Area Coroner for Staffordshire & Stoke on Trent07/02/2025 17:00
Stoke Town Hall, Glebe Street, Stoke on Trent & at the County Buildings , Stafford Town Centre
Area Coroner for Staffordshire & Stoke on Trent
Salary £125,155.80 pa [in line with the Coroners JNC Circular 69] which include the pay award for 2024
Closing date: 5pm on 7th February 2025
Staffordshire County Council and Stoke City Council are seeking to appoint a new full-time Area Coroner. This is a new post covering the merged areas of Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent. The areas successfully merged in October 2023 with Stoke on Trent City Council being the relevant local authority and therefore leading the recruitment.
About the post:
The Area Coroner will work closely with the Senior Coroner and 2 Area Coroners to provide judicial leadership to the coroner team as well as conducting their own coroner investigations and inquests. The Area Coroner will be expected on occasion to be available out of hours on a rota based system.
Staffordshire County Council and Stoke City Council are looking for an exceptional candidate with excellent proven organisational, management and efficiency skills, as well as experience of exercising sound judgement and communicating effectively. In this role, you will work closely with the senior coroner and local authority managers to ensure value for money, performance and financial efficiencies. Collaborative working with the senior coroner, local authority, the police and other stakeholders is essential.
Candidates will be required to demonstrate knowledge and experience of coroner law and of basic medicine have proven skills in conducting investigations and an understanding of court procedure. Candidates will also need to demonstrate the excellent communication and interpersonal skills necessary to deal with sensitive situations.
It is desirable that the successful candidate has proven experience of carrying out investigations, case management, and conducting inquests.
Who can apply:
The successful candidate will be a barrister or a solicitor or Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives and satisfy the judicial-appointment eligibility condition which means they will have five years of experience whilst holding that qualification. They will be under the age of 75, have experience of working as an assistant coroner or area coroner and be subject to the appointment and eligibility conditions within the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (s.23 and Schedule 3).
Statutory Terms of the Appointment:
Once a Coroner is appointed, they are then a Judicial Office holder until they reach the age of 75 years (compulsory retirement age) unless they choose to resign or are removed by the Lord Chief Justice or Lord Chancellor prior to their 75th birthday.
How to apply:
The role has been advertised on the Staffordshire County Council website https://webrecruitment.stoke.gov.uk/wrl/pages/vacancy.jsf?vacancyRef=0000023692
If you wish to have an informal discussion or arrange a visit, please contact Sam Woodward on sam.woodward@stoke.gov.uk
Suitably qualified applicants are requested to email their CV and their supporting statement to sam.woodward@stoke.gov.uk
Interviews will take place week commencing w/c 17th March 2025
Notification
The vacancy for this post has been notified to the Chief Coroner and Lord Chancellor (as required by statute).