About the job

Job summary

The Home Office Health, Safety and Wellbeing Team provides professional health and safety policy, guidance, advice, expertise and support to approximately 51,000 Home Office staff based around the globe. The risk profile of roles in the Home Office means we are looking for someone who has the ability to think innovatively and test normal understanding of risk and compliance.

Job description

The successful post-holders need no previous experience in health and safety.  They will be enrolled on to the Home Office Apprenticeship scheme aligned to the Home Office Health and Safety Profession Document to achieve TechIOSH over the first 6 months of their appointment by studying for a Level  3 qualification, studying 1 day a week for the first 6 months of the post. 

Long term, this role is a starting block to what could be a structured and exciting career in health and safety with the candidate being supported to develop with hands on experience and formal professional training via continuous professional development studying at Level 6, to eventually becoming with relevant experience a Chartered Practitioner in Occupational Safety and Health with the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) within 60 months of appointment and progress to SEO/Band 4 via open and fair competition. 

Duties will include supporting the delivery of the health and safety transformation programme for the Department. 
Duties will cut across supporting the health and safety audit programme, accident investigations and people safety including DSE, remote working and building safety frontline delivery.  It will include designing and implementing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and supporting business areas to achieve legal compliance in Home Office core campus buildings. The role will also be supporting the Health and Safety Strategy Lead and the Department in the promotion, maintenance, implementation and review of the Home Office Health and Safety 3-Year Plan, First Step,2025-27.

Liaising with, supporting, guiding and partnering leaders, cross government health and safety colleagues, staff networks and other internal and external stakeholders and partners at all levels to advocate, explain, promote, support and drive the implementation of strategic health and safety objectives.

Supporting People Safety Business Partners and Delivery Safety Business Partner, co-ordinating and delivering health and safety initiatives with departmental and cross departmental health and safety leads and/or staff support networks.

Supporting Health, Safety and Fire Management leadership and delivering health and safety projects with internal and/or external partners to agreed objectives and targets.

Sourcing, analysing and reporting internal health and safety indicator data.

Person specification

Able to work alone and as part of a team, with proactive work ethic.

Must be a good communicator both written and verbal.

Able to resolve customer complaints and issues in a pragmatic manner.

Excellent verbal and written communication skills and behaviours.

Essential Criteria

• Able to manage own portfolio of work as well as working with team members on cross cutting pieces of work;
• Hold excellent communication skills, with the ability to persuade and influence others, including drafting professional quality documents for Board level;
• Experience of analysing information from a range of sources and making recommendations with related IT skills in Excel and PowerPoint;
• Ability to balance multiple priorities;
• Hold or be willing to undertake a qualification to achieve a minimum of TechIOSH level membership with the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) with an active CPD within 3 months of joining the team.

 Desirable Criteria

• Demonstrated ability to proactively identify and solve health and safety issues.
• Willingness to adapt to changing priorities and handle multiple tasks effectively.
• Strong teamwork skills, contributing positively to collective goals and fostering a collaborative work environment.
• Clear and concise communication skills to convey health and safety information to various stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to effectively utilize Microsoft Office 365 suite, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint, to enhance productivity, collaboration, and communication within the organisation.

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.

As part of the application process, you will first be asked to confirm your eligibility by providing some basic personal information.

We will request as part of the recruitment process:

- A CV detailing job history/qualifications

- A statement of suitability (personal statement) (maximum 500 words)

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

The sift will be held on the statement of suitability (personal statement).

Your CV should consist of your career history, qualification including any key achievements in each role. It will be used for information purposes only and will not be scored but instead will be used to provide further context on your personal statement, and support conversations at interview.

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

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

Sift and interview dates:

- Sift is expected to take place week commencing 1st May 2024

- Interviews are expected to take place from week commencing 22nd May 2024.

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

Interviews

Interviews will be carried out via video. Candidates will be required to have access to:

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

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

Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter

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

Please note: If you are currently an agency member of staff working within the Home Office, 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.

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.

Visa sponsorship    

We are unable to sponsor any individuals via Skilled Worker Sponsorship / Tier 2 (General) work visas as we do not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License.  

Who can start an apprenticeship

To start an apprenticeship, you’ll need to be:

• 16 or over
• living in England
• not in full-time education

You can apply for an apprenticeship while you’re still at school but you’ll need to be 16 or over by the end of the summer holidays to start the apprenticeship. Please note if successful you must be 16 or over to undergo the relevant security checks.

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 counter-terrorist 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.