About the job

Job summary

About the Investigations Business Area

Investigations is the core crime fighting capability of the NCA. We take an intelligence-led approach and concentrate on tackling the criminals and risks to the public which are beyond the capability or capacity of other law enforcement bodies.
Our teams lead investigations across the Serious and Organised Crime landscape for example: Organised Immigration Crime, Illicit Finance, Modern Day Slavery and Human Trafficking, Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation, and Economic Crime.
The teams provide a national service of specialist investigative skills and expertise to support major crime investigations conducted by police forces, such as abduction and serial sexual crime.

National Investigative Capabilities

NIC offers all UK police investigations access to niche expertise or national functions which are otherwise not available within force. NIC is made up of a number of teams who work closely alongside each other, but provide unique services to assist law enforcement in protecting some of the most vulnerable members of society and bringing to justice the most dangerous offenders in the UK.

Serious Crime Analysis Section (SCAS)
Based in Bristol, SCAS holds the national remit to support serious stranger sexual offence and murder investigations in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The SCAS became operational in 1998, with one main objective: to identify the potential emergence of serial killers and rapists at the earliest stage of their offending. SCAS holds the UK databse for serious stranger sexual offences and provides a national service for investigators to assist with identifying potentially linked cases and suspects.

UK forces are required to submit case information for offences meeting SCAS collection criteria. Once cases are received, SCAS provides analytical assistance, using the in-house ViCLAS (Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System) database (a national database of serious sexual offences) to conduct comparative case analysis in support of investigations into some of the most serious sexual crimes committed across the country.

The database now holds over 36,000 offences. SCAS uses this to conduct case analysis, searching on salient aspects of offender behaviours to identify other offences which share significant similarities. Detailed information is entered onto our database, recording a wide range of offence characteristics as well as information known about offenders or suspects.

SCAS offers additional services, including; searches of open source intelligence and the Police National Database; assisting with charging decisions and prosecution through statistical reports to support similar fact evidence and bad character.

Job description

The Crime Analyst role is based within the Serious Crime Analysis Section (SCAS). SCAS work to identify the potential emergence of serial killers and serial rapists at the earliest stage of their offending.

Crime Analysts undertake behavioural comparative case analysis utilising a bespoke database and other intelligence sources in order to support UK policing forces with the investigation of stranger sexual offences.

Successful applicants will have experience of analysing information and writing reports. 

Please Note; If applying for Part Time hours, you will be required to work a minimum of 30 hours. 

To learn more about this role, please register for the following event:
On Wednesday 27th March from 18:00, we are hosting a MS Teams event where you can hear from officers working within the NCA and be given the opportunity to ask questions about the role.

Attendance is by invitation only. To register, please contact central.recruitment@nca.gov.uk ASAP with the subject NCA – 344329 G5 SCAS Crime Analyst Event 27/03/24

***To be considered, you will need to successfully complete SC Enhanced clearance before commencing the role.***

Person specification

Main Responsibilities:

• Liaise with Investigative Officers from Police Forces throughout the UK and Northern Ireland to agree terms of reference for analysis.
• Conduct comparative case analysis to identify crimes that are potentially linked and potential offenders. Comparative case analysis is conducted using ViCLAS (Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System). ViCLAS is a bespoke SCAS database that contains details of offences, known suspects and offenders.
• Analysis will be carried out utilizing behavioural knowledge and awareness in order to identify key themes around which to focus and construct searches.
• Identify and prioritise lines of enquiry using a range of analytical techniques and systems.
• Conduct research on suspects using national police databases and other external sources.
• Present analysis results in reports to support police investigations.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £37,100, National Crime Agency contributes £10,017 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, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

If you wish to apply for this vacancy, you must submit your application by 23:55 on Sunday 31st March 2024. 

You will be asked to complete a CV as part of the application process,  Please see the candidate information pack for more information.

Once submitted your application will be acknowledged by the Government Recruitment Service.

Please note depending on the volume of applications a Longlist at sift may be conducted on following criteria:

• Attention to detail, with strong verbal and written communication skills.

Candidates must pass this criteria for their application to be progressed.

A panel will then assess your application to select those demonstrating the best fit for the role by considering the evidence you have provided against the criteria set out in the Entry Criteria section.

Failure to address any or all of these may affect your application.

Sift results are expected to be released w/c Monday 22nd April 2024. 

Candidates successful at sift will be invited to an Assessment Centre taking place in May 2024. 

Interviews will take place throughout June 2024 - locations to be confirmed. Please be advised that the type of interview (eg. virtual/face-to-face) may be subject to change and successful candidates will be notified of this prior to attending. However the interview is conducted, the interview criteria will remain as shown on page 15 of the Candidate Information Pack. 

The above sift and interview dates are an indicative timeline.

Should you be successful at sift but cannot attend on the interview date(s) listed the recruitment team cannot guarantee an alternative date. Please contact the recruitment team.

You will then be asked to attend an interview in order to have a more in-depth discussion of your previous experience and professional competence.

Full details of the assessment process will be made available to shortlisted candidates.

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. Any instances of plagiarism including copying of examples/answers from internet sources will result in a withdrawal of your application. 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.

Multi-Location

Where more than one location is advertised, candidates will be appointed in merit order for each location. You will be asked to state your location preference on your application.

Please be aware that you can be posted to any location that you put in your preferences. If you would only like to be posted to one location, please confirm one location only. If you are posted to a location that you have requested and you do not accept that location, you may not be offered another role.

Please note, only advertised location can be offered. Notes populated in a free text box will not be taken into consideration.

Near Miss

Candidates who are judged to be a near miss at interview may be considered for other positions in the NCA which may be at a lower grade, but have a potential skills match.

Hybrid Working

Here at the NCA we have a hybrid working arrangement in place enabling officers to work a proportion of their role remotely. Eligibility and the degree of home working will vary depending on the requirements of the role. Further details can be discussed at offer stage.

Reasonable Adjustment

We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to all. As part of our application process you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustment to our recruitment process that you may need. If you have a disability or long-term condition (a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long term effect on your ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities protected under the Equality Act 2010) and need us to make any adjustments or do anything differently during the recruitment process, please let us know by emailing ncarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk, 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:

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.

Please contact us by emailing ncarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date if you wish to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying.

Inclusion and Accessibility

The NCA embraces and values diversity in all forms. Being truly reflective of the communities we serve and building a culture where everyone can perform at their best is critical to leading the UK’s fight against serious and organised crime – something which affects us all. We want to recruit and retain the very best and broadest diversity of officers so the NCA welcomes applications from individuals from all backgrounds.

We are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we are committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact ncarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

VETTING REQUIREMENTS SC

All security clearances require you to provide evidence of your UK footprint where you have been physically present in the UK.

The requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years.

Failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected.

If you require SC clearance you will need to provide evidence of the below requirements.

Checks will be made against:

• Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
• UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
• Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
• Security Services records

We encourage all candidates to thoroughly review the candidate pack which explains the role further before submitting an application.

If you have any specific queries about the role that are not covered by the candidate pack, please contact:

ncarecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

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.