About the job

Job summary

The Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) is the MOD's civilian police force, providing specialist capabilities including armed protection, marine policing, and criminal investigation. It employs near 3000 staff at locations across the UK.

MDP Control Rooms provide a 24-hour operations and information room service to the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) acting as a focal point of contact for police officers and business stakeholders.

This role offers an exciting opportunity to join the MOD in the MDP Force Control Room, undertaking control room operator duties to support routine business, events, operations, and major / critical incidents.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Job description

Being a Police Control Room Operator for MDP is more than just answering calls, it is about obtaining and providing accurate information to ensure the right decisions are made to help and keep people and the Defence estate safe and secure.

Control Room operators are often the first point of contact for members of the Defence community wishing to speak to the police and a regular and trusted point of contact for our officers on the ground. Our dedicated team work shifts over a 24 hour period to answer calls, record and manage incidents and operations and deploy resources to police incidents across the Defence estate.

This role is hugely rewarding where no two days are alike and you will feel an immense sense of satisfaction helping people and supporting police officers in the fulfilment of their duties.

The Control Room is a 24hr function providing an operational and information room service to MDP officers, the Defence community and external agencies and organisations such as Home Office Police Forces. This role provides a central and fundamental service to enable operational policing on the Defence estate, to Critical National Infrastructure sites and to deliver Ministry of Defence priorities.

Person specification

Applicants should be able to demonstrate: -

1. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
2. Ability to prioritise and make decisions under pressure whilst remaining calm and focused.
3. High level of attention to detail
4. Strong IT skills including proficient at typing. Successful applicants will be required to pass the requisite IT courses
5. Experience in the provision of services to the public via telephone
6. Educated to SQA Higher level or equivalent. Where no formal qualifications exist, relevant experience in the provision of customer service over the telephone is essential.

 In order to be confirmed in post, the job holder will be required to successfully pass the following courses: -

• MDP Command, Control and Communication (C3) Initial course
• College Of Policing accredited Police National Computer (PNC) Enquiry course within six months of their commencement of employment, subject to course availability.

Thereafter successful candidates will be required to maintain their competence and currency by completion of annual Continual Professional Development (CPD) which will include legislative, policy and procedural changes. The standards required of the role are set out in the MDP C3 Training standards Standard Operating Procedure which may be subject to change following departmental review.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £24,040, Ministry of Defence contributes £6,490 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

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

The MDP will use assessment methods (such as application forms, evidence of assessment skill , and interviews) to decide whether a person meets the requirements for a control room role. Reasonably adjusted tests are available should these be required. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/civil-service-online-tests  provides details Candidates will be required to complete the following online Civil Service tests:

• Customer Service Skills
• Judgement
• Verbal
• Casework Skills

Please note if you have previously taken the Verbal Reasoning Tests on CS Jobs, the scores may not be applicable to this vacancy as this vacancy is testing the new Civil Service Verbal Test.

The Civil Service Judgement Test is not bankable and therefore must be taken on every vacancy where it is applied.

Should you be invited to complete the online tests, please allow sufficient time to complete the tests and the remainder of the full application form; only candidates who are successful at the test stage will be invited to complete the remainder of the application by clicking ‘Submit Application’. Your application must be completed by 23:55 on the closing date of the vacancy. Late submissions cannot be accepted. The tests are not timed, as they work by giving you harder questions if you answer the previous question correctly, and easier if you get it wrong. You should allow up to an hour for each test, and each test must be completed before you will be invited to complete the second part of your application. Internet access will be required for the duration of the test. Please refer to the attached Candidate Guidance for further information.

Candidates that reach the minimum required pass mark will have their results saved as a banked score for the Civil Service Verbal Test.

When a candidate has a banked score they’re not asked to re-take the same test providing it is set at the same level. Scores will be banked for a 6-month period from the date of test completion. If a candidate is invited to take the same test against multiple vacancies, the banked scores will be recognised against all vacancies and all active applications will progress.
CSJT scores cannot be banked as each test is generated from the behaviours required for a specific role which will vary between recruitment campaigns.

If you require any particular arrangements (for example due to a disability or health problem) to be made in order for you to complete the online test you MUST contact the DBS Enquiry Centre on 0800 345 7772 BEFORE accessing the online test.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours and Experience

• Stage 1
  • Application form including CV;
  • Civil Service Behaviours (4) Leadership / Communicating & Influencing / Working Together / Seeing the Big Picture;
  • Civil Service Tests (4) Casework / Customer Service / Judgement / Verbal.

Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include: job history; qualification details and previous skills and experience.
This cannot be uploaded to the advert. You will submit using the CV template provided on the CS Jobs dashboard in part two of your application. Should there be a high number of applicants then the sift will be conducted on the behaviours of Leadership and Communicating and Influencing only.

• Stage 2
  • Interview stage:
  • The candidate must demonstrate an accurate typing speed of 30 words per minute in line with industry standards. (This test will be read out to the candidate to accurately resemble the passage of information in a police control room where most information received will be audio and applicants should prepare themselves accordingly).
  • Interviews will include the following behaviours: • Leadership • Communicating & Influencing • Working Together • Seeing the Bigger Picture.

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

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact: DBSCivPers-Resourcingteam3@mod.gov.uk  

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came in to effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical.

The role currently being advertised has not been assessed as business critical and is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system. Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected, and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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.