**Immigration Enforcement - International and Return Services Command - Detention Engagement Officer
Home Office
Apply before 11:55 pm on Monday 4th December 2023
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About the job
Job summary
Job description
An IRC is a secure building that holds detained individuals (residents) who are held prior to their removal from the United Kingdom or for nationality and identification purposes.
There are currently 6 IRCs in England and 1 in Scotland, with 2 more IRCs planned to open in England in the near future.
All IRCs are overseen by the Home Office’s Immigration Enforcement directorate and are contracted out to private companies known as IRC Suppliers who ensure all aspects of the IRC are run safely and securely within rules and legislation.
The role of the Detention Engagement Team based onsite is to interact with residents face-to-face on behalf of Home Office caseworkers. They focus on communicating and engaging with residents, helping them to understand their cases and detention.
The Heathrow IRCs are made up of two sites, Colnbrook IRC and Harmondsworth IRC both located on the Colnbrook Bypass close to Heathrow airport.
• Harmondsworth can hold up to 658 male residents. It is one of the most secure IRCs in the UK and is built similarly to a prison has a regime that provides as much freedom as possible.
• Colnbrook can hold 312 male residents. Within Colnbrook is a female accommodation unit. This facility provides accommodation of 6 rooms for females prior to their removal from the UK, with facilities separate to the male population of Colnbrook.
The Detention Engagement Team operate within the IRCs. We use face-to-face interaction to build relationships with residents and provide an important on-site link between residents and their case working teams. We engage with on-site healthcare suppliers and the IRC Supplier, to ensure that vulnerability issues are identified and managed effectively at the earliest opportunity.
Key responsibilities
Duties include (but are not limited to):
• Conducting face-to-face engagements with residents, this includes a Home Office induction, service of official paperwork, follow up engagement, conducting assessments related to modern slavery and asylum screening interviews.
• Discussing options with residents, including returning to their country of origin and outlining the consequences of non-compliance.
• Identifying indicators of vulnerability, ensuring that they are recorded and managed in-line with policy and attend case conference meetings.
• Engaging with IRC suppliers on a regular basis.
• Giving case updates to residents and managing your own portfolio of residents and associated workflow.
• Flagging issues appropriately and in a timely manner to management or appropriate department.
• Recording all interactions on Home Office IT systems in an accurate and timely manner and providing feedback to caseworkers.
• Actively contributing towards the compiling of management reports.
• Undertaking general office administration duties as part of your role and to assist in the successful running of the DET. This includes inbox management and answering phone calls.
As these roles include working on weekends, public holidays, your contract will benefit from Home Office’s Annualised Hours Agreement (AHA).
This means you will receive an additional payment each month based the hours that fall under this agreement and your monthly pay will be the same each month unless your AHA changes.
**This role may potentially move to include nights shifts, and you would be required to then work night shifts if required, at which point the AHW allowance would increase**.
The AHA is reviewed annually and may increase or decrease depending on the needs of the department.
Working hours
The Detention Engagement Team (DET) work on a roster system to cover hours of DET operation which is based on site at Heathrow IRCs.
Part time AHW shift working patterns are available, which will cover a full range of shifts including weekends, nights and bank holidays.
The hours of operation where team members are on site are:
• Weekdays 07.30 to 19:30 and 21:30 where required.
• Weekends and public holidays 09.00 to 17.00.
• Please expect some night shift as this is currently under review
To find more about the organisation, the role and obtain guidance on your application and preparation candidates are encouraged to log onto either of the 2 On-line events below.
Event 1, 6 Nov at 10:30am
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ 740745639147
Event 2, 11 Nov at 10:30am
Person specification
For this role you will require excellent interpersonal skills to deal with different, and sometimes difficult situations. Self-confidence, organisation skills and personal integrity are also required within this challenging environment.
Essential criteria
Successful candidates must be able to demonstrate:
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Good attention to detail, work effectively in a pressurised environment and be resilient in the face of challenge.
• Being proactive, adaptable and motivated, taking responsibility for your own work.
• Having good IT skills with experience of using Microsoft Word, Outlook and Excel.
Desirable criteria:
• Experience of operating in a secure or custodial setting.
• Experience of working in a customer facing role.
• Experience of building and maintaining stakeholder relations.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Delivering at Pace
- Working Together
We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:
- Communicating and Influencing
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 first be asked to confirm your eligibility by providing some basic personal information.
After submission of this first stage, you will be invited to complete a Civil Service Judgement Test. If you successfully pass this test, you will then be invited to complete the full application form. Please complete the online test as soon as possible (within 24-48 hours is recommended), the closing date for the test and full application form is 23:55 on 4th December 2023. If you fail to complete the online test or full application before the deadline, your application will be withdrawn.
Guidance for the test will be available when you are invited to take the test. The test is administered online and accessed via the Civil Service Jobs website.
You CANNOT complete the Tests on a mobile phone or tablet.
Following successful completion of the test/s, you will then be asked to complete:
- A statement of suitability (personal statement) (maximum 500 words)
- Provide evidence of the behaviour Communicating and Influencing (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 held on the behaviour Communicating and Influencing 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 (Communicating and Influencing) 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 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 is expected to take place week commencing 4th December 2023.
Interviews are expected to take place week commencing 1st January 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
- Skype for Business/Microsoft Teams
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.
Annual Hours Working Allowance
Annualised Hours Working (AHW) is an attendance system where staff work an agreed number of hours for the year rather than weekly conditioned hours.
You will be required to work flexibly on any day of the week, including weekends, nights, Public Holidays and the Privilege Day, and the hours may vary each week. Attendance may also be subject to change at short notice.
The rate payable under the AHW scheme is driven by business requirements and may vary depending on location. Your initial rate will be confirmed when you have started in post and will be paid as a percentage of your basic salary. If a member of staff has agreed an annualised hours arrangement, this does not become a permanent or guaranteed right. Annualised hours working is subject to changes in operational needs and managers can adjust, cease or suspend it, for operational or performance reasons. Annualised hours agreements are reviewed at least annually.
The annualised hours year runs from 1 April to 31 March. If an individual begins working on an annualised hours basis part way through the year, they will receive a part-year agreement and the Annualised Hours Allowance will be pro-rated for the remainder of the year to reflect that agreement.
If you transfer to a non-AHW post the requirement to work in accordance with the terms of the AHW policy will also end, and you will move to standard Home Office Terms and Conditions.
The initial rate payable is 18.81%.
Age: These are shift working roles and so you must be 18 years or over.
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.
Personal Safety Training (PST)
These roles can be physically demanding and if successful you will be required to complete and pass specialist training including Personal Safety Training (PST) which develops skills in personal safety, arrest and restraint techniques. This demands physical activity and physical contact with delegates on the course. You will be required to complete a PST health declaration and, if necessary, attend a medical examination. A formal offer will be conditional upon you being physically fit to undertake and pass the training.
Hybrid working is not an option:
The flexible working arrangement of Hybrid working (working partly in their workplace(s) and partly at home) is not available for this role due to the requirements of the role. Successful candidates will be required to attend the office/other work location as specified in the advert at all times to carry out this role.
Further information
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.
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.
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 reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointment may be made.
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
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 : HORCBandENational@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.
