**Operational Manager - Immigration Enforcement (Detention Engagement Team)

+ I am aware that this role is physically demanding, and that I have a high level of mobility and fitness to carry out this role.
+ I am at least 18 years old at the time of application.
+ I can undertake shift work.
+ I will be able to provide all the ID documents required to complete my pre-employment screening and security clearance.
An International & Returns Services Command (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.
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.
You will be the on-site operational lead for the team, responsible for day-to-day delivery, resolution of issues and escalation as appropriate.
You will also work with Senior Management Team colleagues to improve operational delivery of the DETs, sharing best practice across the DET network.
The successful candidate will report directly to the SEO Area Manager.
Working hours
The DET work on a roster system with shifts generally between 8:00am and 21:00pm Monday to Friday, and 9am to 5pm on Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays.
There may be a requirement to work night hours in line with charter flights or other operational needs.
Due to the nature of the role only full-time shift working patterns are on offer. Please consider this when applying.
Please note: The successful candidate will be expected to be vetted at enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks and undertake PPST training.

Person specification
You will be expected to:
+ Manage and support the Engagement Officers, dealing with higher level issues and escalations connected to the wider business.
+ Lead by example in promoting visibility, both within the administrative and residential working areas.
+ Carry out quarterly assurance checks on engagements undertaken within their respective hierarchy.
+ Work closely with the local service provider to ensure that their welfare team are responding and acting to resolve any areas of concerns of people in Immigration Detention.
+ Oversee the operational management of DETs, monitoring contact across multiple routes (face to face, email, telephone and post) ensuring that all contacts are dealt with, enabling business critical Service Level Agreements to be met.
+ Undertake proactive workforce management ensuring optimal deployment of resources across business hours, escalating associated issues, exercising effective financial control in managing resources, ensuring propriety, compliance and value for money.
+ Oversee the delivery of DET functions with quality, timeliness and attention to detail, providing guidance and support to your team relating to sometimes complex Immigration Enforcement policy and procedural issues involving those in Immigration Detention.
+ Lead, manage and report on staff performance for those in the assigned management line, address any staff development needs, manage attendance and sickness related absence in line with current policies and procedures.
+ Assist in the management of business support functions within the area, including IT support, health and safety, business continuity and risk, security and communications, conducting team briefings on all issues concerning the service and wider Immigration Enforcement.
+ Ensure that the required Management Information relating to interactions is available, accurate and supplied to the DPRC management in a timely fashion.
+ Maintain effective working relationships with wider IE operational teams, local service providers and importantly, work closely with other on-site Home Office Teams to provide constructive contribution to their responsibility in monitoring service provider performance., We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
+ Making Effective Decisions
+ Changing and Improving
+ Leadership
+ Working Together
We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:
+ Making Effective Decisions, 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 Lead behaviour Making Effective Decisions 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 Making Effective Decisions 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 Making Effective Decisions 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 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
For guidance on how to construct your behaviour examples, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers. Links – Behaviours
Problems during the application process
If you experience accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, or you think you’ve made a mistake on an initial application (e.g. you have ticked the incorrect eligibility box), please contact hocandidates.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk at least two working days before the vacancy closes. After this, we may not be able to reopen your application.
Please note, we cannot make amendments to any part of the application.
Please use the following in the subject line in your email if you need to get in contact with us about your initial application “Please re-open my application – Vacancy Ref 363754 19/08/2024.
For reasonable adjustments queries or requests, please see details with reasonable adjustments section.
Tie break decisions
The strengths and/or behaviours being assessed will be ranked in order of importance to enable us to differentiate between candidates with tied interview scores. Please note that the order in which behaviours are listed in the advert does not necessarily reflect the order of importance
Sift and Interview dates
Sift is expected to take place week commencing 19th August 2024.
Interviews are expected to take place week commencing 9th September 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
+ Microsoft Teams
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.
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
Reserve List
Where a competition identifies more appointable candidates than there are available vacancies, a reserve list may be held for up to 12 months.
Whilst on a reserve list we may offer you an alternative similar role in the Home Office. Should you reject an alternative role, you will remain on the reserve list for the role you applied for. If you accept an alternative role, you will be withdrawn from the reserve list.
Please note there are no guarantees that further vacancies will arise in the locations you originally applied for before your time on the reserve list expires.
Candidates Please Note:
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.
AHA: We operate 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. This role currently attracts Annualised Hours Allowance of 11.89%. 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. The rate payable is dependent on location and role and is indicative of the shift pattern you will be required to work.
The higher the AHA, the more flexible you will be required to be. Please note that the allowance is subject to regular review and can go down as well as up.
Age: These are shift working roles and so you must be at least 18 years or over to apply for this role. You will be required to work between 22.00 and 06.00, so this is a legal requirement. For more information visit: https://www.gov.uk/night-working-hours and Child employment: Restrictions on child employment - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Part Time Hours:
Due to the nature of this role, only full time hours are available.
Public and Personal Safety Training [PPST] – Level 2
These roles can be physically demanding and if successful you will be required to complete and pass specialist training including Public and Personal Safety Training [PPST] Level 2 which develops skills in personal safety such as tactical body positioning, breakaway, blocking and parry.
A formal offer will be conditional upon you being physically fit to undertake and pass the training.
You must be prepared to undertake regular refreshers of this.
Flexible working is not an option
This role is not suitable for a combination of office and home-based working 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.
If you are successful in this position and choose to accept the provisional offer for this role, you will be removed from all other Home Office reserve lists at the same grade.
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
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
+ UK nationals
+ nationals of the Republic of Ireland
+ nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
+ nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
+ nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
+ individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
+ Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
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).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

+ Ability to lead an operational team.
+ Strong leadership skills, both personal and corporate in a fast-changing environment.
+ Experience of working in partnership and collaboratively across teams and with external organisations at a senior level.
+ Experience of engaging and building trust with stakeholders to generate commitment to goals.
Desirable Criteria
+ Immigration detention knowledge.

+ 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%