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

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 am a UK National.
• I will be able to provide all the ID documents required to complete my pre-employment screening and security clearance.
• I can undertake shift work.

Detention Services is part of Immigration Enforcement and offers some of the most varied and challenging opportunities in Government. Immigration detention plays a vital role in maintaining effective immigration control and securing the UK’s borders. Immigration detention is a key element of the Government’s immigration strategy, helping to perform the function of removing those not entitled to be in the UK. 

Detainee Escorting and Population Management Unit (DEPMU) work within Detention Operations, who are responsible for managing and delivering immigration detention facilities and DEPMU are responsible for detention population management and detained escorting within the UK.

Seven immigration removal centres (IRCs), one pre-departure accommodation (PDA) for families and a number of residential short-term holding facilities are provided through contracts which include the provision of security operations, management and maintenance services. Our detention facilities provide a humane, safe and secure environment, whilst the Home Office considers their case pending resolution and subsequent removal/deportation from the UK.

This is an exciting opportunity to work in a high-profile, high-priority area and varied role.

We are looking for an individual who can work across boundaries, develop consensus, identify areas where our function and capabilities can be improved and then implement solutions. You will be required to work in a fast-paced and dynamic environment thinking creatively and developing solutions. 

You will work as part of a team who are providing a 24/7 service made up of shift work, which includes day and night shifts, public holidays and weekend working (currently no SEO undertakes weekend / night shifts).

Person specification

Key responsibilities include, but not limited to:

• Working as part of a senior management team, work collaboratively and positively to provide corporate resilience in the high volume 24/7-time critical environment of DEPMU operations.
• Support setting the direction for local operational planning and operational delivery.
• Taking a proactive approach in establishing and building positive relationships with IRCs, security providers, escort providers and other stakeholders in order to review current processes, identifying areas of improvement to simplify procedures to meet business needs.
• Being responsible for direct line-management and development of HEOs, countersigning responsibility for EOs; dealing with all staffing matters which arise.
• Setting the direction for all matters relevant to DEPMU Performance Management and staff progression / development.
• Leading on DEPMU risk mitigation / recording / action planning, alongside building audit and assurance capabilities. 
• Working closely with Detention Services colleagues dealing with FOIs, PQs, SCS Submissions and NGO review / audit recommendations and similar correspondence, regularly to extremely tight deadlines. 
• Working with local SLT and training team to develop standard operating procedures for all processes/functions.
• Actively contributing and leading where necessary on business change planning/implementation/training in ATLAS, BRM and other IT amongst range of other workstreams.
• Working with the senior management team to monitor staff resources and seek to maintain the appropriate compliments for each grade.
• Annually reviewing the staffing profiles, AHW requirements and issuing contracts within set timeframes.
• Supporting SLT identifying and addressing the training and development requirements of staff and fairly and appropriately applying performance management process.
• Managing the workflow through the unit prioritising busy workloads in a high profile and fast paced environment, whilst demonstrating flexibility to ensure that work is completed within deadline.
• Working closely with HMPPS/SPS/NIPs and internal directorates to manage and co-ordinate, through risk assessments and population management actions; time served and serving individuals in HMPs, in both accommodation and case progression aims.
• Proactively engaging with partners across Migration and Borders Group to ensure DEPMU are sighted on all operational tasking and strategic plans.
• Supporting Operational SEO duties (training required) where appropriate. 
• Maintain current and develop local business continuity plans as required.
• Regularly chairing and participating in unit and directorate teleconferences in relation to our corporate services functions.
• Actively participating in action planning and delivery following the annual Civil Service People Survey and follow up local sessions, in an effort to improve our unit and deliver continued success.
• Actively demonstrating the standards and behaviours set out in the Civil Service Leadership Statement: providing inspiration, engaging confidently and empowering others.

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

Essential Criteria

Successful candidates will need to demonstrate:

• Knowledge and experience of working with multiple internal and external partners to deliver collaboratively achieved outcomes including others to deliver results.
• Evidence of good communication skills [written / verbal] to deliver well-drafted complex products at pace and deliver to various audiences / grade groups.
• Good team leadership skills including the ability to develop relationships across all grades to improve work relations in a changing environment.
• High attention to detail and confidence with Microsoft packages – especially SharePoint, PowerPoint and Word. 

Desirable Criteria

• Knowledge or experience of working in Borders and Enforcement.
• Line management experience, developing individuals and teams to get the best out of people.
• Knowledge or experience of working with ATLAS.

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 CV detailing job history/skills
• a statement of suitability (personal statement) (maximum 750 words)
• provide evidence of the Lead behaviour - Managing a Quality Service (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 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 Statement of Suitability (personal statement), lead Behaviour - Managing a Quality Service and CV.

The statement of suitability will be scored first for all candidates.  Those who achieve the minimum pass score for the statement of suitability, will progress to a full sift where their lead behaviour - Managing a Quality Service and CV will be scored. 

Candidates who fail to meet the minimum pass score for their statement of suitability will not have their lead behaviour - Managing a Quality Service and CV scored and will therefore only receive a sift score for their 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 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 

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 344176 CLOSING DATE 22nd March 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 25th March 2024.

Interviews are expected to take place week commencing 15th April 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

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 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.

Annual Hours Working Allowance

We operate 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. This role currently attracts Annualised Hours Allowance of 10%. 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.  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 Working

The minimum requirement for this role would be 0.8 FTE 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, you 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).

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.