Research Officer - Irregular Migration

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.

The Digital and Innovation Group sits at the heart of the Home Office. The group ensures the best evidence and analysis are used to address the strategic issues facing the department. We also provide the science, technology, data, and international insights and collaboration capabilities needed to drive delivery.

We have two high-profile opportunities for Research Officers to join the Near Neighbour and Upstream Irregular Migration teams within the Immigration System Statistics and Refugees Analysis & Insight (ISSRAI) unit. This unit sits within the Digital and Innovation Group, with these roles funded by the Border Security Command. The roles support the evaluation of the Border Security Command and International Taskforces, and UK’s contribution towards the European Migration Network (EMN).

You will help deliver high quality analysis and insight to inform decisions on high-profile policy challenges, and shape Home Office priorities. Working creatively and collaboratively with operational colleagues, stakeholders and other analysts, you will also have opportunities to develop your skills and career within the Home Office and the wider Government Social Research Service.

Job description

Supporting Senior Research Officers, you will deliver research and evaluation to understand the impact of Border Security Command (BSC) interventions to tackle organised immigration crime (OIC) upstream, in Europe and within the UK. This includes analysing internal monitoring data, supporting primary research for process and impact evaluations, and communicating findings to policy and operational colleagues.

You will also support the UK’s contribution to the EMN. This may include managing access to the EMN portal and co-ordinating and shaping the UK’s analytical position on cross-European migration-related analytical and policy queries.

Leading work to strengthen the evidence base on irregular migration, you will identify key gaps and supporting primary research to address the most pressing priorities. Building strong relationships with international, operational, policy and intelligence colleagues will be central to this work.

The roles are open to existing badged Government Social Researchers (GSR) and applicants who are not yet GSR members, including those outside government.

Key responsibilities:

• Support evaluations of interventions to tackle organised immigration crime, upstream and in Europe.

• Strengthen the evidence base on irregular migration, by prioritising evidence gaps and supporting primary research to address them.

• Co-ordinate input from Home Office teams to EMN commissions, including managing access to the EMN portal.

• Analyse and synthesise evidence into clear summaries and narratives for analytical and non-analytical colleagues, including contributions to the quarterly report on irregular migration trends.

• Build and manage relationships with internal stakeholders including policy leads, operational teams, intelligence analysts and external stakeholders, including EMN counterparts, the international analytical community, academia.

• With support from senior analysts, advise Ministers and senior officials on research and analysis findings.

Working Pattern

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

Eligibility

These roles are open to both external candidates who meet the requirements and existing Government Social Research (GSR) members. If the latter please indicate clearly on your Route 1/ Route 2 form attached, and also email HORCCampaignTeam-BFBSCandPSG@homeoffice.gov.uk

For external applicants, Civil Service badging is used to designate people presently employed in the Civil Service who meet the criteria for that profession at a particular grade level. If you have analytical skills but no formal Civil Service analytical profession badging, you are most welcome to apply. Successful applicants will become badged members of the profession.

Applicants must meet the qualification requirements for the profession as set out below under Qualifications, and in the Route 1/ Route 2 form attached.

Person specification

Essential criteria:

• To be eligible to apply, you must be an existing member of the GSR Profession or meet the GSR Educational requirements.

See below for details

You must also have the following:

• Strong experience in designing and delivering qualitative and quantitative research and analytical projects. This includes analysing data, reviewing literature and presenting research findings.
• Strong organisational skills, including experience of balancing a busy and varied workload.
• Ability to co-ordinate research requests, including effective management and tracking of requests for evidence, data and policy insights and contributing to the development of efficient team's processes.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including ability to build relationships and work as part of a team to deliver at pace.
• Ability to communicate technical concepts effectively to a wide range of technical and non-technical audiences to ensure maximum impact.
• Experience of managing or supporting the delivery of impactful analytical projects from inception to conclusion, to meet customer needs.

Desirable criteria:

• Experience of working or studying in irregular migration, organised immigration crime, international or European contexts.
• Experience or knowledge of evaluation, particularly in complex contexts.

Qualifications

You must be either:

a badged member of the Government Social Research profession, or
Route 1 - hold an undergraduate degree, at a minimum of 2.2 in a social science subject, around a third of which comprised of modules on social science methods;
Route 2 - hold a 2:2 undergraduate degree in any subject and have at least four years' relevant experience as a practising social researcher.

Please read the detailed information in the attached Route 1/ Route 2 form and complete the relevant form. You must upload this with your application.

It is essential that you hold the required qualification(s) for this role at the time of application. Evidence of your qualification(s) will be checked during the selection process. Candidates who do not hold the required qualification(s) or are unable to provide evidence, will be deemed ineligible and withdrawn from the recruitment process.

Memberships

Are you a badged member of GSR?

Please note this will be verified by the Department.

This is not mandatory for applications to the role.

Behaviours

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

• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions
• Working Together

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

• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

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

• GSR - Technical Skills
• GSR - Using and Promoting

Benefits

In addition to your salary, a career with the Home Office offers a range of benefits, including:

• 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.
• Successful candidates may be eligible for an annual Recruitment and Retention Allowance of £2,000, subject to Head of Profession approval. Please note, the allowance is subject to regular review and could be changed or withdrawn at any time.
• 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.

• See more of our benefits on our careers website.

Sign-up on our website to receive emails with information about careers at the Home 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, Experience and Technical skills.

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.

Please note:

For applicants who don’t hold GSR badging, you will be able to become GSR badged through successful completion of the GSR Knowledge Test, prior to successfully completing the other stages of recruitment. A link to the test will be provided to applicants.

Familiarisation material is available at GSR_Example_Knowledge_Test_Jan_2024.pdf and you are encouraged to review this material before undertaking the test.

Existing GSR badged applicants should email HORCCampaignTeam-BFBSCandPSG@homeoffice.gov.uk via your work email address on applying for the role quoting campaign reference 489003, your name,noting that you are applying for the role of Research Officer, and your current government department where you have worked as a Government Social Researcher.

Additionally, if you have previously passed the Knowledge Test within the last 12 months of 12 November 2027, you may choose not to sit the test again. Please contact HORCCampaignTeam-BFBSCandPSG@homeoffice.gov.uk and provide evidence of your result prior to closing date. At this stage your application will still be anonymised and you should therefore provide your Candidate ID reference to remove you from the invitations to take the Knowledge Test.

All applicants will be assumed to be non-badged unless they have emailed the above email address with details of their existing GSR badging prior to the closing date.

1. Application - by 27 November 2026

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

• A CV - outlining experience and skills as per Essential Criteria
  
  
• Evidence of Technical Skill: GSR Technical Skills - as set out in the Government Social Research Technical Framework Government_Social_Research_Technical_Framework_v4.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)

• Evidence of the Delivering at Pace (maximum of 250 words)

• The Route 1 / Route 2 Form attached to this advert. All applicants to download, complete and upload this form as an attachment and submit with your application. Please DO NOT include your name on the form or in the title of document, and DO NOT list any educational institute. We cannot progress applications where this form is omitted.

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. Please note: The CV will be blind assessed and so must not include identifiable information such as candidate names and educational institutions. Applications with personally identifiable information will be withdrawn.

For guidance and information on how to construct your application (CV, Personal Statement and Behaviour), you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers website.

2. Knowledge Test – scheduled to take place from 1st December 2026 - 7th December 2026.

Candidates who are not existing members of GSR will be invited to take an online Knowledge Test. The Knowledge Test is used to test the Social Research Professional skill and assesses the basic knowledge and application of statistical, analytical and research skills and techniques.

You will be emailed a link to the Knowledge Test by a third party so will need to check emails (including junk emails).

This is a timed test and must be completed and submitted by the advised deadline if your application is to be considered for the next stage of the process.

Please ensure you inform us in your application's Reasonable Adjustments information section if you require any reasonable adjustments to be considered.

Candidates who fail the Knowledge Test will not proceed further.

Candidates who pass the Knowledge Test or are existing GSR members will move onto the Eligibility Review/ Sift stage.

3. Eligibility Review/ Sift – scheduled to take place from 11th December 2026

Your Route 1 / Route 2 form will be assessed to ensure the educational / experience requirements to join the GSR profession are met or GSR membership is confirmed.

If, from the information provided on the Route 1 / Route 2 form, you do not meet the educational / experience requirements then your application will not proceed further.

If you meet the educational / experience requirements for this role or are an existing GSR member, you will progress to the Sift, which will be held on the CV, Technical Skill and Behaviour - Delivering at Pace.

Should a high volume of applications be received, an initial sift will be conducted on GSR Technical Skills. Candidates who pass the initial sift will then be progressed to a full sift that will consist of all the remaining elements submitted (CV and Behaviour). 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.

4. Interviews – from 5th January 2027.

If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to an interview that will include:

• 5 minute presentation on a topic shared in advance, to assess social research skills and knowledge (GSR: Technical Skills, GSR: Using & Promoting Social Research).
• Technical scenario question (GSR: Technical Skills, GSR: Using & Promoting Social Research) used to further test social research skills and knowledge. This question will not be shared in advance.
• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions
• Working Together

Information on GSR technical skills can be found in the Government Social Research (GSR) Social Research Technical Skills Framework

The interview will take place on Teams.

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.

Location preference

You will only be able to select a single location preference so please ensure this is a location that you are prepared to travel to. If you are offered a role at your preferred location and you decline, your application will be withdrawn.

Mobility

All colleagues are subject to the Home Office Mobility Policy. Learn more on our website: Working Arrangements - Home Office Careers

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.

Breaking Tied Scores

The technical skills have been ranked in order of importance to enable us to differentiate between candidates with tied interview scores.

Standards

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

Additional Security Checks

As well as successfully obtaining UK Security Vetting clearance, candidates will be subject to a range of additional checks. The range of checks carried out will depend on whether you are a current Home Office employee, existing civil servant or an external new entrant as well as the role requirements. Further details are included in the Notes to Candidates.

Criminal Record Checks

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.

Shortly after the advert closing date, you will be invited to complete the GSR online Knowledge Test.

This is a timed test and must be completed and submitted by the advised deadline if your application is to be considered for the next stage of the process.

Please ensure you inform us in your application's Reasonable Adjustments information section if you require any reasonable adjustments to be considered.

Feedback

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) 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

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 : HORCCampaignTeam-BFBSCandPSG@homeoffice.gov.uk
• Email : HORCCampaignTeam-BFBSCandPSG@homeoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

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

Further information

If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the recruitment
principles, and wish to make a complaint, then you should contact in the first instance
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

489003 Research Officer Route 1 and 2 form 271026 - ACTION REQUIRED (2) Opens in new window (docx, 29kB)candidate_information_v18_July_2026 Opens in new window (pdf, 8MB)2025-11-17 Pre-employment Checking - Document Requirements (V17) (1) Opens in new window (pdf, 231kB)