About the job

Job summary

The Home Office has one of the most challenging and critical jobs in Government. The Home Office is the lead government Department for immigration and passports, crime, police, fire, and counter terrorism. These significant issues are at the heart of the agenda of HM Government and intellectually stimulating, often controversial and regularly in the news. The challenges and opportunities the Department faces are significant and rapidly changing in the global environment in which we operate. Strong analytical advice is needed to navigate these challenges, and the Home Office has a reputation for putting analysis at the heart of decision-making.   

Part of the Home Office Analysis & Insight directorate, the Performance Reporting & Analysis Unit (PRAU) provides reporting and analysis of performance for the Migration & Borders Mission and associated operational Capabilities. We support Ministers, the Executive Committee, Policy and Operational leads and other analytical functions with the management information (MI) that they need, as well as producing data for publication and other forms of external release. The Unit also provides advice and support to others in the Department on how to make best use of performance information and is leading on the transformation of MI systems and capabilities. 

PRAU is geographically spread across four primary locations (London, Liverpool, and Sheffield and Croydon), with most staff working in line with the Department’s hybrid working arrangements which would see the post holder spend 60% of their week in the office, with the remainder working from home. Candidates will need to agree a base location of either Croydon, Sheffield or Liverpool with a requirement for periodic attendance at other Home Office locations. 

Job description

This post provides an opportunity to work in a fast-paced environment, which is inclusive by instinct, engaging with projects that work across the department. 

To manage and co-ordinate PRAU’s workforce planning and budget we are looking for a Business Support Manager. Applicants will need to demonstrate finance and HR acumen with a passion for numbers. They will also enjoy working as part of a wider team and engaging routinely with stakeholders to resolve complex financial tasks. 

PRAU along with other areas of the Home Office, are going through a significant and exciting transformation to provide an enhanced MI service to the Department. The transformation encompasses technology and process, meaning that the role will require a degree of flexibility to deliver innovative activities to support and endorse the transformation, in addition to the responsibilities outlined below.

The Business Support Manager will be part of a small team with line management responsibilities. You will be the lead point of contact for stakeholders and senior managers, accountable for ensuring that all financial tasks that support the operation of PRAU are completed in a timely and accurate manner. Reporting to the Head of Unit on budget management and workforce planning while connecting to the wider directorate’s financial reporting structure. 

This role is open part-time with a minimum of 0.8 FTE.

Person specification

Main responsibilities include but not limited to:

•    Be PRAU’s Lead on Finance and Workforce Planning, manage a varied workload and provide high quality support to the Head of Unit (HOU), SMT and unit.

•    Attend monthly meetings with Head of Unit, discussing financial and workforce risks and opportunities. 

•    Liaising with the HOAI Centre of Excellence about spend, challenge inconsistencies, identify issues and suggest ways to resolve them.

•    Engaging with colleagues of all grades within the Directorate, maintaining excellent working relationships with Finance colleagues.

•    Ensure that all month-end financial processes are completed accurately and on time, providing relevant feedback where required. 

•    Manage a complex staffing budget with a number of different funding streams. Ensuring accurate monthly reconciliation of forecasts.

•    Attend monthly Workforce Planning review meetings with HOAI centre of excellence colleagues. 

•    Line Management of Business Support Officer (HEO).

Essential Criteria  

•    Good understanding of budgeting and financial principles.

•    Comfortable working with financial and qualitative data and is able to produce high level summary reports for senior managers.

•    Good organisational skills, ability to manage conflict/urgent tasks and manage expectations.

•    Strong interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to interact confidently and professionally with a range of stakeholders at all levels. 

•    Good data management skills.

Desirable Criteria

•    Advanced IT Skills. 

•    Familiarity with Home Office HR and finance processes.

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.

After submission of the first stage of your application you will be invited to complete the Civil Service Numerical test. If you successfully pass the test, you will be invited to complete the final stage of the application.

Please complete the online tests as soon as possible (within 24-48 hours is recommended), the closing date for the tests is 23:55 on 11th April 2024. If you fail to complete the online test before the deadline, your application will be withdrawn.

Guidance for the test will be available when you are invited to take the test. The tests are administered online and accessed via the Civil Service Jobs website.

Candidates who pass the test will then have until 23:55 on 11th April 2024 to submit their full application.

You will be asked to complete:

• A CV (job history/qualifications/skills)
• Statement of Suitability (Personal statement) (750 words maximum)
• Evidence of the lead behaviour 'Managing a Quality Service' (250 words maximum)

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

The sift will take place on the Statement of Suitability and the lead behaviour Managing a Quality Service. CV's will not be scored.

The Statement of Suitability must be aligned to demonstrate your skills and experience for the role and how you meet the essential criteria as detailed in the job advertisement.

If your full application has not been submitted by 23:55 on 11th April 2024, it will not be considered. 

The initial sift will be based on the Statement of Suitability. Candidates who meet the minimum pass score for this criteria, will then go on to the full sift and have their lead behaviour- ‘Managing a Quality Service’ scored. Candidates who fail to meet the minimum pass score for the Statement of Suitability will not have their lead behaviour scored and will therefore only receive a sift score for their personal statement.

Successful candidates shortlisted for interview will be tested on Behaviour based questions.

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 and generating of examples/answers from internet sources including Artificial Intelligence. If any is detected the application may be withdrawn from the process. Further action, including disciplinary action, may be considered in such cases involving civil servants. Providing false or misleading information would be contrary to the core values of honesty and integrity expected of all Civil Servants.

Sift and Interview Dates  

The sift will take place week commencing 22nd April 2024.

Interviews will take place week commencing 13th May 2024. 

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates.

Interviews will take place remotely. Candidates will be required to have access to:

• A laptop (personal or work) with a working webcam
• Good internet connection
• Microsoft Teams

It is advisable to access your interview from a windows operating system laptop, desktop, phone or tablet as there is no guarantee that Microsoft Teams will work without issue on an Apple laptop, tablet or desktop.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to time constraints we may not be able to offer alternative interview date(s). It is therefore expected that candidates who are successful at sift stage will make themselves available during the above time frame given.

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

A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointment may be made.

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.