About the job

Job summary

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 the other law enforcement bodies.

Job description

The Investigations Directorate provides a flexible, shared operational capability, designed to maximise the impact of the UK's collective resources against serious and organised crime, and in specialist support of major crime. Our teams respond to a broad range of threats, many of which also remain a responsibility for the police forces and other agencies as well as private industry.

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, Internal Professional Standards, Economic Crime, Firearms, Drugs including County Lines, Anti-Kidnap and Extortion, Professional Enablers, Money Laundering and International Bribery and Corruption.

The teams provide a national service of specialist investigative skills and expertise to support major crime investigations conducted by police forces, such as abduction, serial sexual crime and no body murder.

***All NCA officers must hold SC Enhanced upon entry as a minimum. To meet the National Security Vetting requirements for this role you will need to have resided in the UK for a minimum of 3 out of the past 5 years. For more information please see the Candidate information Pack***

Person specification

Investigating serious criminality; collecting and developing intelligence and evidence to build and contribute to case file preparations to prosecute offenders.

You will be working closely with other NCA departments and partner agencies to identify threats from criminality and work in a challenging environment to pursue offenders. Using innovative approaches and ground breaking techniques you will be making decisions which help disrupt and bring to justice criminals who present the highest threat to the UK.

You may be expected to work directly or indirectly in tackling Child Sexual Abuse (CSA). This may involve exposure to child sexual abuse images and material. You should consider the sensitive nature of the work before deciding to apply.

NCA Investigative teams respond to a broad range of threats including Organised Immigration Crime, Cyber Dependant Crime, Fraud, Human Trafficking, Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Firearms and Drugs, as well as having internal Professional Standards teams. Investigations are undertaken in a varied and dynamic environment, identifying intelligence and evidential opportunities in support of investigation leads.

Investigations are undertaken in a varied and dynamic environment with critical roles in identifying intelligence and evidential opportunities in support of Investigation leads. These are challenging roles requiring a flexible approach to working long and varied hours, often at short notice, operating from locations within England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £34,672, National Crime Agency contributes £9,361 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, Experience and Technical skills.

If you wish to apply for this vacancy, you must submit your application by:

Monday 2nd October 2023 (tranche 1) 
Monday 4th December 2023 (tranche 2)
Monday 5th February 2024 at 23:55 (tranche 3)

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

Your CV should set out your career history including training and qualifications, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure that each entry of your career history also has a few sentences outlining a description and the key elements of that role, and that you provide reasons for any gaps within the last two years.
Please ensure the dates of any accreditations you are relying on are entered onto the CV. Experience criteria can also be assessed from CV.

• Where you hold the required accreditations (Current/Active PIP1 or PIP2) and your CV experience is assessed as being acceptable as outlined above you will progress to the assessment centre.
• Where you do not hold the required accreditation (Current/Active PIP1 or PIP2), you will be required to complete the equivalent experience section where you will need to evidence why you believe your experience/alternative accreditation is equivalent to the Current/Active PIP1.  (Please see guidance for applicants within this pack on pages 18, 19 and 20  for further information on PIP and your eligibility to apply). Once this is assessed if it is deemed equivalent then you will be invited to the assessment center.
• Where you do not hold the required accreditations and your equivalent experience/accreditations are deemed not to be suitable then you will unfortunately not progress further.

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;

Tranche 1:  Week commencing Monday 23rd October 2023 
Tranche 2:  Week commencing Monday 1st January 2023
Tranche 3:  Week commencing Monday 26th February 2024

Assessment Centres will take place

Tranche 1 - Throughout November 2023
Tranche 2 - Throughout January & February 2024
Tranche 3 - Throughout March & April 2024

Locations to be confirmed. Please be advised that the type of assessment centre (eg. virtual/face-to-face) may be subject to change and successful candidates will be notified of this prior to attending. However the asessment centre is conducted, the criteria will remain as shown on page 24 & 25 of the candidate information pack. 

The above sift and Assessment centre dates are an indicative timeline.

Should you be successful at sift but cannot attend on the assessment centre 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 or calling 0117 372 0000 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.