Performance, Assurance and Evidence Product Lead

The Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) is a fast-paced delivery and operational team that is responsible for holding departments and arms-length bodies to account for their handling of fraud in the public sector. The Authority writes the standards for counter fraud work across government and holds public bodies to account against these. Working in the PSFA offers access to a wide range of stakeholders across government and the opportunity to work with various sectors in a high-profile policy area with high media, parliamentary and ministerial interest.

The PSFA was launched on the 3rd August 2022 following an increased focus in government on tackling fraud. It succeeded the Government Counter Fraud Function (GCFF) in the Cabinet Office. The PSFA is at the centre of this function and leads work across government and public bodies to improve the prevention, detection and recovery of fraud. The PSFA is outcome and performance driven, offers a depth and breadth of expertise and works jointly with HMT to tackle fraud in the public sector.

• Act as the performance lead for government departments and public bodies, working with their senior leaders and counter fraud leads to ensure good quality performance metrics are in place and standards are being met to enhance the response to fraud.
• Support and/or lead on your own cross-government counter fraud performance products and deliver in a fast paced environment.
• Support and/or lead data analysis on the counter fraud evidence base for public sector fraud in the UK, producing compelling narratives, which add value for decision making, using our wealth of data.
• Deliver against the PAE Teams commitments in the PSFA mandate, encouraging others to comply, providing high-quality, accurate reporting and insights on outcomes.
• Lead and/or support on short-term projects to improve counter fraud performance measurement, risk, assurance and the evidence base, learning from others (both in the UK and abroad) and driving forward change.
• Prepare high quality, informative updates to the PSFA leadership team.
• Scan the horizon for insights, record accurately and effectively in tracking documentation for decision making.
• Support the team in the organisation, preparation and execution of Governance Meetings.
• Process updates to Risk Registers and supporting documentation.
• Embrace continuous improvement, identifying and implementing processes and controls.
• Build and maintain strong and effective cross-government relationships with a wide variety of stakeholders at all levels, often in challenging situations and with a clear understanding of when to escalate.

Essential criteria

• Experience in a counter fraud, economic crime or risk management role.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to effectively manage difficult conversations, influence stakeholders at all levels to drive accountability, on countering fraud in a clear, honest and enthusiastic way in order to build trust and secure buy-in.
• Effective management of resources, managing risks and competing priorities, showing resilience in a highly visible, fast paced and challenging environment.
• Experience managing and interpreting complex data and or narrative, from a variety of sources with attention to detail and using it to produce valuable, accurate and informative insights in a way that is clear and easy to understand.
• Have a focus on delivery, motivating colleagues and peers to comply with standards and processes, maintaining your own levels of performance, and dealing with ambiguity by maintaining resilience.
• Demonstrate ability to actively build and maintain credibility and relationships across a network of colleagues and contacts across the counter fraud function.
• Effective planning, organisational and project management skills with good attention to detail in order to identify inconsistencies and anomalies.

Desirable criteria

• Have an understanding of departmental counter fraud targets, action plans, performance metrics, prevention methodologies and fraud risk assessments.
• Experience of undertaking assurance activities in a counter fraud environment.
• Experience of developing and reviewing risk registers.
• Experience of assessing end to end processes to identify and drive continuous improvement.

Additional information:

Cabinet Office policy is that a minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace. For some roles, due to their nature and the business need, this may be up to 100%. Requirements to attend other locations for official business will also count towards this level of attendance.