**Illegal Migration Operations Command – Illegal Migration Intake Unit – Social Worker Team Manager
Home Office
Apply before 11:55 pm on Monday 6th May 2024
Details
Reference number
Salary
Job grade
Contract type
Business area
Type of role
Working pattern
Number of jobs available
Contents
Location
About the job
Job summary
The Home Office works to build a safe, fair, and prosperous UK. We achieve this through our work on counterterrorism, policing, fire, crime, nationality, and immigration policy.
The Illegal Migration Operations Command (IMOC) is prioritising the operationalisation of the new Illegal Migration Act (IMA). This is a top priority, which is being led through twice weekly PM committee and will fundamentally alter the way in which the Government tackles illegal migration.
The Illegal Migration Act has been introduced in response to the Prime Minister’s commitment to respond to the pressure of small boat arrivals. One of its aims is to introduce a duty to remove anyone arriving illegally in the UK.
The newly formed Illegal Migration Operations Command looks to implement the Illegal Migration Act through processing and screening irregular migrants that fall under the new duties, as well as the creation of a new case working directorate.
The Illegal Migration Intake Unit (IMIU) is responsible for the registration and screening of those arriving in the UK illegally.
The Illegal Migration Intake Unit consists of the Kent Intake Unit (KIU); Midlands Intake Unit (MIU) within Yarl’s Wood IRC; Belfast Intake Unit, Intake Response Team (IRT), Manston Reception Centre, the Remote Operations Hub, and the People and Planning Function providing corporate enablement to the operation. The unit is made up of over 700 officers.
Job description
We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity and inclusion at the Home Office. We are committed to creating a welcoming, inclusive workplace where all our people are able to bring their whole selves to work and perform at their best.
This role will work alongside our Kent Intake Unit (KIU) who primarily deal with new arrivals detected either near the port, in the surrounding area in Kent, and small boat arrivals. The unit operates 24/7, 365 days of the year. Those arriving at the Kent Intake Unit will already be detained, so the Kent Intake Unit includes a holding room facility. The Kent Intake Unit has a particular focus around processing unaccompanied children, so the work of the unit involves the identification of those children and working closely with Kent Children’s Services to ensure they are processed and placed into appropriate care as quickly as possible.
This is a rare opportunity for a social work professional to provide expertise and leadership of a new flagship function that has significant Ministerial, local authority, non-governmental organisations (NGO) and public interest.
We are looking for an ambitious leader who is passionate about ensuing the welfare of young people and is experienced in leading teams and working with partners and stakeholders within the social work profession to ensure appropriate packages of support are delivered for individuals at pace. Therefore, we are looking for candidates who are qualified social workers with extensive post-qualification experience in a local authority setting. Alongside proven expertise and experience in complex assessments, you will thrive in a fast-paced environment with the accountability for a high-profile area of work.
There will be exposure to senior colleagues and Ministers across the breadth of the department.
You will be reporting to the G6 Operations Lead for the Kent Intake Unit.
Person specification
Ensuring the welfare of people who have arrived in the UK is at the heart of what we do, the successful candidate will lead a team of 8 Social Workers who will be responsible for providing critical safeguarding expertise and support through:
- Ensuring that a high-quality service is provided to local authorities and relevant bodies throughout the UK, young asylum seekers and others. Take into account the needs and viewpoints of others when delivering the service
- Leading the allocation and delivery of high quality UASC work in a timely way that meets the needs of the Home Office
- Quality assuring the work of social workers and ensure that it meets the required standards. Take appropriate remedial action where this is not the case
- Monitoring those children who are accommodated in post detention settings in KIU locations, liaise with the NTS team and LA regarding placements ensuring those most vulnerable are prioritised and times spent in these settings are kept to a minimum
- Providing professional supervision of social workers and providing line management to team members
- Providing a mentoring role to the Social Work Team members through assistance with complex cases, along with SACC Professional Advisors, to support the professional development of social workers
- Drafting high quality Ministerial submissions, briefings and correspondence as required
- Acting as a key liaison between local authorities and the Home Office
- Providing written and verbal reports and Management Information as required. This will include attending and leading operational calls with the Refugee Council and other partners
- Maintaining up to date knowledge of and apply research findings, legislation, statutory guidance, and policy developments
- Ensuring the team is up to date on procedural and operational changes and that guidance is applied in practice
- Being a liaison point for the Safeguarding Hub, to ensure that high quality and timely interventions, referrals and sign posting work is undertaken to support vulnerable customers
- Providing subject matter expertise and attending any safeguarding board meetings
- Advising colleagues where a safeguarding/NRM referral is necessary
- Alongside the wider management and policy team, ensure that future developments, such as scientific age assessment, codification and the right of appeal are fully understood and applied by the team
- Being committed to own and team’s personal development ensuring own and team’s training requirements are met and driving continuous improvement
- Promoting the safety and wellbeing of all service users at any location by engaging with individuals on site to ensure their welfare
- Other duties within the scope of the grade and within the limits of skill, competence, and training
Although this role is based at our Kent Intake Unit, Dover, the successful candidate will be required to regularly attend other Kent based Home Office approved sites, including Frontier House, Folkestone, Western Jet Foil and Manston (near Ramsgate), to monitor and engage with young people and ensure their welfare. Occasionally you may be asked to travel to locations outside Kent. Travel and subsistence would be paid in line with guidance.
The successful candidates will be subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.
Unfortunately, not all working patterns can be supported within this role. If you are applying for this role and require a flexible working pattern or part-time working, please ensure this is discussed and agreed with the vacancy holder prior to accepting an offer for this role.
Training
Training for all frontline Illegal Migration intake Unit colleagues will include teaching skills in personal safety techniques to keep you and your team colleagues safe. This Personal Safety Training (PST) requires physical activity and physical contact with the other delegates. This training is refreshed annually.
Completing this training is a mandatory requirement for the role. By submitting an application for this role, you are confirming that you understand this requirement.
Essential Criteria
You will need to demonstrate:
- A successful track record of leading social work teams in a Children and Families statutory environment including teams focused on the task of age assessment
- Age assessment experience including knowledge of relevant case law, process and guidance including defending age assessments decisions following legal challenges
- The ability to identify and build capability and oversee the deployment of resources to drive delivery and transformation
- Have strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to build and manage relationships with a range of internal and external stakeholders
- Working autonomy with minimal supervision
Licences
Memberships
Please provide within your CV clear details of this membership along with the date it was obtained. Failure to hold the above membership or to provide proof of such when requested will mean your application will be withdrawn from this campaign.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Changing and Improving
- Developing Self and Others
- Leadership
- Managing a Quality Service
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 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/qualifications/skills
- a statement of suitability (personal statement) (maximum 1000 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.
The sift will be held on the CV and the statement of suitability (personal statement).
The CV will be scored first for all candidates. Those candidates who achieve the pass score for the CV, will progress to a further sift where the statement of suitability 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 CV will not have their statement of suitability scored and will therefore only receive a sift score for the CV.
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.
For guidance on how to construct your behaviour examples, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers. Links –Behaviours.
Strengths are the things that you do regularly, do well and that motivate you. To find out more about strength based questions click here.
Sift and Interview dates
Sift is expected to take place week commencing 6th May 2024.
Interviews are expected to take place week commencing 27th May 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
In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct.
If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.
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. 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.
If you are considering applying for part time hours, please contact HORCCampaignTeamHMPOandUKVI@homeoffice.gov.uk to discuss your request as not all working patterns may be accommodated.
A reserve list may be created for other similar roles for a period of 12 months. Selection will be in Merit Order to fill the same role or similar roles with closely matching “Essential criteria” and Success Profile elements without further assessment.
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.
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
Nationality requirements
Working for the Civil Service
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).
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : Home Office Resourcing Centre
- Email : HORCCampaignTeamHMPOandUKVI@homeoffice.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Further information
principles, and wish to make a complaint, then you should contact in the first instance
HORecruitment.GRS@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission.
