosecution Service – and other Civil Service departments.
- You get 25 days a year annual leave – this goes up to 30 days after 5 years plus an extra privilege day for the King’s birthday.
- You can contribute to a Civil Service pension of up to 28.9%.
- You benefit from competitive maternity, paternity and parental leave.
- You have the option of three volunteering days and £350 a year individual learning account to spend on learning and development.
- And you can sign for our Cycle2Work scheme and employee savings.
You may also feel reassured that the Crown Prosecution Service is named as a Top 10 employer for Working Families and has Disability Confident Leader status. We’re also committed to being an equal opportunities employer, creating a culture where you can bring your whole self to work. Here individuality is truly appreciated.
Want to find out more?
Check out our vacancies on our website
Or search Civil Service Jobs
Do you want to find out more about what we do and the unique role we play within the criminal justice system? Watch this video.
Keep up to date with our vacancies
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