About the job

Job summary

Resettlement Services works with partners to safely resettle and transfer vulnerable families, adults and children to and across the UK. It delivers the UK’s resettlement, relocation and integration schemes for refugees and other eligible beneficiaries.

Resettlement Services oversee several resettlement programmes.

The payments team is responsible for over £330 million per year in funding, in which the successful candidates will support the management team and wider team process these claims, while building strong relationships with both internal and external stakeholders in the resettlement journey.

The Payments Team are responsible for the oversight and payment of grant funding to Local Authorities (LAs) who have resettled families in their areas under the UK’s various resettlement and relocation schemes.

The team has grown considerably over the last year and is made up of a variety of grades from AO to SEO, based across multiple ASRA locations.

The team’s core role is to ensure LAs who agree to resettle individuals/families receive the necessary funds to support their integration and access to key services; engage LAs and wider teams to promote understanding of payment and funding frameworks; and work collaboratively with other teams to address operational and funding related questions.

Job description

The EO Payments Officer role requires direct engagement with Strategic Migration Partners (SMPs), LAs, other HO teams and Government Departments on payment claims; from briefing them on the financial aspects of the various schemes to actively progressing cases, considering them against specific eligibility criteria, and providing quality assurance across the payments process. 

• Ensuring that claims meeting the required data quality standards to meet the governments minimum standards for grants. 

• Proactively supporting the relationships between the Home Office and external stakeholders with questions, the claims process and further support as and when required.

• Work with other team members to ensure that the claims meet the service level agreements for our customers. 

• Support other internal stakeholders with payments questions and queries. 

• Proactively support the Senior Management team with local authority workshops. 

• Become a subject matter expert with your specific geographical regions within resettlement payments.

• Champion the Home Office values within the team of being collaborative, courageous, respectful and compassionate. 

• Lead colleagues within their line management chain in professional development and supporting them be their whole selves in the workplace.

Please Note: During initial training, candidates will be required to attend the office. Hybrid working will not be available. This is due to the specialist nature of the role and team; training is face to face. Training is subject to individual need and requirements. Therefore, office attendance will be required until completed and able to work independently.  

In addition to this, the minimum requirement for candidates wishing to work part-time is 22.2 hours per week. 

Person specification

• Working with the HEOs to supervise workflow management including monitoring the timely submission of payment claims from LAs.

• Verifying the accuracy of payment information submitted by LAs and initiate payments through Excel and METIS finance.

• Preparation of METIS documentation to set up new suppliers, supplier bank details and payments to LAs.

• Maintain payment information databases.

• Work closely with Contact Officers, SMPs and LAs.

• Ensuring the timely circulation of Funding Instructions to LAs.

This role also involves line management; specifically:

• Direct line management for at least 1 x AO.

• Support the development of staff/team to (a) improve business performance and (b) encourage potential and learning for progression and development.

• Manage staff performance in line with relevant guidance to ensure optimum team capability and output.

• Ensure good two-way communication of business and performance issues.

• Identify and implement continuous improvement and performance management.

Essential Criteria

• Strong line management experience.
• Experience of working in a grants payment setting or financial setting business function.
• Experience of establishing and building a strong relationship with internal and external stakeholders to support the business function.
• Evidence of working with data, specifically data quality.
• Proficiency in MS Office products, specifically Excel and Outlook.
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills to support stakeholders.
• Experience of working across an organisation to support department outcomes.
• Experience of operational and programme delivery systems in a multi-departmental environment.

Desirable Criteria

• Previous Experience with working in a government grant setting.
• Understanding and/or practical knowledge of Refugee Resettlement and/or Asylum systems.

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, Strengths and Experience.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to:

• Complete a Personal Statement (maximum of 750 words)
• Provide evidence of the behaviour Making Effective Decisions (maximum of 250 words)
• CV providing evidence of job history and skills 

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

The Personal Statement 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. 

The sift will be held on the behaviour Making Effective Decisions and the Personal Statement. The CV will not be marked.

For guidance on how to construct your personal statement, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers.

For guidance on how to construct your behaviour examples, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers. 

The sift will be completed initially on the Personal Statement.

The Personal Statement will be marked first for all candidates. Candidates who meet the minimum pass score for the Personal Statement will then go on to have their Lead Behaviour Making Effective Decisions scored and will receive sift scores for both elements.

Candidates who fail to meet the minimum pass score for the Personal Statement will not have their Lead Behaviour scored and will only receive a sift score for their Personal Statement.

If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to an interview which will be a blended approach of strength-based questions and behaviour-based questions. 

Strengths are the things that you do regularly, do well and that motivate you. To find out more about strength based questions click here

Sift and Interview Dates

• Sift is expected to take place week commencing 11th March 2024.
• Interviews are expected to take place week commencing 1st April 2024.

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert, however these may change due to business needs. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates.

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

• A laptop (personal or work) with a working webcam
• Good internet connection
• Skype for Business/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 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.

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working.  Where this is the case, employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in the office.  Applicants can discuss any specific questions with the Vacancy Holder.

Please ensure your profile on the CS Jobs portal is up to date and reflects your current status as a Civil Servant or External Candidate. Inaccurate or out of date details will impact the onboarding process and may delay your start date if you’re successful.

If you are an external candidate and not a Civil Servant, please note that you will start on the minimum pay that is being advertised.

 For more information about working for the Home Office, please visit Home Office Careers website.

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.

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.