About the job

Job summary

Home Office Intelligence brings together a number of existing teams involved in the collection and analysis of border and immigration related intelligence. It delivers Intelligence Collection, Development, Analysis, Targeting (Data Analytics) and Watchlisting capabilities within the Home Office and to its partners across Government and Law Enforcement. Learn more on the HO Intelligence careers page.

Job description

Do you meet the key eligibility criteria?

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 hold a full manual UK Driving Licence.
• I will need to undertake and pass a medical assessment if successful.
• I am aware that this role is physically demanding, and that I have a high level of mobility and fitness to carry out this role.
• I will need to undertake, and pass, a paid Pathway Programme of training if successful.
• I can undertake shift work.
• I will be able to provide all the ID documents required to complete my pre-employment screening and security clearance.

The Operational Intelligence Units (OIU) are undergoing an exciting period of transformation to build capability to proactively gather intelligence and develop thematic intelligence campaigns leading to operational activity that has a significant impact on immigration abuse within their geographical remit.

The OIUs are responsible for the proactive collection of information concerning immigration abuse, and the assessment of new information/intelligence received in line with local, regional and national priorities. Intelligence gathered is turned into operational packages for disruption (for example by enforcement teams) as well as developed into campaigns to disrupt thematic immigration abuse.

The role of intelligence is continuing to develop within the Home Office as we aim to professionalise roles through staff training and qualifications. You will work towards an Intelligence Professionalisation Programme (IPP) accreditation within the first year in post. The Home Office is also developing an IPP career pathway framework to set out how intelligence practitioners can proactively move between IPP organisations to improve their intelligence knowledge and skills sets.

The role will be to manage and direct a team of Field Intelligence Officers (FIOs) to deliver Immigration Enforcement priorities, by identifying immigration offenders and implementing enforcement action.

The post offers you the opportunity to develop your intelligence skills and is an excellent, challenging opportunity for the you to interact with a variety of internal and external partners.

You will be expected to deliver essential products to front line operational staff and respond to high profile hot tasking and protecting the vulnerable.

Person specification

You must be Immigration Enforcement arrest trained, or willing and able to pass an arrest training course (including required health assessment). You must complete the required training in order to fulfil any intelligence gathering requirements when deployed with an ICE arrest team and will be required to wear a uniform when undertaking any arrest duties.

You will also be required to undergo mandatory refresher arrest training every 12 months and must continue to meet the required health and fitness standards via annual health assessments.

As these are warranted roles with the powers of arrest, it is an essential requirement to complete the requisite training and the role is conditional on passing a mandatory training programme, which will include a health fitness assessment, Enforcement training (4-week course) and Arrest training (2-week course). Other additional training focusing on the intelligence aspect of the role will also be provided.

You will be responsible for but not limited to:

• Directing the day to day activity of the team, ensuring research staff are engaged in work that supports the Home Office control strategy and national priorities.
• Analysing and reporting on performance to support local and regional business planning.
• Effectively managing Intelligence Management System (IMS) and other intelligence databases ensuring that all intelligence is handled in line with Home Office guidance. Overseeing the management of the end to end intelligence process within the unit.
• Contributing to the development of effective working relationships with corporate partners, both internal and external and ensuring that the relationships are maintained and remain beneficial for the business.
• Representing immigration intelligence at Tasking and Co-ordination Meetings, effectively communicating intelligence updates, priorities and workflows.
• Managing the development and use of open and closed data sets including Open Source and financial intelligence.

Essential Criteria:

Successful candidates will need to demonstrate:

•    Previous experience of working in an intelligence and/or law enforcement field.
•    Excellent leadership skills; a proven track record of leading an operational team in a fast-paced environment.
•    Ability to prioritise in a fast-paced environment and delivering against competing deadlines.
•    Experience of building and maintaining stakeholder relationships.
•    Support the development of their team and take responsibility for own individual development, including completion of Intelligence Professionalisation Programme (IPP) accreditation.

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience of line management, applying HR guidance and managing teams.

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.

This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

• A statement of suitability (personal statement) (maximum 750 words).
• Provide evidence of the Lead Behaviour Leadership (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 Leadership and the statement of suitability (personal statement).

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

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

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 361707 Closing date 30/07/2024. 

For reasonable adjustments queries or requests, please see details with reasonable adjustments section.

Tie break decisions

The strengths and/or 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 5th August 2024.

Interviews are expected to take place week commencing 26th August 2024.

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

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

• A laptop (personal or work) with a working webcam
• Good internet connection
• Microsoft Teams

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 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.

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.

Note for 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. All applications are screened for plagiarism and copying and generating of examples/answers from internet sources including Artificial Intelligence. If any is detected the application may be withdrawn from the process. Further action, including disciplinary action, may be considered in such cases involving civil servants. 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.

Annual Hours Working Allowance:

We operate 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. This role currently attracts Annualised Hours Allowance of 23.78%. This is to compensate for working shift patterns including night shifts, early morning starts, late night finishes, weekends and public holidays.  Shifts can vary in length and can be up to 12 hours. Shifts can be changed or extended according to business need. The rate payable is dependent on location and role and is indicative of the shift pattern you will be required to work.

The higher the AHA, the more flexible you will be required to be. Please note that the allowance is subject to regular review and can go down as well as up.

Age: These are shift working roles and so you must be at least 18 years or over to apply for this role. You will be required to work between 22.00 and 06.00, so this is a legal requirement. For more information visit: https://www.gov.uk/night-working-hours and Child employment: Restrictions on child employment - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Part Time Hours:

The minimum requirement for this role would be 30 hours per week.

We encourage applications from candidates who wish to work part-time however, unless specified in the advert, part-time opportunities cannot be guaranteed in frontline roles due to the 24/7 operational nature of the business. Those wishing to work part-time should notify the vacancy holder as soon as a provisional offer of employment is made to explore whether this can be accommodated [at your selected location]. Please note that full shifts (of up to 12 hours) will be required even if a part time contract is sought.

Please note that not all work patterns can be supported within this role, successful candidates should discuss work patterns with the vacancy holder ahead of accepting any offer.

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).

Appearance

As part of this role you will be required to wear a uniform (which will be provided). Staff must ensure that their uniform is worn correctly, in line with these uniform standards, is kept clean and is well presented. To support this requirement, adequate uniform supplies will be available and issued. Uniformed staff represent their organisation at all times and should ensure that their dress and personal appearance reflects this responsibility. 

Public and Personal Safety Training [PPST] – Level 3

These roles can be physically demanding and if successful you will be required to complete and pass specialist training including Personal Safety Training (PPST) which develops skills in personal safety, arrest, and restraint techniques. This demands physical activity and physical contact with delegates on the course. You will be required to complete a PPST health declaration and, if necessary, attend a medical examination.

A formal offer will be conditional upon you being physically fit to undertake and pass the training.

You must be prepared to undertake regular refreshers of this.

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

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.