Civil Penalties Compliance Officer

Job summary

Immigration Enforcement is responsible for enforcing the government’s 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. Learn more on our careers pages.

Interventions, Sanctions and Compliance (ISC) is part of Immigration Enforcement and is responsible for encouraging compliance within the immigration rules as part of the overall enforcement effort to tackle illegal migration and those who help to facilitate it.

The Civil Penalty Compliance Team (CPCT) forms part of the ISC. CPCT issues civil penalties to employers found to be employing individuals without permission to work or landlords renting accommodation to individuals without the right to rent in the UK.

Job description

You will work as part of a collaborative team, contributing to a wide range of interesting and varied activities that support our mission to tackle illegal migration and reduce associated harms. Your day‑to‑day responsibilities may include, but are not limited to, the following areas:

Casework Team
You will use strong analytical and decision‑making skills to interpret evidence and apply it accurately within the civil penalty decision-making framework. Working at pace, you will produce high‑quality written outputs that clearly explain the rationale behind your decisions. Attention to detail and the ability to manage complex information are essential.

Debt Recovery Team
You will play a key role in processing and pursuing outstanding penalty debt. This will include engaging with key stakeholders such as specialist debt‑recovery agencies to ensure effective debt resolution.

Appeals Team
You will ensure that all cases progressing to appeal are robust, evidence-based, and compliant with relevant legislation. You will use strong written and verbal communication skills to defend civil penalty decisions in court hearings with confidence and professionalism.

Key Responsibilities:

• Analysing and making decisions.
• Producing high quality outcomes, explaining why decisions have been made.
• Processing and tackling outstanding Civil Penalty debt.
• Defending Civil Penalty processes at court hearings.

Working Pattern

This role is also suitable for part-time working hours, with a minimum requirement to work 16 hours per week.

Location - Please be aware that car parking may not always be available.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

• Ability to work flexibly and stay well‑organised, maintaining high performance and meeting deadlines even under pressure.
• Openness to change, with a proactive and positive approach to new ways of working.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to convey information clearly and confidently to a range of audiences.
• Capacity to learn quickly, grasp new information, and build a strong understanding of unfamiliar work areas at pace.
• Commitment to producing high‑quality work, consistently demonstrating accuracy, attention to detail, and pride in outputs.
• Excellent analytical and decision‑making skills, applying sound judgement and evaluating information effectively to reach well‑informed conclusions.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Delivering at Pace

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• 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.
• Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement where all employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Ability and Experience.

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.

As part of the application process, you will first be asked to confirm your eligibility by providing some basic personal information.

After submission of this first stage, you will be invited to complete the followingCivil Service Casework Skills test.

1. Online Test – by 11th March 2026

If you successfully pass the Casework Skills test, you will be invited to complete the full application form. Please complete the online test as soon as possible (within 24-48 hours is recommended). If you fail to complete the online test or full application before the deadline, your application will be withdrawn.

Guidance for the Civil Service test will be available when you are invited to take the test. The online tests are accessed via the Civil Service Jobs website.

You cannot complete the tests on a mobile phone or tablet.

Following successful completion of your test, you will then be asked to complete the full application form.

2. Application – by 11th March 2026

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:

• Personal Statement (maximum 500 words).
• Evidence of the Behaviour Making Effective Decisions (maximum of 250 words).

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 (Personal Statement and Behaviours), you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers website.

3. Sift – week commencing 16th March 2026

The sift will be held on the Personal Statement and Behaviour Making Effective Decisions.

Should a high volume of applications be received, an initial sift will be conducted on the Personal Statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift will then be progressed to a full sift that will consist of all the remaining element submitted (Behaviour). Candidates who fail to meet the minimum pass score for the initial sift will not have their remaining submitted element scored and will only receive a sift score for that assessed at the initial sift.

4. Interview – week commencing 6th April 2026

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 face to face at Soapworks.

For guidance and information on what to expect and how to prepare for an interview, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers.

Problems during the application process

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.

Do not create or attempt to submit another application, online test or use a different Civil Service Jobs account to proceed as this would be in violation of the candidate declaration.

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 no guarantee that being held on a reserve list will lead to a job offer. Further information can be found on our website.

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

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

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.

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.

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 theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Home Office Resourcing Centre
• Email : HORCCampaignTeamIE@homeoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the Civil Service recruitment principles and you wish to make a complaint, then contact the Government Recruitment Service via HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

Attachments

candidate_information_v16_January_2026 Opens in new window (pdf, 429kB)2025-11-17 Pre-employment Checking - Document Requirements (V17) Opens in new window (pdf, 231kB)