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Location
About the job
Job summary
Customer Services is a recently established capability, playing a key role within the Migration and Borders System. Customer Services has typically over 13m customers annually, with a workforce of over 14,000 across its legacy constituent business units including: Asylum & Human Rights, Visas and Citizenship (V&C), Her Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO), and the General Registrar Office (GRO). We take a customer-led approach to delivering services, whilst always maintaining robust security controls.
Customer Operations Support Services (COSS) brings together colleagues within cross-cutting functions of Customer Services, to improve internal employee experiences and drive operational improvements for customers, whilst maintaining security and control. COSS has continually grown and developed with the key role of engaging with multiple directorates and to ensure operations remain aligned to the Customer Services strategy. Our Customer Services collective vision is to place our customers’ needs at the centre of what we do, being adaptive, responsive, and respectful. Customer Operations Support Services ensures our customers’ voices are heard, and we appropriately influence and impact our operations to improve outcomes for our customers and the public. We will enable and empower our people to deliver consistent and effective outcomes to meet our customers’ needs.
Status Review Unit, within Customer Operations Support Services investigates individuals who have either fraudulently obtained leave or no longer qualify for it, ending or removing leave when appropriate. It is made up of a large range of teams who look into different types of leave including Refugee status, Limited and Indefinite Leave to Remain, EUSS status and British Citizenship working closely with other government departments or law enforcement agencies to complete thorough investigations.
Job description
The teams receive referrals from a variety of stakeholders, and they can contain serious or high-profile concerns and the decisions that the team make can have a real impact on people’s lives as well as ensuring that the immigration system works and is fairly applied. It is therefore essential that those decisions are lawful and well-reasoned, and able to withstand judicial scrutiny often in the High Courts.
In all these roles, you will work to the guidance and framework in place. The job holder will be expected to maintain and ensure high quality of service is delivered to customers.
We are currently following the Hybrid working model so you will be required to attend the office whenever required to fulfil your role and for a minimum 40% of your contracted hours.
Person specification
We are looking for candidates with the following skills and qualities:
- Good decision-making skills whilst maintaining professionalism and sensitivity
- Committed to continuous improvement and able to multi-task
- Flexible, adaptive and creative in solving problems and dealing with change
- Able to effectively organise and plan
- Able to think in an objective and analytical manner
- A strong sense of personal ethics and honesty
- Customer focused - enjoy dealing with members of the public and external and internal stakeholders
- Able to demonstrate sound interpersonal, communication and relationship-building skills and thrive working as part of a team
- Committed to meeting the high standards of conduct and behaviour that is expected of a civil servant.
Essential criteria
We are looking for applicants who can demonstrate:
- IT confident, with the ability to quickly learn how to use different IT platforms/packages
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- Effective time management skills and the ability to manage their workload against competing demands
- Ability to build effective working relationships.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Making Effective Decisions
- Communicating and Influencing
- Managing a Quality Service
We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:
- 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 first be asked to confirm your eligibility by providing some basic personal information.
After completion of the first part of your application you will be invited to complete a Civil Service Verbal Test. If you successfully pass the test, you will be invited to complete the final stage of the application.
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 7th August 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 tests are administered online and accessed via the Civil Service Jobs website.
You CANNOT complete the Test on a mobile phone or tablet.
The results from the online test are immediate. If you successfully pass this test, you will then be invited to complete the full application form which will include:
- Statement of Suitability (Personal Statement) (maximum 500 words)
- Provide evidence of the behaviour- Making Effective Decisions (250 words maximum)
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
The Personal Statement 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 Personal Statement will be marked first for all candidates. Candidates who meet the minimum pass score for the Personal Statement, will then go on to have their lead behaviour - “Making Effective Decisions” scored and will therefore receive sift scores for both of these elements.
Candidates who fail to meet the minimum pass score for the Personal Statement will not have their lead behaviour scored and will therefore only receive a sift score for their Personal Statement.
Candidates successful at sift stage will be invited to interview which will be a blended approach of strength-based questions (no preparation necessary) and some behaviour-based questions as listed in the advert (preparation recommended).
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 will take place week commencing 7th August 2023.
Interviews will take place week commencing 4th September 2023.
- A laptop (personal or work) with a working webcam
- Good Internet access
It is advisable to access your interview from a Windows operating system laptop, desktop, phone or tablet as there is no guarantee that Launchpad will work without issue on an Apple laptop, tablet or desktop.
Please note - A full explanation of how the Launchpad interview will take place will be provided to you.
Please note that you will be required to show and upload photo identification (e.g. current passport/driving licence) at the end of your virtual interview recording, so please have this ready.
We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert, however these may change due to business needs. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates.
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 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.
Please note: if you are currently an agency member of staff working within the Home Office, 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. If you are currently an agency member working in another Government Department (OGD), you are required to select yourself as external.
This will prevent any delays in pre-employment checks should you become successful in being made an offer of employment after the Interview stage.
We are currently following the Hybrid working model so you will be required to attend the office whenever required to fulfil your role and for a minimum 40% of your contracted hours.
For more information about working for the Home Office, please visit Home Office Careers website.
A reserve list may be created for other similar roles for a period of 12 months. Selection will be in Merit Order to fill the same role or similar roles with closely matching “Essential Criteria” and Success Profile elements without further assessment.
Please ensure your profile on the CS Jobs portal is up to date and reflects your current status as a Civil Servant Inaccurate or out of date details will impact the onboarding process and may delay your start date if you’re successful.
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
See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
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) (opens in a new window)
- 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
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 :
Recruitment team
Further information
