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

In order to be eligible, you MUST meet the following criteria:

• I will be able to provide all the ID documents required to complete my pre-employment screening and security clearance.

This is an exciting opportunity to work at the heart of the Immigration Enforcement directly working with the Director General of Immigration Enforcement and holding a key role in his Private Office. You will be responsible for supporting the Director General on a daily basis to deliver their key priorities.

You should have strong relationship building skills, the ability to prioritise and organise, adaptability and excellent written and verbal communication skills and you should be able to engage with colleagues at all levels.

You can expect an exciting, fast-paced and varied job, as you provide support to the Director General.

You will need to be comfortable working reactively and proactively across a number of varied issues.

Person specification

You will be responsible for the provision of high-quality support to the Director General of Immigration Enforcement alongside the Chief of Staff, Deputy Chief of Staff and Private Secretary. You will report directly into the Director General’s Deputy Chief of Staff. 

Key responsibilities will include:

• Working closely with the Immigration Enforcement DG’s Chief of Staff, Private Secretary, and other Private offices/Business Support teams to ensure a seamless and efficient team approach to the DG group’s business.
• Provide diary management to the Immigration Enforcement DG, ensuring the most efficient use of their time. This will also include anticipating future diary pressures and advising as appropriate.
• Taking responsibility for the coordination of arrangements for the DG’s meetings, commissioning and collating briefings and papers, ensuring representation at Boards and key meetings. This will also include management of the DG’s day pack.
• To manage the DG’s time as a whole, to support the Private Office to function efficiently and look for ways to constantly improve the way things are done.
• Proactively managing, prioritising, and monitoring the DG’s inbox. Using own judgement and initiative to proactively progress and take forward a variety of issues and tasks arising from the inbox or as tasked by the Chief of Staff. This includes directing and assigning work appropriately, including commissioning actions such as updates and briefings.
• Assuring work that others have provided – proof reading and challenging the quality and content, adding value to work that comes to the Private Office by ensuring that they are accurate and complete products that need minimal re-work.
• Providing high quality executive support to the DG including travel bookings, processing expenses and compiling finance reports.
• Work corporately and collectively with other teams and Private Offices within the department and across the Civil Service.
• Support wider initiatives, working closely with appropriate stakeholders. Work collaboratively and confidentially with the Private Office to ensure delivery of work to deadlines.

This is not an exhaustive list, and your will need to be flexible and adapt their responsibilities to meet business demands. 

Candidates Please Note:

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

Due to the nature of the role this post can only be offered on a full-time basis.

Essential Criteria

You will need to be able to demonstrate the following: 

• Ability to work collaboratively and flexibly within a team dynamic, often to short deadlines to achieve common goals, maintaining a high level of service whilst continuing to deliver efficiently and effectively in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong interpersonal, relationship building and communication skills (both verbal and written).
• Confidence to engage personally on a daily basis with the department’s most senior leaders, including Ministers, the Permanent Secretary, Director General.
• Have excellent organisational and time management skills and the ability to work proactively at pace, whilst remaining professional in a pressurised environment.
• Excellent judgement and approach to situations, tasks and problems, and a self-starter who can work independently.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience of working in a Private Office environment such as working with Ministers and/or Senior Officials.
• Understanding of Immigration Enforcement and the Migration and Borders System.

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 and Experience.

This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

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

• a CV detailing job history/skills
• a statement of suitability (personal statement) (maximum 750 words)
• provide evidence of the Lead behaviour Communicating & Influencing (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 Lead behaviour Communicating & Influencing and the statement of suitability (personal statement).

The CV will not be scored.

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 Lead behaviour Communicating & Influencing 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 Lead behaviour Communicating & Influencing scored and will therefore only receive a sift score for the statement of suitability.

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

If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to an interview which will be behaviour-based questions.

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 358217 CLOSING DATE 10 July 2024. 

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

Tie break decisions

The 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 15th July 2024.

Interviews are expected to take place week commencing 5th August 2024.

Interviews will be face to face at London 2 Marsham Street (2MS). Further details will be provided ahead of interview.

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

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.

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

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

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.