Kennel Manager National Dog Team
Home Office
Apply before 11:55 pm on Wednesday 19th February 2025

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About the job
Job summary
Border Force is a law enforcement arm of the Home Office. We are responsible for managing UK border controls by implementing immigration and customs regulations and working with the wider Home Office on counter terrorism and tackling organised crime, modern slavery, and trafficking. Learn more on our careers pages.
The National Dog Team is a small team within National Operational Headquarters with a hugely important mission; to transform our canine detection capability and performance, and to ensure that we have the right policies, processes and procedures in place to support the operational business to drive up performance and ensure our dogs are trained on Control Strategy Priorities.
We are looking for a professional and dedicated individual to join this specialist team, who play a vital role in our efforts to combat and deter smugglers and those seeking to evade border controls.
The Kennel Manager will oversee daily operations and manage Animal Care and Welfare Technicians at Felixstowe kennel site and the new Border Force Detector Dog Training School in Tilbury.
Job description
In this varied role, which includes both physical interactions with the animals alongside administrative tasks, you will ensure that the health, fitness and welfare of Detector Dogs is maintained in accordance with organisational polices, guidance and animal welfare legislation and provide administrative support to the Dog Unit Manager and Senior Officer.
It is essential that you have a natural affinity with animals, a high level of physical fitness and a commitment to high standards of care and welfare management for all dogs within the program. This role requires the ability to lift and carry the dogs, providing exercise and high intensity interval training when needed. This job also involves an element of lone working both on and off site.
Key Responsibilities:
Animal Care and Welfare
• Manage a team of Animal Care and Welfare Technicians (ACWT) at both locations who are responsible for the day-to-day care of Detector Dogs to ensure that operational priorities and welfare standards are met. This will include producing roster and deployment plans for both sites, prioritising and reallocating resource as needed.
• Oversee kennel activities at each site ensuring that the performance, health, fitness, and welfare of Detector Dogs is maintained in accordance with organisational policies/guidance. This includes care, feeding and exercise to national standards and delivering kennel enrichment and stimulation tailored to the individual needs of the dog within your care. When required you will undertake these duties yourself.
• Utilising training received to deal with dog fights and dog aggression, reporting and recording of these incidents in line with Border Force Policy
Administrative Tasks
• Undertake regular kennel assurance reviews, ensuring the working kennel environment is maintained to required national standards of hygiene.
• Provide support to line manager and countersigning manager with national and regional tasking of K9 resources.
• Deliver the Kennel Training Package to all new staff.
• Writing and updating Business Continuity Plans, Risk Assessments, Safe Systems of Work, Fire Safety and Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) in line with policy and guidance.
• Financial/procurement responsibilities including liaising with external contractors to ensure all maintenance works are completed in a timely manner.
Working Pattern:
Due to the business requirements of this role, it is only available on a full-time basis.
You will work shifts which are usually between eight or ten-hours in duration and will need to be flexible and adaptable to meet unexpected demands. This may mean rescheduling days off and changing attendance times at short notice to meet operational demands. You may also need to be on-call, for which an allowance will be paid.
Training:
You will receive full training and support to do the job. Training takes place initially in the classroom and then continues on the job with a mentor who supports you until you are fully confident in the role. Even then you are never alone; you work as part of a team where there is always someone around for advice and support. Further information on what the training involves can be found on our website.
Training also includes the Border Force Kennel Training Package which is 2 weeks in duration and is pass or fail.
Travel:
You will be required to travel regularly between Felixstowe and Tilbury, as well as deploy to ports and airports both within and outside of the regional base. Overnight stays away from home are an integral part of the role.
Meet the team:
If you want to learn more about this role you can join one of our free online live events, during which you will hear from current members of the Border Force Dog Team about what the job is like, what opportunities and career prospects you will have and why the job matters. We will also talk about the recruitment process and you will have the opportunity to ask questions. Register by clicking on the date and time you want to attend. There’s no requirement to attend in order to apply.
Tuesday 11 February 11:00 – 12:00
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/border-force-kennel-manager-tickets-1224950763709?aff=oddtdtcreator
Monday 17 February 11:30 – 12:30
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/border-force-kennel-manager-tickets-1224971666229?aff=oddtdtcreator
To learn more about the role, visit https://careers.homeoffice.gov.uk/news/border-force-kennel-manager
Person specification
Within your Personal Statement, you are required to confirm the following three (3) Essential criteria:
1. that you are comfortable and confident around dogs; and
2. that you have not been disqualified from keeping or owning a dog under the terms of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991; and
3. that you have not been disqualified from having custody of a dog under the terms of both the Animal Welfare Act 2006 & the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.
You will also need to demonstrate the following:
• Leadership and Management: Demonstrable experience of leading and managing teams to achieve business objectives.
• Organisational skills: Able to take responsibility for your work to achieve goals effectively and professionally, often multi-tasking to deliver to tight deadlines.
• Effective communication and interpersonal skills: confident engaging with a variety of colleagues, stakeholders, and members of the public
• Problem solving and making effective decisions: Able to find solutions to problems and make difficult decisions, even if they prove to be unpopular.
• A full valid manual UK driving licence is an essential requirement for this role as daily driving of official vehicles (vans/large cars) to/from exercise areas, to veterinary visits and to exercise or deployment locations will be necessary
Desirable criteria:
• Previous experience of working with or looking after animals in a professional capacity.
Licences
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Leadership
- Communicating and Influencing
- Delivering at Pace
- Making Effective Decisions
Benefits
In addition to your salary, a career with the Home Office offers a range of benefits, including:
- A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
- In-year reward scheme for one-off or sustained exceptional personal or team achievements.
- 25 days annual leave on appointment, rising with service to 30 days.
- Eight days of public holidays, plus one additional privilege day.
- This role currently attracts Annualised Hours Allowance (AHA) of between 21% and 28% of salary, which equates to an additional £6,300 or or £6,615 per annum based on salary minimum. Further information can be found on our website.
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.
We will endeavour to conduct the selection process in line with the dates indicated below, but cannot guarantee that these will not, where necessary, be revised.
1. Application - by 19th February 2025.
As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:
- C.V.
- Personal Statement (maximum 750 words).
Your CV should consist of your career history, qualifications and skills/experience, including any key achievements in each role. Your CV will be used to provide further context on your personal statement and scored against the essential criteria.
The Personal Statement should be aligned to and demonstrate how you meet the skills and experience set out in the essential criteria, detailed in the job description.
For guidance and information on how to construct your application (CV, Personal Statement), you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers website.
2. Sift – week commencing 24th February 2025
The sift will be held on the Personal Statement and C.V
3. Assessment Interview - week commencing 17th March 2025.
If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to attend a one-day assessment that will involve practical tasks to determine suitability for the role. During the assessment you will be asked to complete a series of tasks that are routinely carried out by our Dog Handlers and Kennel staff which are designed to assess your potential to become a Border Force Kennel Manager.
During the assessment candidates will be given a full explanation of the role, duties involved and have the opportunity to address any questions or concerns they may have.
The assessment will take place in person at Felixstowe dog unit.
Please note travel expenses will not be reimbursed.
4. Interviews - Week commencing 7th April 2025.
If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to an interview that will be Behaviours (as listed in the job advert) and Strength based questions.
The interview will take place Via M.S teams
For guidance and information on what to expect and how to prepare for an interview, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers.
If you experience problems accessing this advert, or you think you’ve made a mistake on an initial application, please contact hocandidates.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk, including the vacancy reference, at least two working days before the vacancy closes. Further information can be found on our website.
Location Preference:
You will only be able to select a single location preference so please ensure this is a location that you are prepared to travel to. If you are offered a role at your preferred location and you decline, your application will be withdrawn.
Reserve List:
A reserve list may be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made. There is not guarantee that being held on a reserve list will lead to a job offer. Further information can be found on our website.
Appearance:
This is a uniformed post and as such requires the highest standards. Further information on this and policies regarding tattoos can be found on our website.
Standard:
All Civil Servants are expected to comply with the Civil Service Code, and its core values of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality.
Integrity Check:
As well as successfully obtaining UK Security Vetting clearance, you will also be subject to an additional Integrity Check, as part of the pre-employment process, to determine your suitability to work for Border Force or Immigration Enforcement. For further information on what this involves, please visit our website.
Further information
For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/demystifying-vetting
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.
If you are invited to an interview, you will be required to bring documentation for the purposes of establishing your identity.
You will need to meet the nationality requirements for this role and obtain the necessary security clearance to take it up.
For meaningful security checks to be carried out, individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time. Learn more on our website. Security Checks - Home Office Careers
Visa sponsorship
We do not sponsor individuals via Skilled Worker Sponsorship / Tier 2 (General) work visas.
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).
Diversity and Inclusion
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : Home Office Resourcing Centre
- Email : HORCCampaignTeamBorderForce@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.