Economic, Serious And Organised Crime - Covert Surveillance Officers

DWP is the lead agency for tackling Economic, Serious and Organised crime (ESOC) against the welfare system. ESOC are a national team with geographical representation throughout the UK. We are responsible for and are committed to detecting, preventing, disrupting and prosecuting organised criminals facilitating benefit offences and abuse. Serious offenders often receive substantial custodial sentences.

The role of ESOC is primarily to investigate fraud in the welfare system perpetuated by organised criminal groups. This mostly involves working across multi law enforcement agencies on high profile and serious fraud operations involving multi suspects in multi million pound criminality. ESOC is predominantly involved in:

Level 2 Criminality

Acts of criminality that transcend regional borders and require the assistance of specialist assets to combat these attacks, using assistance from external law enforcement partners through the provision of intelligence, and establishing joint operations to proactively target those persons or groups involved in such criminal activity; and

Level 3 Criminality

Investigations categorised as Level 3 relate to Serious and Organised Crime by well organised and resourced criminals and crime groups that operate both on national and international scales. Combating these organisations requires the proactive collaboration of a diverse and specialised core of organisations within the UK law enforcement arena; that allows the pooling of sensitive intelligence and physical assets, both human and capital to combat such attacks.

We undertake:

• Intelligence-led investigations into organised and systematic attacks on the National Insurance Number Portal (NINo), DWP benefits, HMRC Tax Credits and Access to Work payments;High Value Fraud: multi-million pound fraud involving multiple suspects
• Our major focus is Identity Fraud, the use of false documentation and hijacked or stolen identities of genuine individuals;
• The Human Agenda - Trafficking / Modern Slavery are a significant feature of our work - benefits are claimed and controlled by organised criminals;
• Internal Investigations; and
• Extensive Collaborative Working

Key Tasks (Specific)

ESOC’s highly trained surveillance operatives are a national resource able to provide an immediate response. As a DWP mobile Covert Surveillance officer you will:

• Action requests for surveillance and liaise with key stakeholders to agree a plan of action for Covert Surveillance.
• As Officer in Charge, complete Directed Surveillance applications to the standard required by the Directed Surveillance Authority team for authorisation.
• Understand the operational objectives and ensure the authority is legally compliant with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and The Police Act 1997 and in accordance IPCO recommendations.
• Conduct Risk Assessments.
• Lead surveillance teams utilising resources available and full range of surveillance techniques to achieve the objectives in the most cost-effective manner.
• As Officer in Charge (OiC) direct the activities of the Surveillance Team, whether undertaking static, foot and mobile surveillance in line with National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) standards.
• Make operational decisions as the dynamic and evolving circumstances demand and in order to achieve the set objectives.
• As Surveillance Officer ensure the evidence and intelligence is received and presented in the form of high quality surveillance logs, documentary and photographic evidence by the effective use of Covert Surveillance techniques.
• Work closely with and ensure the investigation team are kept apprised of progress.
• Ensure the final evidence package is professionally and accurately prepared and production of surveillance outcome files contain Exhibits, MG11 summary of surveillance, MG11 covering continuity of exhibits, Disclosure schedules, Issues Log and Feedback sheet.
• Maintain your own accreditation through active deployment and assessment by team leader.
• When Officer in Charge, you are responsible for tasking and directing the surveillance team and conducting briefings and de-briefings.
• Take appropriate measures to ensure personal safety.
• Adhere strictly to the NPCC’s surveillance standards and general instructions set out in the Fraud Procedures / Instructions Manual, and other user manuals and follow the processes to ensure people comply with the legal and policy requirements.

Key Tasks (General)

• Ensure overall quality, secure handling and dissemination of information and intelligence obtained.
• Promote professional standards at all times.
• Build and maintain excellent working relationships with both internal and external partners.
• Comply with health and safety legislation including highlighting and reporting risks and issues as identified.
• If necessary, appear as a witness in court.
• Keep abreast of the rapid change and continuous improvements in a changing environment responding to ESOC, CFCD and DWP priorities.
• There may be occasions when not deployed that you will be required to assist the ESOC investigation teams with investigative duties.

What we are looking for in our Covert Surveillance Officers:

• Must hold a current full driving license for manual vehicles. Officers are expected to drive the full range of vehicles covered by a full driving license.
• Must be flexible worker as you may be required to deploy at short notice.
• The role requires officers to be able to walk significant distances at varying paces and for prolonged periods. Therefore, candidates need to be physically fit enough to cope with the demands of the role.
• Excellent interpersonal and leadership skills enabling interaction with staff, stakeholders, partners and legal professionals combined with a strong presence, integrity and influencing skills.
• Ability to create and work as part of a close knit national team.
• Working knowledge of the legal requirements of, and compliance with, Disclosure procedures, is essential.
• Confident and able to collaborate on high profile investigations where there is joint interest in the criminality.

Please note that the role that you are applying requires National Security Vetting (NSV) to the level – Security Check (SC). You can find more information at United Kingdom Security Vetting: Applicant - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

If you are successful in your application, you will need to attain SC clearance before you can take up post. This is mandatory and is in addition to completion of Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS).

The purpose of the NSV process is to provide a level of assurance about an individual’s trustworthiness, integrity and reliability, and other factors that increase their vulnerability to corruption or risk of committing a security breach. It involves the investigation of an individual’s background and circumstances to achieve this aim.

To be eligible to apply, you will need to have 5 years continual UK residency prior to the date of your application. In certain circumstances a minimum period of 3 years may be considered with additional checks. If you do not have continual UK residency, we will not be able to proceed with your application, because you will be unable to obtain Security Clearance. This includes if you have been out of the UK for six months or more during this time.

The application process will ask for personal details about you, your address history, previous relationships, your parents, your employment history, your financial circumstances, and details of any pending, spent or unspent convictions. This list is not exhaustive. Please view the Vetting explained - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) for more information.

If you require any further information, please contact the vacancy holder – the details are on the jobs portal through which you made your application.

If you are successful in your application, we recommend that you familiarise yourself with the NSV process and advise that you collate as much information as you can prior to starting your Vetting application.

If you go on to attain Security Clearance, then you should be aware of the following:

Behaviours expected of you to maintain clearance

Keeping your clearance is dependent upon maintaining good security behaviours. You must:

• Not take any illegal drugs.
• Always act with honesty and integrity and, if you are a Civil Servant, adhere to the Civil Service Code.
• Always act in a way that will not put you at risk of being unduly influenced, exploited or blackmailed by people such as criminals and journalists.

In addition to the above candidates who are successful will be asked to complete an integrity declaration before we offer them a position.
Candidates must declare to the best of their knowledge:

• Any disciplinary finding of guilt / failure to meet the appropriate standard of conduct relating to their employment they have ever had.
• Any charge of a disciplinary offence / notification of a failure to meet the appropriate standards they have ever had where the case has not yet been concluded.
• Any past convictions, criminal findings, or police cautions, regardless of whether they are ‘spent’, they have ever had.
• The disclosure of this information will not automatically disbar the candidate from this role but we need to be aware of any event or issue which could impinge on the candidate’s credibility if questioned in court.

Desirable Criteria

• Q4 Log Keeping qualification
• Q2 Motorcycle Surveillance qualification
• PINS / ACFIP or equivalent qualification
• If based in Wales, the ability to speak Welsh is desirable.

Learning Requirements

DWP (Department for Work and Pensions) is committed to ensuring their teams are a professional workforce.

Where entry routes are available,it is a professional requirement of Counter Fraud roles within DWP to attain, and retain, membership of the GCFP (Government Counter Fraud Profession) at Practitioner level.

After you have completed your learning routeway, this will entail undertaking an annual self-assessment to evidence your knowledge, skills, and experience within your role to attain and/or retain practitioner level membership.

Benefits including:

• Generous annual leave - 23 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro–rata for part time employees), plus bank holidays and one day of leave for the King’s Birthday. The exact number of days of annual leave will be determined by any current years of service.
• Competitive maternity, paternity and parental leave we also recognise the importance of a good work-life balance and offer flexible working and a family friendly approach to work.
• Training and apprenticeships and up to 5 days’ personal development & learning allowance
• Flexible/hybrid working
• Employee discount schemes
• Free wellbeing support
• Opportunities to make a real difference through joining forums, initiatives & charities
• Interest free travel loans
• Vodafone advantage discount scheme
• Highly sought after civil service pension- your pension is a valuable part of your total reward package where:
  
  • The employer makes a significant contribution to the cost of your pension.
  • Your contributions come out of your salary before any tax is taken. This means, if you pay tax, your take-home pay will not be reduced by the full amount of your contribution; and
  • Your pension will continue to provide valuable benefits for you and your family if you are too ill to continue to work or die before you retire.
  • For more information, visit civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk

Location

Applicants should apply for suitable posts where they can travel to and from their home office location daily within a reasonable time.

Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas. Relocation costs will not be reimbursed.

Hybrid Working

This job role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. The number of days that anyone will be able to work at home will be determined primarily by business need but personal circumstances and other relevant circumstances will also be taken into account. If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working, including whether a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for you, will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post.

Job contact :

Name :
CFCD Recruitment Team
Email :
cfcd.recruitmentinbox@dwp.gov.uk

Recruitment team

Email :
dwprecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk