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.

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

• I am at least 18 years old at the time of application.
• I am a UK National.
• I hold a full manual UK Driving Licence.
• I will be able to provide all the ID documents required to complete my pre-employment screening and security clearance.

Job description

Criminal & Financial Investigation (CFI) is a directorate within Enforcement, Compliance & Crime (ECC). Our mission is to investigate all aspects of immigration crime and bring the full force of the law against those who are seeking to abuse our border and immigration systems.

Our aim is to play a major part in disrupting organised crime groups involved in bringing people to the United Kingdom illegally. We do this by carrying out criminal investigations into these organised crime groups and use the Proceeds of Crime Act to strip them of their illicit profits. We also investigate and arrest foreign nationals who present a threat to society.

The Home Office values of being Courageous, Collaborative, Compassionate and Respectful are at the heart of everything we do in CFI whilst working to the high standards required by the criminal justice system. To achieve this, we train our staff to become fully accredited criminal and financial investigators and provide them with the best equipment to do their jobs efficiently and effectively.  

You will manage Criminal and Financial Investigation teams in the fight against Organised Immigration Crime. You will manage approximately 100 staff whose main focus is on disrupting people smuggling via small boats and clandestine entry to the United Kingdom. However, your teams will also investigate the full range of immigration criminality in line with organisational priorities and use the Proceeds of Crime Act to strip criminal gangs of their illicit profits.

You will set the direction and allocate resources in line with organisational priorities through a robust performance framework. You will ensure investigation strategies are focussed on delivering timely outcomes through the criminal justice system. You will need to be flexible, able to work under pressure and deliver to tight timescales.

You will be the face of the Criminal and Financial Investigation teams in the South East of England and capable of building strong partnerships with OGDs and overseas law enforcement agencies to maximise the impact on criminal gangs operating in the United Kingdom and near Europe.

You will need to be a confident self-starter, capable of working with a minimum of supervision and able to manage the expectations of multiple stakeholders through regular engagement and effective communication of our objectives and plans.

Due to the nature of this role the operational, management and stakeholder commitments are such that the role requires a full time commitment. The Dover South East command is the busiest operational command within CFI where there is also a high likelihood of senior managers being required to respond to serious or critical incidents occurring in the channel or at the border which require high level liaison with other national and international agencies.

Travel by official vehicle will be inevitable and applicants must have a Full UK valid (manual) Driving Licence.

Person specification

Responsibilities: 

• Being accountable for the performance and output of the South East CFI teams, balancing the reactive with the strategic.
• Leading and managing criminal investigations into organised immigration crime with a focus on clandestine entry to the United Kingdom, including people smuggling via small boats and via concealed entry within vehicles.
• Building investigative capability in the South East region that is capable of implementing measures to successfully disrupt organised immigration crime.
• Managing CFI’s International Liaison team ensuring we have effective relationships with European law enforcement partners through their overseas networks based in the United Kingdom and via Europol networks.
• Leading by example as the face of the CFI South East command. You will have strategic responsibility for engagement with the National Crime Agency, Border Force, HM Coast Guard and other law enforcement agencies in the South East of England.
• Developing a robust performance management framework for your teams and deliver outstanding results and provide timely and accurate advice to senior officers and Ministers on performance.
• Assessing the needs of the business, internal and external stakeholders, and set appropriate strategic direction and priorities. Evaluate the effectiveness of activity and review output as necessary.
• Scanning for upcoming operational / policy/ legal changes that need to be clearly communicated to stakeholders and ensure appropriate planning is in place to deliver a response.
• Providing supportive and engaged line management to your direct reports. Provide clear, inspiring, leadership to the wider team.

Essential Criteria

Candidates must be able to demonstrate:

• Experience in successfully leading large operational teams in a enforcement organisation with experience of managing complex criminal investigations and dealing with complex legal issues
• Have a strong understanding of the political, media, legal and current affairs landscape supporting a nuanced and informed political awareness.
• Have strong analytical skills and an ability to pay attention to detail. You will be able to draw conclusions from data and be able to simplify complex policy into clear communications and engagement that drive action.
• Excellent written and verbal briefing skills with an open and engaging personal style. You will be self-motivated, able to use your initiative and deal with multiple tasks.
• Ability to build strong and effective relationships with a range of senior stakeholders, internally and externally and the ability to influence decisions in order to deliver against organisational objectives.
• Line management experience including objective setting, performance management, training and development, to get the best out of your people.
• Experience of working in fast-paced environments and delivering against strict timelines, influencing key stakeholders along the way.

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 be asked to complete: 

• a statement of suitability (personal statement) (maximum 1250 words)
• provide evidence of the behaviour Making Effective Decisions (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 behaviour Making Effective Decisions and the statement of suitability (personal statement). 

The statement of suitability will be scored first for all candidates. Those who achieve the minimum pass score for the statement of suitability, will progress to a sift where the behaviour 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 behaviour 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 only (personal statement).

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

You will also be required to prepare a short presentation (no slides or handouts required) to present at interview, further details around what the presentation will entail will be provided before the interview.

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 362733 CLOSING DATE 9th August 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 12th August 2024.

Interviews are expected to take place week commencing 2nd September 2024.

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

Interviews will be face to face at Priory Court Dover. 

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.

Are these Reserved Posts for UK Nationals only?

UK nationals who hold dual nationality are able to apply for this reserved post. If a UK passport is not being presented, then candidates will need to provide alternative evidence of UK nationality in line with the Civil Service Nationality Rules.

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

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).

If you are successful in this position and choose to accept the provisional offer for this role, you will be removed from all other Home Office reserve lists at the same grade.

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

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.