** Risk, Compliance & Business Continuity Officer

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 governments immigration laws, tackling illegal migration, removing foreign national offenders and immigration offenders from the UK. We also aim to disrupt the organised criminal groups that exploit the vulnerable for their personal gain. Learn more on our careers pages.

Criminal & Financial Investigation (CFI), part of Enforcement, Compliance & Crime (ECC), investigates immigration crime and takes robust action against those who seek to abuse the UKs border and immigration systems.

The Home Office values of being Courageous, Collaborative, Compassionate and Respectful are central to how we work in CFI, alongside the high standards required by the criminal justice system.

We train our staff to become fully accredited criminal and financial investigators and provide the equipment they need to work effectively. For this role, additional training will be provided in risk management, compliance and business continuity.

An opportunity has arisen for a Chief Immigration Officer to support the His Majestys Inspector lead for risk, first-line compliance, fraud and integrity, and business continuity within the CFI Operational Guidance, Risk and Compliance Team.

The Operational Governance, Risk and Compliance (OGRC) function ensures that risk is identified, managed and reported effectively across Criminal and Financial Investigation (CFI). It also supports effective first-line compliance checks, fraud and error prevention, and business continuity arrangements at team and business unit level.

The role supports frontline colleagues working to tackle organised immigration crime by helping teams manage risk, report on compliance activity, and maintain effective business continuity arrangements. You will provide advice and guidance to frontline criminal and financial investigation teams, helping to strengthen risk management, compliance and governance arrangements.

You will also help identify new and emerging threats, as well as opportunities to strengthen processes and improve investigative outcomes.

The role requires adaptability and flexibility to respond to changing priorities and short-notice work directed by CFI senior managers.

Key Responsibilities

Specific responsibilities include but arent limited to:

• Support the review and maintenance of CFI and regional risk registers, liaising with risk owners and the Immigration Enforcement Risk, Integrity and Resilience team where required.
• Assist with deep dives into first-line CFI compliance returns, coordinate action plans, and support responses to second-line assurance findings and external reviews, including those from the Criminal Investigation Assurance Team, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, and the Government Internal Audit Agency.
• Contribute to CFI business continuity arrangements by collating local plans, coordinating exercises, and supporting conformity with agreed processes.
• Help identify legal, operational and emerging threats that may affect CFI delivery, working with partners to mitigate risks and improve investigative outcomes.
• Support actions arising from the quarterly CFI Risk and Assurance Committee and contribute to wider fraud and error reporting arrangements.
• Liaise with the CFI risk community, promote risk management best practice locally, and collate emerging risk information.
• Draft and deliver awareness sessions on relevant topics, both in person and via Teams.

You may be required to undertake the same or a similar role within a different team or teams, where possible at your base location or within reasonable travel distance, depending on business priorities. With appropriate training and support, this will provide opportunities to broaden your experience and skill set.

Working Pattern

Due to business requirements, this role is offered on a full-time basis only.

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.

Training

You will receive full training and support to do the job. You work as part of a team where there is always someone around for advice and support.

This role can be physically demanding and if successful you will be required to complete and pass specialist training including Personal Safety Training (PST) Level 3, which develops skills in personal safety, arrest and restraint techniques. This demands physical activity and physical contact with delegates on the course. You will be required to complete a PST health declaration and, if necessary, attend a medical examination. A formal offer will be conditional upon you being physically fit to undertake and pass the training.

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

Essential criteria

• Professionalising Investigation Programme (PIP) Accreditation Level 1 or Scottish equivalent is required for this role (see below). This must already be held.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to develop and maintain strong support networks and engaging with stakeholders and key enablers
• Strong analytical skills and with ability to draw conclusions from complex operational, policy and legal issues and present conclusions with clarity
• An ability to develop and build strong support networks and engaging with stakeholders and key enablers
• Well organised and able to apply attention to all aspects of the role you take ownership of problems and develop solutions
• Self-motivated, good at balancing priorities, and able to deliver to tight deadlines where required

Desirable criteria

• Experience of risk management, auditing, business continuity or counter-fraud
• Experience of delivering training or public speaking.