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.

Job description

This is an exciting opportunity for the right candidate to develop and embed a wide range people and engagement skills within a high performing team, delivering what is required to continue to make the team a great place to work and to support staff and senior managers in delivery.

Detention Services is part of Immigration Enforcement and supports compliance across the immigration system through the detention and removal of individuals who no longer have the right to remain in the United Kingdom. Detention Services offers some of the most varied and fascinating opportunities for project delivery professionals due to the scale of outsourced contracts necessary to deliver the infrastructure needed to support the department’s mission.

Detention at Immigration Removal Centres plays a vital role as part of this infrastructure which allows the Government to maintain effective immigration control and secure the UK’s borders. The advertised role is an exciting and rare opportunity to work on delivery of one of the department’s highest priorities. You will be playing a key role in delivering the procurement of mission critical services within the detention estate. This offers an outstanding opportunity for you to be involved in an exciting programme of change, including the procurement of multiple immigration removal centre services within the context of the implementation of Stephen Shaw’s independent review recommendations.

You will work alongside other members of the Detention Services Portfolio Team. We are looking for an experienced, dynamic, and innovative Project Portfolio Management (PPM) professional able to work in a high profile, fast moving and rapidly changing area of delivery which will continue to attract significant interest from Ministers, wider Government, the media, and the public.

The role of the Project Planner is to work with stakeholders to ensure all aspects of the project are defined. The planner provides clarity on key milestones to define what, when and how activities will be organised to ensure the outcomes of a project can be achieved, with the resources available. They lead on all aspects of project planning, which will include the development, updating and monitoring of Microsoft Project Online (MSPO) plans and schedules. They identify tasks, activities, interdependencies and outputs for the project and work with the project team to track and monitor progress against the plan throughout the life of the project. Key to this exciting role is maintaining effective communication, maximising on engagement opportunities, implementing structured planning, and ensuring that project reporting resources are in place. You will be part of a forward-thinking team to deliver an ambitious portfolio or programmes and projects within challenging timescales. 

• You should have project delivery work experience.
• You should have some experience of managing projects.
• You may have some experience of leading or managing a team.

Our projects are often Tier 2 Mission Critical and subject to several internal and external assurance reviews.

Person specification

Key responsibilities will include (but not limited to):

Delivery and Leadership
Lead on planning activity and work with the project to support delivery of the business case benefits and outcomes. Support capability building and the use of best practice in planning and reporting. Provide expert advice for team members and project community.

Project Planning
Challenge and test project assumptions to ensure that plans are realistic and achievable. Develop of breakdown structures, quality criteria, product descriptions and monitoring strategy. Support the project manager to identify options to optimise delivery through resource smoothing, resource levelling and rescheduling of activities.

Resources
Work with the resource manager to manage the planning team and identify, develop, and deploy of planning resources. Identify and plan for wider resource requirements for the project.

Stakeholder Management
Ensure that stakeholder responsibilities and needs are understood and addressed in reporting arrangements.

Project Performance and Controls
Monitor and analyse information, reporting progress, slippage and highlighting areas of risk and opportunity.

Guidance and Support
Provide expert advice on planning processes throughout the lifecycle of the project. Support the Programme Office/Project Managers daily with other ad hoc requests.

Please Note: You may be required to carry out other duties within the scope of the grade.

Essential Criteria

Successful candidates must be able to demonstrate in their Personal Statement: 

• Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to form well thought out conclusions and recommendations.
• Analytical thinking and the ability to interpret data.
• Ability to work on several different activities and to work flexibly across these, offering support, as the need arises.
• You should have some experience of leading or managing a team.

Desirable Criteria

• Project management work experience, with experience in project delivery methodologies.
• Knowledge of techniques for planning, monitoring, and controlling programmes/projects, including risk management, and planning.
• Understanding of commercial contract procurement.
• Experience of writing business cases.
• Experience of risk management.
• Experience of using Microsoft Project Online (MSPO).

Holding one or more of the following project delivery qualifications (or indeed any relevant project delivery qualification) would be desirable: 

• APM Project Management Qualification 
• APMG International Project Planning and Control Practitioner  
• PRINCE 2 Practitioner 
• Managing Successful Programmes Practitioner 
• PMI Project Management Professional 
• Project Delivery Accreditation – Foundation Level  

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, Experience and Technical skills.

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

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

• A statement of suitability (personal statement) (maximum 750 words)
• Provide evidence of the behaviour - Delivering at Pace (250 words maximum)

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

Please note 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 - Delivering at Pace 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 lead behaviour (Delivering at Pace) 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 lead 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 (personal statement) only. 

If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to an interview which will be based on Behaviour based questions and the Technical Skills.  

Technical skills

We will assess you against these Technical Skills during the selection process - see Project Framework competency attached: 

Planning – Project Delivery Capability Framework

Sift and Interview dates

Sift is expected to take place week commencing 4th March 2024.

Interviews are expected to take place week commencing 25th March 2024.

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert, however on occasions 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

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 location based reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role or similar role become available within that period you may be offered this position. 

When completing your application you will have the opportunity to select your preferred location(s). Candidates who are successful at Interview will be placed in order of merit per location and provisional job offers will be made in strict merit order per location preference. Provisional offers are made, as they are on condition that you successfully pass all pre-employment checks.

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 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.

Part-time working

If you are considering applying for part time hours, please contact horcbandenational@homeoffice.gov.uk to discuss your request as not all working patterns may be accommodated.

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).

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.