Senior Head of Investigations

Job summary

The Armed Forces Commissioner (AFC) is a newly established, dedicated champion for our Regular and Reserve personnel and their families; a landmark step in demonstrating our commitment to supporting those who serve our nation. Acting as an independent champion, the AFC provides a direct route for serving personnel and their families to raise concerns about welfare issues that may impact on their service lives and ability to serve.

The Commissioner subsumes the roles and responsibilities of the Service Complaints Ombudsman, providing independent and impartial oversight of the Service Complaints system. They have the power to help Service personnel access the Service Complaints system, review aspects of the handling of individual Service Complaints, and report on the efficiency, effectiveness, and fairness of the system as a whole.

They also have the discretion to conduct individual and thematic investigations into specific and broader welfare issues facing Service personnel and their families. The independent reports and recommendations they publish will highlight these issues to Parliament and the wider public, holding the government and the Armed Forces to account.

As the Senior Head of Investigations, you will manage and oversee the AFC’s investigative function responsible for conducting investigations into Service and Welfare Complaints. You will be the senior responsible officer for the effective operation of the high-profile customer-facing investigations function, responsible for the independent and impartial oversight of the Service Complaints system, and for monitoring and assessing the welfare investigations conducted by relevant bodies within Defence and undertaking individual and thematic investigations as directed by the Commissioner. You will be required to work collaboratively, whilst taking individual responsibility for your areas of work, producing high quality outputs at pace. You will be expected to foster a high-performance culture, promoting staff development and an inclusive environment.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Job description

• Drive delivery against the strategic aims and objectives of the AFC as set out in the AFC business plan.
• Understand and apply the Commissioners vision and values in driving change and improvement in General Service Welfare and Service Complaints.
• Establish strong stakeholder relationships with appropriate MOD, Service Complaints personnel, and General Service Welfare areas, in order to share insight, learning and provide challenge.
• Identify and take ownership of high profile/risk General Service Welfare and Service Complaint investigations which require special/discrete handling or might have significant ramifications or reputational risk for AFC.
• Identify areas of investigation to conduct thematic investigations and reports on, facilitating the effective outcome of investigations for the betterment of Service personnel and their families.
• Manage AFC’s response to Judicial Reviews, working in close collaboration with the Commissioner and the senior management team.
• Ownership of AFC’s risk management processes, identifying and tackling resilience, delivery and reputational issues, and ensuring all areas of the AFC are managing and mitigating risk appropriately.
• The Senior Responsible Officer of the Investigation functions of the AFC; supporting the Heads of Service Complaint and Welfare Investigations to ensure the smooth running of the organisation.
• Act as a role model for developing capabilities and continuous improvement, emphasising the importance of equality and diversity.
• Deputise for the AFC as required on operational matters, within agreed delegations and provide scrutiny/approval of investigations.
• Line management/counter-signing officer responsibility for staff across the business.

Person specification

Essential Experience:

• Previous experience of working in a grievance resolution or similar environment (i.e. Ombudsman, complaints handling organisation, regulator).
• Experience of leading and managing multi-disciplined teams delivering in a complex environment.
• Proven ability to lead and develop teams, through inclusive leadership, direction setting and performance management to ensure delivery outcomes.
• Experience of aligning plans and activities to wider strategic priorities.
• Experience of stakeholder management and collaboration to build and maintain productive relationships and agreements.
• Experience of building and maintaining high performing teams.
• Excellent communication skills with experience of producing reports which include evidence-based recommendations.
• Ability to identify, report on, and mitigate business risks.
• Demonstrable track record of analysing large volumes of information to reach justifiable conclusions and writing clear, well-reasoned decisions.
• A strong understanding and proven application of the importance of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

Desirable Experience:

• Knowledge of Defence, the Armed Forces operating model, and the complaints procedures.
• Experience of working in an Ombudsman, regulator or other similar environment.
• Legal qualification and/or legislative background and experience of legal casework/instruction of lawyers.
• Service delivery experience for customer-facing services.

Behaviours

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

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Changing and Improving
• Making Effective Decisions

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

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £72,840, Ministry of Defence contributes £21,101 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• 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 employer contribution of 28.97%

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and working from home as part of a non-contractual hybrid working arrangement. All office-based employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to site capacity and any required workplace adjustments. Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD workplace, will also count towards this level of office attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this and other flexible working arrangements may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details). Defence Business Services cannot respond to any questions about working arrangements.

The post does not offer relocation expenses.

External recruits who join the MOD who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.

Please Note: Expenses incurred for travel to interviews will not be reimbursed.

Please be advised that the Department is conducting a review of all pay related allowances which could impact on those allowances that the post currently being advertised attracts.

Any move to MOD 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/.

The Ministry of Defence is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for its staff which includes educating them on the benefits of not smoking, protecting them from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and supporting those who want to give up smoking. Under the Smoke-Free Working Environment policy, Smoking and the use of all tobacco products (including combustible and chewing tobacco products) will not be permitted anywhere in the Defence working environment however some exemptions are in place, please refer to local guidance. The policy is Whole Force and includes all Defence personnel, contractors, visitors and other non-MOD personnel. All applicants seeking, considering, or accepting employment with the Ministry of Defence should be aware of this policy and that it is already in place at a number of Defence Establishments.

MOD Recruitment Satisfaction Survey – We may contact you regarding your experience to help us improve our customer satisfaction. The survey is voluntary and anonymous. You may however be given the opportunity to provide additional information to help us improve our service which includes the collection of some personal data as defined by the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The MOD Privacy Policy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights.

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.

Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include job history, qualification details, previous skills and experience and a personal statement of 1,000 words. The personal statement should provide evidence of how you have met the behaviours and experience listed.

At sift, you will be assessed against your CV, Personal Statement and the following Behaviours:

• Leadership (Lead Behaviour)
• Communicating and Influencing

In the event of a high number of applicants, the sift will be based on your Personal Statement and the Lead Behaviour only.

At interview, you will be assessed against the following Success Profiles Behaviours:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Leadership
• Changing and Improving
• Making Effective Decisions

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact: DBSCivPers-Resourcingteam3@mod.gov.uk .

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came in to effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category and we will not sponsor a visa. It is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points based system.

Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.

The Ministry of Defence adopts a zero-tolerance approach to unacceptable behaviours, which includes bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and victimisation. You will not be eligible and will not be considered for this post if you have been dismissed from a role for such unacceptable behaviours within the last five years. This will also apply if you resign or otherwise leave a role but, because of an adverse decision, would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had you continued in that employment. Pre-employment checks will be carried out.

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 developed vetting (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 : Julie Grugel
• Email : Julie.Grugel100@mod.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : DBSCivPers-ResourcingTeam3@mod.gov.uk

Further information

Please ensure you read the attached candidate information document prior to completing your application. If you are dissatisfied with the service you have received from DBS, or believe that DBS has failed to follow the recruitment process in line with the Civil Service Commission principles of selection for appointment on merit on the basis of Fair and Open competition, you can raise a formal complaint by writing to DBS at the following address: Defence Business Services, Scanning Hub, Room 6124, Tomlinson House, Norcross Lane, Blackpool, FY5 3WP. If after raising your complaint with DBS you remain dissatisfied you can complain directly to the Civil Service Commission at the following address: Civil Service commission, Room G/8, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ Or by email: info@csc.gov.uk.

Attachments

EXTERNAL PACK Opens in new window (pdf, 1562kB)Candidate Information updated_ Opens in new window (docx, 31kB)