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

The Enforcement, Compliance and Crime Command (ECC) work in and with communities nationwide to enforce immigration laws fairly, protect and safeguard the vulnerable, act on intelligence to apprehend illegal migrants, and target companies exploiting workers illegally. 

This is an exciting role at the heart of the ECC, offering an unrivalled opportunity to work closely with senior leaders as well as a wide range of internal and external stakeholders. The successful candidate will gain a unique insight into a broad and interesting portfolio of work and support the Director to deliver on key departmental and governmental priorities. 

The ECC Private Office is a small team, with staff based at locations nationally providing coverage between 08:30-17:00 Monday to Friday. It is often a fast-paced, engaging and rewarding place to work where staff have the opportunity to gain a comprehensive view of the work of the ECC and how this fits with the wider priorities within Immigration Enforcement (IE). There is significant interest in our work across multiple platforms and other departments.  

The ECC Private Office Team is high-performing, friendly and inclusive. This is a demanding and rewarding role for a candidate who is interested in working with senior leadership within IE and engaging with stakeholders including Ministerial and Director level Private Offices and senior officials. This is a fast paced and highly collaborative environment; you will need to be organised with the ability to prioritise and respond to tasks against changing priorities and conflicting deadlines.

The Private Secretary is crucial in providing effective support to the PB2 Director of ECC across a wide range of activities. The successful candidate will have the opportunity to work with senior officials in an exciting, fast paced, and challenging environment that involves dealing with complex issues. It provides an opportunity to be part of a supportive team with ample opportunities to learn and develop new skills. 

Person specification

The successful candidate will support the Chief of Staff to manage a dynamic team, deputising for the Chief of Staff as required and helping to manage the overall running of the Private Office. This will include line management of the Assistant Private Secretary. The role is varied, and key responsibilities are wide ranging and often demanding, requiring a great deal of resilience, autonomy and personal responsibility. 

Key responsibilities include:

• Responsibility for the daily management of the ECC Private Office, working at pace to support the delivery of Private Office responsibilities and objectives within the required deadlines to ensure a high-quality service is provided. 

• Maintain, track and deliver effectively against a range of Director business priorities, commissioning and producing correspondence, briefings and papers at the right time and highlighting any issues that require immediate attention. 

• Have oversight of secretariat functions for key meetings including minute taking. 

• Work collaboratively with Home Office leadership teams, stakeholders, Ministerial offices and other colleagues. Build and maintain a network of colleagues and contacts to achieve progress on shared objectives across Private Offices and the Director’s area. 

• Commission, track and monitor correspondence for ECC including, but not limited to: Parliamentary Questions, Freedom of Information requests, MPs letters etc. 

• Accompanying and supporting the ECC Director on relevant visits and events, working with the Diary Manager to ensure logistics are properly arranged and acting as an ambassador for the Director and ECC. 

• Support the implementation and operation of the ECC Communications Strategy including developing and publishing communications on behalf of the ECC Director using a variety of forums including the design and maintenance of ECC SharePoint pages. Ensure the tone and style of communications are appropriate and meet the needs of the intended audience. 

• Line management of Assistant Private Secretary. 

• You may be required to carry out other duties within the scope of your grade and within the limits of your skill, competence and training. 

Essential criteria

The successful candidate should be able to demonstrate the following skills and experience:

• A self-motivator, capable of multi-tasking under pressure in a demanding and changing environment, to be calm, flexible and have the ability to prioritise and delegate conflicting demands effectively to meet deadlines and maintain service levels (lead criteria).

• Strong management skills, able to ensure that team members have a clear understanding of objectives, activities and timeframes whilst supporting their individual needs and wellbeing. 

• Have very strong written and oral communication skills using a variety of channels including digital methods. The ability to communicate and influence with clarity and confidence.

• A collaborative and proactive mindset, working confidently and collaboratively with a range of internal and external stakeholders to progress priorities whilst maintaining a high degree of professionalism and resilience. 

• An ability to see how work fits into wider priorities and adapt as a result, understanding, analysing and summarising a wide range of complex information. 

Desirable criteria

• Strong IT skills including SharePoint and Microsoft Office 365.

• Experience of working in Private Office.

• Experience of Enforcement, Compliance and Crime and / or Immigration Enforcement.

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.

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 lead behaviour - Delivering at Pace (maximum 250 words)

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 advertisement.

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 lead behaviour - Delivering at Pace and the statement of suitability (personal statement).

The statement of suitability (personal statement) will be scored first for all candidates. Those candidates who achieve the minimum pass score for the statement of suitability (personal statement), will progress to a further sift where the lead 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 (personal statement) will not have their behaviour scored and will therefore only receive a sift score for the statement of suitability (personal statement).

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 a blended approach of strength-based questions and behaviour-based questions on the behaviours listed within the advert.

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

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: 362730 CLOSING DATE: 07 August 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 the 12th August 2024. 

Interviews are expected to take place from the 29th August 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 MS Teams. Candidates will be required to have access to:

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

Attach Supporting Documents

Do not attach any documents at this time.

Contact Details

Please use the following in the subject line in your email if you need to get in contact with us: Vacancy Ref: 362730.

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

Selecting your locations

Please note only list locations where you are prepared to work and can travel to (as you could be offered any of your noted preferences).

When completing your application, you will have the opportunity to select your preferred location(s). Please ensure you select all locations you are interested in on the understanding 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 locations can be offered.

Reserve List

Where a campaign identifies more appointable candidates than there are available vacancies, a reserve list may be held for up to 12 months.

Reserve lists will be managed by locational merit lists, appointing in merit order per location. You may be offered a post at any of your preferred locations.

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.

Northern Ireland is part of the UK. As stated in the Belfast Agreement, also known as the Good Friday Agreement, the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of Ireland recognise the birthright of all the people of Northern Ireland to identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both, as they may so choose, and accordingly confirm that their right to hold both British and Irish citizenship is accepted by both Governments and would not be affected by any future change in the status of Northern Ireland.

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

Part-time

The minimum requirement for this role would be 21 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 Arrangement

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.