Home Office
Job Summary
Home Office, is currently hiring on a vacant job post of Borders And Enforcement – Detention Engagement Team – Engagement Officer based in West Drayton. Please read the job detail carefully before applying.
Job Title: Borders And Enforcement – Detention Engagement Team – Engagement Officer
Company Name: Home Office
Job Type: Full Time
Job Location: West Drayton
Salary:
Job Link Expiry: 2022-12-25
Posted on: jobsintelecom.net
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About the job
Benefits
Things you need to know
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Location
About the job
Job summary
Immigration Enforcement (IE) is part of the newly formed Borders and Enforcement established on 01 under the One Home Office transformation programme.
IE is the operational arm of the Home Office responsible for reducing the size of the illegal population and the harm it causes. Its key missions are:
- Preventing illegal immigration through greater compliance with immigration laws.
- Maximising returns of immigration offenders and Foreign National Offenders from the UK.
- Tackling the threats associated with immigration offending.
IE works with law enforcement and cross-government partners to tackle serious and organised immigration crime with a focus on bringing to justice those who exploit the vulnerable, for example cases of modern slavery and human trafficking.
This is an exciting opportunity for the right candidate to develop and embed a wide range of people and engagement skills within a high performing team, delivering what is required to continue to make the team a great place to work and to support staff and senior managers in delivery.
Immigration Enforcement prides itself on being an open and supportive workplace. We actively embrace diversity and promote equality of opportunity, to enable us to reflect the communities that we serve. We provide people with the opportunity to work at pace and deliver in stretching roles.
To gain a greater understanding of these exciting and challenging roles please refer to the Home Office Careers Site. https://careers.homeoffice.gov.uk/role/immigration-enforcement
Job description
Detention Engagement Teams (DETs) are a dynamic and responsive team, working as part of Detention, Progression and Returns Command (DPRC) to enhance the quality and frequency of engagements between Home Office and the people entering Immigration Removal Centres (IRC). The successful candidate will be part of an exciting initiative within the Home Office which will be both rewarding and energising.
The DET team operate within Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs), using face-to-face interaction to build relationships with those in detention and provide an important on-site link between people in detention and their case working teams; enhancing the quality and frequency of engagements between the Home Office and the people entering IRCs. Based within the centres, engaging with those in detention and on-site healthcare providers and suppliers, DETs are better placed to ensure that vulnerability issues are identified and managed at the earliest opportunity.
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 of a busy desk with at times, a high volume of work.
The DET work on a roster system with shifts generally between 7.30am and 7:30pm Monday to Friday, and 9am to 5pm on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays. This role attracts an Annualised Hours Allowance (AHW) which includes weekend and Public Holiday working.
Due to the nature of this role, this position is not suitable for hybrid working.
Successful candidates will be expected to be vetted at enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks and undertake Personal Safety Training (PST).
Person specification
The role of the Engagement Officer is an Operational role that is interesting and challenging, demanding high levels of co-operation from those in detention, stakeholders, and suppliers.
Engagement officers are expected to:
- Conduct face-to-face engagements with those in detention as required by caseworkers and management, this includes an initial induction engagement, service of paperwork, follow up engagements, Modern Slavery and associated assessments and Asylum Screening interviews. Officers will also discuss the options that residents have, including initiating referrals to returns schemes and building return plans, as well as outlining the consequences of non-compliance feeding back to caseworkers, providing details and insight into resident mindset and behaviour and recording all interactions on HO IT systems in an accurate and timely manner.
- Identify indicators of vulnerability, ensuring that they are recorded and managed in-line with existing policy and instructions, attending case conference meetings (multi-disciplinary telecom and local strategy meetings), ACDT reviews, immigration surgeries and resident consultative committee meetings as required.
- Provide case updates to residents at their request and managing your own portfolio of residents and associated workflow.
- Flag contract issues appropriately and in a timely manner to line manager or Compliance team.
- Actively contribute towards the compiling of management reports.
- Undertake general office administration duties as part of your role and to assist in the successful running of the Detention Engagement Team within the Centre. This includes managing resident arrival and departure lists, allocating all new arrivals to Engagement Officers, monitoring the inbox and e-faxes and dealing with telephone, personal and email queries, escalating as appropriate.
- Line management of AO Support Officers as required.
- Other ad hoc administrative duties as required.
- Work closely with the Welfare Office within the immigration removal centre, dealing appropriately with any issues that arise. The Welfare Office is run by the service provider and is a key touch-point for people to raise any concerns they have.
- Complete DAC Screening tasks on rotation, including:
o checking for referrals to the Screening Hub mailbox
o conducting screening interviews
o assess 10-15% of referrals for quality assurance purposes
o co-ordinate the capture of biometric enrolments
o accurately updating spreadsheets and casework systems
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 of a busy desk with at times, a high volume of work.
Essential Criteria:
- Strong verbal communication skills;
- Excellent interpersonal and organisational skills;
- Good attention to detail;
- Proactive, adaptable and motivated.
Desirable Criteria:
- IT skills with prior experience of Microsoft Office
Behaviours
We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Working Together
- Communicating and Influencing
- Making Effective Decisions
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
As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:
- a Statement of Suitability (personal statement) (maximum 500 words)
- provide evidence of the behaviours Working Together/Communicating and Influencing/Making Effective Decisions (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.
The sift will be held on the behaviours Working Together, Communicating and Influencing, Making Effective Decisions 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 all behaviours 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 behaviours 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 lead behaviour Working Together and 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.
Sift and Interview dates
Sift is expected to take place week commencing 2nd 2022.
Interviews are expected to take place week commencing 22nd 2022.
We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert, however on occasions these dates 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
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.
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, 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.
Please note: 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
We operate 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year and you would be required to work flexibly and operate over a 24/7 shift rota, this can include: Night shifts; Early morning starts, sometimes before 6am; Late night finishes, sometimes after midnight; Weekend and Public Holidays; Shifts can vary in length and can be up to 12 hours; Shifts that change or extend according to business need.
These posts include shift allowances which varies by flexibility, shifts, location; however, the average allowance is 22.84%. You would be deployed to a range of different duties, shifts and locations and should expect to have a variance in the AHW dependent on the varying duties and shifts. The actual % of AHW paid will be for each region/port to decide, as these will be different depending in which port you work.
Age: These are shift working roles and so you must be 18 years or over.
Appearance
As part of this role you will be required to wear a uniform (which will be provided). Staff must ensure that their uniform is worn correctly, in line with these uniform standards, is kept clean and is well presented. To support this requirement, adequate uniform supplies will be available and issued. Uniformed staff represent their organisation at all times and should ensure that their dress and personal appearance reflects this responsibility.
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.
A reserve list be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointment 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 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 [email protected] 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 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
See our vetting charter.
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
- relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
- certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals
Further information on 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.
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
Recruitment team :
Further information
principles, and wish to make a complaint, then you should contact in the first instance
[email protected]. If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission.
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