Root Cause Analysis - Team Leader

Background to the Role:

The Counter Fraud and Compliance Directorate (CFCD) is at the heart of DWPs frontline operations, helping to change peoples lives. CFCD for the first time brings together our strategy, policy and analysis for fraud, error and debt, alongside operational teams tackling fraud and error and leading on National Insurance Number allocation.

The Directorate aligns our strategic and operational functions, supporting DWP to deliver its objectives in identifying and correcting error, driving down fraud and using advanced analytics and insight to prevent fraud and error entering the system.

The Integrated Risk and Intelligence Service (IRIS):

IRIS is the Department for Work and Pensions Centre of Excellence for fraud and error risks. IRIS, as a national organisation led from Counter Fraud, Compliance and Debt (CFCD), provides a core delivery service to the whole of the Department.

IRIS is a multidisciplinary team that provides the Department with a single view of fraud and error risks within the benefit system and contributes towards efficiencies, savings and tackling organised crime and modern slavery. It brings together a diverse range of expertise and technology including data science, digital specialists, cyber specialists, intelligence analysts and counter fraud experts. These combine into a powerful force using data and insight in innovative ways to identify and respond to fraud and error risks, supporting DWP to deliver our collective mission to pay the right person the right amount at the right time.

In recent years, IRIS has played a critical role in helping DWP achieve significant savings and exceed its fraud and error reduction commitments, delivering measurable value through its innovative approaches to data and analytics, risking techniques and service improvements.

The Fraud and Error Risk Insights and Assessment team provides the Departments benefit fraud risk assessment capability, using risk insight and root-cause analysis to build a holistic view of fraud, error, official error, and unfulfilled eligibility risks.

It works with risk control owners and stakeholders to identify, develop, and implement more effective and efficient controls to mitigate these risks.  

The Root Cause Analysis Team (RCAT) uses a range of data, information, research and analysis to: 

• Identify how fraud and error has occurred. 
• Inform wider insight and assessment of risk, including the prioritisation and design of fraud and error solutions. 
• Test and evaluate the performance of key fraud and error controls. 

We look for emotionally aware leaders who enable teams to be innovative, adaptable and flexible.  We want you to be comfortable challenging the norm and enable colleagues to shine in whatever role they do.  

The roles will require someone who strives for continuous improvement, innovation, cooperation, and collaboration, taking responsibility for managing, improving, and delivering high quality responses to fraud and error across DWP.  

The successful candidate will be capable of combining technical understanding with an eye for detail, along with strong influencing and negotiation skills to successfully collaborate with stakeholders across the Department and wider DWP. 

Your role will be to:

• Lead, motivate and inspire your team, colleagues and stakeholders to collaborate effectively to identify and capitalise upon opportunities to reduce fraud and error impacting DWP.  

• Role model exceptional leadership, build capability and undertake regular activity to build and sustain engagement with stakeholders.

• Develop and maintain the capability of the team to provide the Departments benefit fraud and error risk assessment capability aligned to government functional standards and best practice.

• Lead a range of initiatives across multiple programmes of work to ensure fraud and error solutions are appropriately prioritised, effectively designed and delivered to requirements.

• Bring together a range of skills to identify problems and find solutions through a multi-disciplinary team approach. 

• Collaborate and coordinate with key stakeholders, taking a cross-Department approach to mitigate and address key fraud risks.

• Represent IRIS at various internal and external forums, influencing strategic direction and decision-making. 

• Provide visible, accessible, and effective leadership, taking a personal lead in communicating messages with clarity and conviction across your own team and with other colleagues. Seeking feedback from colleagues, listening, and acting on this. 

• Line management of EO analysts.

Occasional travel and overnight stays may be required. 

Key criteria

The successful applicant will need to demonstrate:

• A proven track record of leading and delivering in a counter fraud operations environment. Leading robust planning, working collaboratively with stakeholders, establishing priorities, resolving conflicts and issues, helping everyone to navigate a complex environment (Lead Criteria).

• A proven track record in managing resources and priorities to deliver a high-quality and professional service - able to demonstrate how you set clear standards, stay organised, and follow through on commitments (Second Lead Criteria).

• Excellent partnership working, an ability to establish common goals and deliver through others by bringing experts and stakeholders together and building lasting relationships that respect and value diversity of thought and opinion.

• Experience in developing new, or improving existing, processes and procedures that impact across a diverse range of stakeholders.

• Lead from the front in influencing and negotiating to resolve complex and often technical issues.
• You invest in and build your own and your teams capacity and capability ensuring everyone is achieving their full potential through effective coaching and feedback.

Essential Security Criteria 

Please note that the role that you are applying for 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 the 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 individuals 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 individuals background and circumstances to achieve this aim.

For meaningful checks to be carried out, you will need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. Candidates are required to meet the UK residency requirements so that National Security Vetting (NSV) checks can be conducted. Depending on the level of NSV required, you must have resided continuously in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years, 2 of which must have been the immediately preceding years from the point of applying for this job.

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.