**Illegal Migration Operations Command – Illegal Migration Intake Unit – Remote Operations Hub - Higher Executive Officer
Home Office
Apply before 11:55 pm on Monday 13th May 2024
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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.
We are excited to offer these Higher Executive Officer roles based at Bloom Heathrow (previously known as Bedfont Lakes). Post-holders will report to the IMIU Remote Operations Hub SEO Team.
The Illegal Migration Intake Unit is growing in size and remit. This is a new team within the Illegal Migration Intake Unit created as a result of the implementation of the Illegal Migration Act 2023.
The Remote Operations Hub is a new and vibrant team, that will operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to provide support with the time sensitive processing of detained illegal migrants who have arrived by any clandestine means, including small boats.
This is an exciting opportunity to utilise your experience and knowledge helping mould and be part of developing this eager and keen brand new team, that aspires to achieve award winning standards in the high profile task, that the Remote Operations Hub has been set up to do.
You will be responsible for providing visible and inspiring leadership to the team to ensure they meet their objectives. The team’s responsibilities will include, but will not be limited to;
- Creating new cases and inputting information on HO systems for those who have entered the UK illegally
- Completing security checks using HO systems on those who have entered the UK illegally
- Gathering and scrutinising evidence gathered to make decisions on those who have entered the UK illegally
- Producing relevant immigration paperwork
- During periods of high intake, conduct remote interviews for those who have entered the UK illegally
- Other tasks relevant to grade
The work of the team will be directed by the IMIU Co-ordination Hub who are responsible for across IMIU operational planning, tasking, and coordination, including deployment planning and logistical support.
Eligibility criteria
You must be at least 18 years of age at the time of application. You will be required to work between midnight and 4am, so this is a legal requirement. For more information visit: https://www.gov.uk/night-working-hours
Full training and mentoring will be provided for these roles and may involve residential training courses.
Annualised Hours Working (AHW)
AHW Allowance currently averaging 44.71% (this can change subject to an Annual Review). More details can be found under Further Information on the advert.
Hours and Office Attendance
Due to the operational nature of these roles, these are full-time positions with limited options to work part time or flexibly. Shift start and end times are fixed and you will be expected to be rostered with your team and managers, meaning it’s not possible to swap shifts unless there are exceptional circumstances, and these would still have to be considered in line with business needs. All post-holders are expected to work the full range of shifts, including nights, across all 7 days of the week. It is therefore unlikely that fixed days off could be agreed.
Please be aware that there are only limited car parking spaces allocated to the building which are not guaranteed, (with the exception of parking being available for night shifts). The Home Office is not required to provide car parking at their sites; therefore, you should be assured that you are able to travel to this site before accepting the role.
This restriction does not apply to those who would meet a disability criteria such as Blue badge holders.
Person specification
This is a key leadership and management role, the post-holders will have responsibility for a team of EOs and be accountable for their productivity during every shift. They will also be responsible for working as part of a team of HEOs to ensure consistency in leadership and management decisions, with support of the SEOs.
The key responsibilities for the post-holders will include (but are not limited to);
- Inspire and motivate, by leading by example, providing direction and support, ensuring the delivery of high-performance levels by engaged team members
- Drive improved customer service and efficiency outcomes by planning, implementing, and evaluating changes, involving your own team and wider stakeholders and colleagues
- Show innovation and creativity to lead activities that support efficiencies and improvements
- Create an environment that empowers others to do the right thing for customers, being responsible for delivering an excellent service to achieve quality outcomes
- Operate as part of a dynamic team, focused on agreed goals and priorities to achieve collective commitments, effectively managing resources in an ever-changing organisational structure to drive efficiencies and keep costs down
- Build individual and team capability by personally coaching and mentoring colleagues at all grades on a variety of procedural and leadership skills, promoting and making full use of professional learning products available
- Be accountable for managing workloads, attendance and conducting regular one to one, face to face performance reviews, confidently addressing risks to performance achievement and driving forward continuous improvement
- Through your behaviour and ways of working, develop an environment of inclusivity and trust where every individual feels part of the team and their contribution matters, stretching them to reach their full potential
- Ensure all Health and Safety and security matters are dealt with promptly and sensitively, in line with Home Office policies and procedures
Essential criteria
Successful candidates must be professional, and customer focused and be able to demonstrate:
- Leadership experience, demonstrating sound interpersonal, communication (both written and verbal) skills, treating others with respect, compassion and valuing inclusion and diversity
- An ability to make effective and difficult decisions, often under pressure, applying legislation and policy guidance correctly to ensure compliance
- Gaining commitment from colleagues and stakeholders ( both internal and external), by encouraging discussion, innovation and ideas to support one vision
- You can lead change, by developing own and team’s knowledge and expertise by working with others to simplify processes and identify areas of improvement
- You have a good level of computer literacy, including Microsoft applications
Desirable criteria
Ideally you will be able to demonstrate:
- You are able to work flexibly to meet changing priorities, whilst ensuring compliance with policies and procedures
- Operational experience in a fast-paced environment
- Experience gained in an Immigration role
- Experience of attention to detail and a passion for continuous improvement
- Experience of Home Office systems such as Metis, Atlas and CRS
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Leadership
- Delivering at Pace
- Developing Self and Others
- Making Effective Decisions
We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:
- Leadership
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 statement of suitability (personal statement) (maximum 1000 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 conducted on the Statement of Suitability and the behaviour - Leadership.
However, if a large number of applications are received, the sift will be conducted on the statement of suitability (personal statement) only.
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 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 lead behaviour scored and will therefore only receive a sift score for the statement of suitability.
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.
Sift and interview dates
Sift will take place week commencing 13th May 2024.
Interviews will take place week commencing 3rd June 2024.
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
We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert, however on occasions these dates may change.
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
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.
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.
Annualised Hours Working (AHW)
The Illegal Migration Intake Unit operates a shift working pattern, where Annualised Hours Working (AHW) is paid in accordance with the operational needs of the business. This allowance is paid in addition to the monthly salary to compensate for out of office hours working and flexibility.
A review of AHW takes place annually, although in year reviews are possible, and the shift working pattern will include early starts, evening working, nights, weekends and public holidays. Shift lengths can vary and be up to 12 hours. Rosters are published in advance, but shifts can change or extend according to business need.
The current allowance is anticipated to be around 44.71% ( this can change subject to an annual review). All Post-holders will be expected to cover the full range of shifts.
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.
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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
