About the job

Job summary

Immigration Enforcement is responsible for enforcing the government’s immigration laws, tackling illegal migration, removing foreign national offenders and immigration offenders from the UK. It also aims to disrupt the organised criminal groups that exploit the vulnerable for their personal gain. Learn more on the Immigration Enforcement careers page.

Job description

This role offers the opportunity to join the Intervention Sanctions and Compliance (ISC) Central Support & Tracing Hub (CSTH) within Immigration Enforcement (IE).

ISC is responsible for encouraging compliance within the immigration rules as part of the overall enforcement effort to tackle illegal migration and those who help to facilitate it.

CSTH Team has a fundamental aim which is to help reduce illegal migration and trace those who have absconded and are no longer in contact with the Home Office.

An individual is defined as an absconder where they leave the border control area without permission, escapes from detention, breaches one or more of the conditions imposed on them and who’s current whereabouts are currently unknown.

This is an exciting opportunity to develop and embed a wide range of skills, in a role where you can make a real difference in the Home Office’s plight of tackling illegal migration and reducing harm. We will deliver full and comprehensive training which will enable you to carry out this high-profile and varied role.

The role entails working in a fast-paced environment as part of a team, where the job role has a high level of interest, which will test your skills and abilities.

Strong analytical and decision-making skills are required to aid investigations and make decisions when undertaking tracing checks. Successful candidates will work as part of a team utilising their investigatory skills to interrogate internal and external systems in an attempt to locate immigration offenders. You will need to be enthusiastic, proactive, driven and have a good eye for detail, to enable us to deliver on our ambitious programme of work.

Line management responsibility may be required, alongside performance management responsibilities. There will be a need for you to develop your staff, providing sound technical advice and support through welfare check-ins.
Additional tasks may be required throughout your job role, to support your team, and across the department, to demonstrate quality diversity and inclusion which will contribute to making IE a great place to work.

Person specification

Responsibilities:

•    Being analytical and decision-making tasks.

•    Producing high quality outcomes, explaining why decisions have been made. 

•    Having the ability to quickly review and analyse multiple sources of information, updating systems accordingly and making the best decision based on available evidence.

•    Creating and maintaining positive and trusting relationships with a wide range of people.

•    Managing staff, with HR responsibility.

•    Traveling to other offices may be required.

Essential criteria

Candidates must be able to demonstrate:

•    Being organised and have the ability to deliver tasks under pressure.
•    Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
•    Excellent analytical and decision-making skills with a keen eye for detail.
•    Being proactive and open to change, providing suggestions and ideas to contribute to improvements for the team.
•    Ability to work as part of a team in addition to working independently with minimal supervision.
•    Ability to demonstrate an excellent working level of IT proficiency in basic tools such as word, Microsoft Teams, Excel and Power Point.

Desirable criteria

•    Experience of working with Home Office systems.
•    Immigration/operational casework experience.

Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:  

• A statement of suitability (personal statement) (maximum 500 words)
• Provide evidence of the behaviour Delivering at Pace (250 words maximum)

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

The statement of suitability should be aligned to demonstrate your skills and experience for the role and how you meet the essential criteria as detailed in the job description.

For guidance on how to construct your personal statement, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers. Links – Statement

For guidance on how to construct your behaviour examples, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers. Links –Behaviours

The sift will be held on the behaviour Delivering at Pace and the statement of suitability (personal statement).  

However, if a large number of applications are received, the sift will be conducted on the statement of suitability (personal statement) only.

The statement of suitability will be scored first for all candidates. Those candidates who achieve the minimum pass score for the statement of suitability, will progress to a further sift where the behaviour will be scored. These candidates will therefore receive a sift score for both elements. Candidates who fail to meet the minimum pass score for the statement of suitability will not have their behaviour scored and will therefore only receive a sift score for the statement of suitability.

If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to an interview which will be a blended approach of strength-based questions and behaviour-based questions as listed on the advert.

Strengths are the things that you do regularly, do well and that motivate you. To find out more about strength based questions click here 

Problems during the application process

If you experience accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, or you think you’ve made a mistake on an initial application (e.g. you have ticked the incorrect eligibility box), please contact hocandidates.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk at least two working days before the vacancy closes. After this, we may not be able to reopen your application.

Please note, we cannot make amendments to any part of the application.

Please use the following in the subject line in your email if you need to get in contact with us about your initial application ''Please re-open my application – Vacancy Ref 360705 CLOSING DATE 24th July 2024''. 

For reasonable adjustments queries or requests, please see details with reasonable adjustments section.

Tie break decisions

The strengths and/or behaviours being assessed will be ranked in order of importance to enable us to differentiate between candidates with tied interview scores. Please note that the order in which behaviours are listed in the advert does not necessarily reflect the order of importance.

Sift and Interview dates

Sift is expected to take place week commencing 29th July 2024.

Interviews are expected to take place week commencing 19th August 2024.

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert, however on occasions these dates may change.

Interviews will be face to face in Soapworks, Manchester.

Further information

For meaningful checks to be carried out, individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 3 years if the role requires CTC clearance, 5 years for SC clearance and 10 years for DV.  A lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder/Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice.

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/demystifying-vetting

If you are successful in this position and choose to accept the provisional offer for this role, you will be removed from all other Home Office reserve lists at the same grade.

Reserve List 

Where a competition identifies more appointable candidates than there are available vacancies, a reserve list may be held for up to 12 months. Whilst on a reserve list we may offer you an alternative similar role in the Home Office. Should you reject an alternative role, you will remain on the reserve list for the role you applied for. If you accept an alternative role, you will be withdrawn from the reserve list. Please note there are no guarantees that further vacancies will arise in the locations you originally applied for before your time on the reserve list expires.

Candidates Please Note:

Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. All applications are screened for plagiarism and copying of examples/answers from internet sources. If any is detected the application will be withdrawn from the process. Further action, including disciplinary action, may be considered in such cases involving internal candidates. Providing false or misleading information would be contrary to the core values of honesty and integrity expected of all Civil Servants.

If you are currently an agency member of staff working within the Home Office, a contractor or contingent worker you can only apply for roles that are advertised externally, i.e.: outside the civil service. If you are eligible to apply for a role, you are required to select yourself as an external applicant and not internal when submitting your application on Civil Service jobs. This will prevent any delays in pre-employment checks should you become successful in being made an offer of employment after the Interview stage.

There is no shift working requirement, and therefore no AHW/AHA allowance available for this role.

Part time

Please note that not all work patterns can be supported within this role, successful candidates should discuss work patterns with the vacancy holder ahead of accepting any offer.

Flexible working

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working.  This is a non-contractual arrangement where all employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estates capacity, by Spring 2024.  Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details).

Every day, Home Office civil servants do brilliant work to develop and deliver policies and services that affect the lives of people across the country and beyond. To do this effectively and fairly, the Home Office is committed to representing modern Britain in all its diversity, and creating a welcoming, inclusive workplace where all our people are able to bring their whole selves to work and perform at their best.

We are flexible, skilled, professional and diverse. We work to recruit and retain disabled staff and area Disability Confident Leader. We are proud to be one of the most ethnically 

diverse departments in the civil service. We are a Social Mobility Foundation top 75 employer.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant's details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

For further information please see the attached notes for candidates which must be read before making an application.

Existing Civil Servants should note that some of the Home Office terms and conditions of employment have changed. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the Terms and Conditions they will adopt should they be successful in application and should refer to the notes for candidates for further details.

Transfer Terms: Voluntary.

If you are invited to an interview you will be required to  bring a range of documentation for the purposes of establishing identity and to aid any pre-employment checks.

Please see the attached list of Home Office acceptable ID documents.

Any move to the Home Office from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Reasonable Adjustments

If a person with disabilities is at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. 

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs

• Complete the “Assistance Required” section in the “Additional Requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you're deaf, a language service professional

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the ‘Contact point for applicants’ section.

Feedback

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.