Enforcement HM Inspector

Job summary

The Home Office works to build a safe, fair and prosperous UK. We achieve this through our work on counter-terrorism, policing, crime, drugs policy, immigration and passports.

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.

The HMI will lead one of the three CFI teams in Dover in the identification and disruption of organised immigration crime groups and investigating small boat arrivals under s24 and s25 of the 1971 Immigration Act as amended.

The ideal candidate will have strong leadership and management skills, excellent communication skills and an ability to develop new and existing relationships.

Job description

The post holder must be an experienced investigator and hold PIP 2 accreditation. They will oversee complex investigations, make tactical decisions on the pace and direction of cases.

The investigation function supports the identification and prosecution of immigration offenders as part of the Home Office’s strategic aims. You will work closely with UK and overseas partners to ensure maximum collection of available evidence and sharing of relevant material to assist the disruption of organised immigration crime groups engaged in clandestine smuggling of people and wider immigration offending.

A significant part of the role involves managing increased performance within challenging budgetary constraints identifying opportunities to work effectively with colleagues across immigration enforcement and other partners across law enforcement. The development of staff is critical to ensure CFI has an increasing capability to tackle high end organised crime, so close working with the development officers will be essential.

The candidate will be self-motivated, well-organised, and react quickly and calmly to changing circumstances.

Key Responsibilities

Will include but is not limited to:

• Managing investigation progress to ensure that appropriate resource, experience and activity is being used to progress investigations expeditiously. Balancing risk, powers and legislation against desired outcomes.
• Line Management of staff, ensuring compliance with staff reporting policy and development of staff is regularly undertaken.
• Represent CFI and Region with internal and external stakeholders to promote activity and agree strategic approach to collaborative working and processes.
• Actively engage with investigation staff to promote best practice, techniques and approach to promulgate an understanding of impacting organised immigration crime groups activity.
• Prioritisation of competing tasks in a high pressure and dynamic environment, with focus on achieving results.
• Display strong communication skills to explain complex issues in varying formats and to different audiences, including drafting of reports for senior officials and Ministers.

Working Pattern

Due to the business requirements of this role, it is only available on a full-time basis.

Shift Working

Successful candidates will need to be able to attend for all shifts including early starts, late night finishes, and overnight shifts. These shifts may be outside of public transport operating hours.

You will be required to participate in an out of hours on call roster for the region.

Training

It is a requirement of the post that arrest PPST Level 3 is already held and maintained.

Further information on what training involves can be found on our website.

Apprenticeship
This position includes completing a Level 3 Leadership & Management Apprenticeship, which takes around 18 months. To apply, you must:

• Be 16 or older (no upper age limit)
• Have lived in the UK for at least 3 years before starting
• Not be in another apprenticeship or paid education
• Work at least 30 hours per week. In exceptional circumstances, it is possible to complete an apprenticeship on reduced hours, but you must work at least 16 hours a week.
• Not already hold a similar qualification at Level 3 or higher

For more details, see Team leader / Skills England.

Travel

The post requires travelling within the region and more widely.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

• PIP Accreditation Level 2 is required for this role. This must already be held.
• An experienced investigator with a proven background in leading serious and complex investigations.
• Experience of managing resources and using analytical skills to make informed decisions.
• Experience of leading and managing teams.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills as well as strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to positively influence stakeholders at senior and junior levels.
• A high level of personal organisation and the ability to effectively delegate, task and prioritise own and others’ activities.

Licences

Applicants must have a full valid UK manual driving licence.

Qualifications

PIP 2 qualification required. Candidates will need to produce evidence of their accreditation before proceeding to interview.
PPST 3 qualification required. Candidates will need to produce evidence of their accreditation before proceeding to interview.

Behaviours

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

• Leadership
• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions
• Seeing the Big Picture

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

• Leadership

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.
• This role currently attracts Annualised Hours Allowance (AHA) of approximately 40% of salary, which equates to an additional Further information can be found on our website.
• See more of our benefits on our careers website.

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 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.

1. Application by 5th March 2026

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

• CV
• Personal Statement (maximum 1000 words).
• Evidence of the Behaviour – ‘Leadership’ (maximum 250 words)

Your CV should consist of your career history, qualifications and skills/experience, including any key achievements in each role. Your CV will be scored against the experience required for the role as noted within the essential criteria.

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

2.Sift – week commencing 9th March 2026

The sift will be held on the CV, Personal Statement and Behaviour ‘Leadership’.

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

3.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.

Interviews to be conducted face-to-face in Dover (Priory Court).

Travel expenses will not be reimbursed.

In addition, candidates will be asked to prepare a presentation that will be delivered at interview. The presentation question/scenario will be disclosed closer to the interviews.

The presentation will be assessed against 'Experience' on the 'Success Profiles' and will be assessed against the 'Essential Criteria' as listed in the job advertisement.

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.

All Civil Servants are expected to comply with the Civil Service Code, and its core values of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality.

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.

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.

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 security 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

Open to UK nationals only.

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

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