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About the job
Job summary
Immigration Enforcement is responsible for enforcing the governments 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. To gain a greater understanding of these exciting and challenging roles please go to the Immigration Enforcement careers page.
What is an Immigration Removal Centre (IRC)?
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 six IRCs in England and one in Scotland, with two more planned to open in England soon, Haslar IRC and Campsfield House IRC.
All IRCs are overseen by the Home Offices Immigration Enforcement Detention Services and are contracted out to private companies who ensure all aspects of the IRC are run safely and securely, adhering to relevant policy, standards, and legislation.
Job description
The role of the Operations Manager is dynamic and exciting. You will manage a mix of reactive operational situations as well as the oversight of planned compliance and assurance activity. You will be responsible for leadership and setting direction to the Home Office Compliance Team, made up of compliance and operations managers and operations and compliance officers.
The Compliance Team will be based onsite and monitor a broad range of activity, from checking the quality of cleaning and catering, to monitoring use of force and removal of residents from the IRC onto chartered flights. Always ensuring that people detained are treated humanely and with care whilst being held securely.
Working within the compliance team is both interesting and challenging. The successful candidates will work on various workstreams encompassing changing priorities, making no two days the same. Maintaining high levels of co-operation with our service providers, stakeholders, and other interested parties, and communicating effectively and professionally is a key part of operating the compliance team.
The successful candidate will be responsible for:
- Providing oversight of a robust monitoring schedule.
- Ensuring robust testing of the contractual compliance of the IRC service provided.
- Providing leadership and guidance on key contractual risk areas.
- Ensuring that the site is run properly and securely in accordance with Detention Centre Rules 2001, Operating Standards, Detention Service Orders and the contract with the private IRC Supplier.
- Providing briefing and advice about the policies and procedures of the centre to senior managers as and when required in response to parliamentary questions and other official correspondence.
- Providing effective management to a team of Senior Operations Officers, whom this role line manages, and Operations Officers, ensuring work is evenly distributed and outputs monitored. Allowing team members to deliver high performance, whilst also developing a learning culture.
- Arranging and host high profile visits and inspections to the IRC establishment.
- Providing out of hours on-call support for the IRC estate nationally, providing support to local teams during incidents.
- Providing Duty Senior Manager cover for the IRC estate nationally during evenings and weekends.
- Representing the Home Office at a range of internal and external meetings, including operational strategy meetings, internal and external stakeholder and supplier meetings, daily capacity review meetings.
- Supporting the Service Delivery Manager with their duties – chairing monthly operational review meetings with suppliers and in other duties such as representation at senior management meetings.
- Production of monthly reports that provide essential data and statistics about contract delivery and the population in the centre.
- Occasional travel required for face-to-face meetings with managers from other IRCs.
- Providing oversight in the completion and implementation of action plans from 3rd parties within agreed timescales supporting the Service Delivery Manager.
- Management of information and data, such as litigation, freedom of information requests and subject access requests.
- Leading on areas of risk management, such as risk registers, data protection and trend analysis to ensure compliance from suppliers supporting the operational management of the establishment.
- Assisting in supporting the Service Delivery Manager signing off business cases, tracking projects and have oversight of facilities management within the IRC.
- Supplier audits and self-audits compliance and monitoring.
- Ownership of various annual reports, accuracy checks action plans and tracking.
You may be required to carry out other duties within the scope of the grade and within the limits of your skill, competence, and training.
Travel and subsistence allowances will be provided in line with policy.
Information Events
Well be holding three online information events to enable you to learn more about the role, including how to apply. Well also try to answer any questions you might have. Theres no requirement to attend in order to apply. To register, please click on the time and date you are interested in:
- Tuesday 25th July 2023 (Evening session 7.30pm 8.30pm) @ Eventbrite link attached; https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/673778247877
- Thursday 27th July 2023 (Day session 1pm 2pm) @ Eventbrite link attached; https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/673781337117
- Tuesday 1st August 2023 (Day session 1pm 2pm) @ Eventbrite link attached; https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/673781938917
Person specification
We are looking for strong communicators who can engage with colleagues of various grades and key partners (internally and externally).
You must be able to effectively manage and progress own work, ability to work to targets independently.
We are also looking for someone who can display confidence in chairing meetings, leading on presentations to suppliers and senior managers.
You must be physically fit as you will be required to complete of Personal Safety Training (PST) Level 2 that must be refreshed annually.
Essential Criteria
- Strong interpersonal skills with proven ability to develop good working relationships with a variety of internal and external partners.
- Strong organisational skills with proven ability to plan, organise and manage time to deliver the best quality and efficient service.
- Excellent Drafting and report writing skills to present to Senior Management.
- Proven record of managing others (line management or peers).
- Experience of working in a high profile and challenging environment.
Desirable Criteria
- Experience of working in a detention or prison environment.
- Understanding of the Immigration system.
- Experience of contract monitoring/audit and assurance.
Behaviours
We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:
Benefits
As well as offering the opportunity to make a real difference to peoples lives, a career with the Home Office comes with a range of amazing benefits.
These include a competitive starting salary, a Civil Service Pension with employer contribution rates of at least 26.6%, flexible working and 25 days annual leave on appointment, rising with service.
As an Operations Manager, you will also be eligible for Annual Hours Working allowance (AHA) of 15%-20%, which equates to an additional £5,850 to £7,800 pa based on salary minimum depending on location and role. 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.
Detention Services fosters a culture of support and is committed to recognising and nurturing talent. There are clear career pathways to encourage promotion, with the ability to be mentored and shadow senior managers.
For more information on our wide range of benefits, please, see the Benefits page of 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.
Stage One – Application
As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:
- a statement of suitability (personal statement) (maximum 750 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
Please note: there will be online workshops to help applicants structure both their statement of suitability and civil service behaviour prior to submitting their application.
Stage Two – Sift
The sift will be held on the lead behaviour Leadership and the statement of suitability (personal statement).
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 the remaining behaviour 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 the 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.
Stage Three – Interview
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 on all listed 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 21st August 2023.
Interviews are expected to take place week commencing 11th September 2023.
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 MS Teams. 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
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.
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 /Disclosure Scotland 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.
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 from 15% – 20% depending on location.
Age: These are shift working roles and so you must be 18 years or over.
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) Level 2
These roles can be physically demanding and if successful you will be required to complete and pass specialist training including Personal Safety Training (PST Level 2) which develops skills in personal safety. This demands physical activity and physical contact with delegates on the course.
Hybrid working is an option
Hybrid working enables employees to work partly in their workplace(s) and partly at home. A hybrid working pattern may be available, where business needs allow. Applicants can discuss what this means with the vacancy holder if they have specific questions.
A location based reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role or similar role become available within that period you may be offered this position.
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.
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 candidates 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
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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
HORecruitment.GRS@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission.
