Prison Advice and Care Trust
- Pact is a pioneering national charity that supports prisoners, people with convictions, and their children and families. We are the leading Catholic charity working in the criminal justice system. We provide caring and life-changing services at every stage of the justice process: in court, in prison, on release, and in the community.
Job Description
Introduction
Pact is a pioneering national charity that cares for men, women and young people in custody, those with criminal convictions in the community and their children, family members and carers. We have about 400 staff, income of about £10m and work across 60 prisons in England and Wales, with additional probation work and other services over the country.
Pact currently uses software, ECINS, to record and track casework with service users. We have been using the system since 2014 principally for our ‘Family and Significant Other Service’ contracts. These services are commissioned by the Ministry of Justice for custody-based casework support for women and men in prison. We have now outgrown the software in terms of our operational requirements. There are currently Pact 268 practitioners working on c1,400 cases at a time. The case management system is used across multiple other smaller contracts each with their bespoke reporting requirements. This system is also used by a small number of subcontractors/partners of Pact.
Our business needs are changing. We plan to continue to deliver the above contracts. In addition, we have now tendered for a number of contracts under the next commissioning round by the Ministry of Justice for rehabilitation services in support of the Probation Service (known as Commissioned Rehabilitation Services). Decisions are expected August/September. These contracts will require us to have a more comprehensive system in place to meet more stringent and complex reporting requirements. The system would need not only to record the casework delivery but also provide diary management, reporting against KPIs (including incentivised payments against performance targets) and act as our contract management system for these contracts. This would see Pact managing a number of contracts working with between 2,000 to 9,000 people both in custody, and on Probation, per annum, in addition to the above figures.
We need to expedite procurement of a system to meet the needs of the expected new Commissioned Rehabilitation Services contracts. Our expectation is that this system will also need to be fit for purpose for our existing Family and Significant Other Services contracts, and our ambition is to procure a system which we could subsequently transition existing caseloads to, so that we have a single case management system for both sets of contracts. This is important as there will be a significant overlap of cases (prisoners and people on probation) with whom we will work via both sets of contracts, and we require a ‘single version of the truth’.
We now require the support of a project manager to lead the procurement and implementation of a new system working with our Senior Information Officer who is responsible for the day-to-day management, training and support for our case management system.
Overall Target
Procure and implement a CMS at Pact by 11 December 2026, ensuring users are trained and supported in using the system for the mobilisation of a new contract going live in March 2027 and then migrating other operational contracts across to the new system between April and July 2027.
In Detail
1. Review business case and needs assessment and finalise specification documentation.
2. Create an Invitation to Tender (ITT) for relevant software providers and obtain internal sign-off.
3. Lead the promotion, distribution and follow up of the ITT to relevant software providers.
4. Create a scoring grid for tenders and (where needed) attend the most promising demos. The expectation is that at least 5 options will be identified and investigated, with at least 3 viable software options chosen for review.
5. Identify key risks of the project and create a risk register with mitigations.
6. Lead the internal process for deciding the winning tender.
7. Negotiate the best value contract possible with the supplier, in liaison with Pact’s Contracts and Data Protection Consultant (in role).
8. Lead the creation of an implementation plan with the software provider, Senior Information Officer and key Pact stakeholders. Included in the plan will be training for users.
9. Lead the delivery of the implementation plan working with Pact’s Senior Information Officer.
Requirements for Consultant
10. Significant experience of project managing the procurement and implementation of critical IT systems in an organisation of our size.
11. Significant understanding of data protection and the handling of sensitive data.
12. Availability during the consulting period. A maximum of two weeks break could be agreed if there is no detriment to the project deadline.
13. Desirable — experience of software for case history databases or other databases where the individual is the key index.
14. Desirable — experience of working with software used in the public sector, particularly the criminal justice system.
15. Desirable — UK or EU-based.
Application Assessment: Implementation Phasing Plan
Alongside your covering letter and CV, we are asking all candidates to complete a short written assessment as part of their application. This is a deliberate part of our selection process — rather than relying on our own assumptions about how this project should be phased, we want to understand how candidates read and engage with the brief.
Assessment Requirement: Implementation Phasing Plan As part of your application, you are required to submit a short, written phasing plan as an additional document alongside your covering letter and CV. This is a core element of the selection process. Your plan should be no longer than two sides of A4 and address the following:
1. Your proposed phasing of the project from contract award through to full system rollout (April–September 2027), including key milestones.
2. How you would approach the transition from the existing system (ECINS) to the new CMS — particularly the overlap period during which both systems may be in use.
3. Your assumptions — we are interested in understanding how you read the brief and where you would expect to find further information once engaged.
4. Any early risks or dependencies you have identified that could affect the phasing. There is no single correct answer. We are looking for evidence of structured thinking, practical project management experience, and an ability to engage meaningfully with a complex brief under uncertainty.
Please attach your phasing plan as a separate document when submitting your application. There is no prescribed format, but we recommend a clear structure with headings. Visual representations such as a simple Gantt or timeline are welcome but not required.
How to Express an Interest
Please send a covering letter and your CV to development@prisonadvice.org.uk
The covering letter should outline at least three examples of similar procurements & implementations.
Please also include your Implementation Phasing Plan as a separate document (see Assessment section above).