Detention Engagement Officers

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Locations: Bedford, Gatwick, Glasgow, Newcastle, Heathrow, Oxford

Salary: Starting: from £30,000 – £31,500 depending on location. Plus, Annualised Hours Allowance (AHA) of between 15.56% and 21.57% of salary depending on location.

In this pivotal role, you’ll gain new skills, a clear career path, and a range of benefits as you work with residents at our Immigration Removal Centres (IRC).

About us:

The Home Office works to build a safe, fair, and prosperous UK. We achieve this through our work on counter-terrorism, policing, fire, crime, drugs policy, immigration, and passports.

Immigration Enforcement (IE) is responsible for enforcing the government’s immigration laws, tackling illegal migration, and removing foreign national residents from the UK. It also aims to disrupt the organised criminal groups that exploit the vulnerable for their personal gain.

About the role:

This post sits within the Detention Engagement Teams (DET), which are dynamic and responsive teams working as part of Detention, Progression, and Returns to enhance the quality and frequency of engagements between Home Office and the people entering Immigration Removal Centres (IRC).

IRCs are secure buildings that hold detained individuals (residents) prior to their removal from the United Kingdom or for nationality and identification purposes. The DETs are based on-site and interact with residents face-to-face, helping the IRC to run smoothly. It is a role that can be challenging but also very rewarding.

Successful candidates will be accountable for a variety of tasks to ensure effective communication and engagement with residents, as below:

1. Conduct face-to-face engagements, including inductions and assessments.
2. Discuss options and the consequences of non-compliance with residents.
3. Identify and manage vulnerability indicators, ensuring that they are recorded and managed in-line with policy.
4. Engage regularly with IRC suppliers and stakeholders.
5. Give case updates and manage a portfolio of residents.
6. Record interactions accurately on IT systems in a timely manner and provide feedback to caseworkers.
7. Contribute to management reports and undertake office administration duties such as inbox management and taking phone calls.
8. Flagging issues appropriately and in a timely manner to management or other appropriate departments.

Your main task will be to support residents and help them understand the progress being made on their case. As a Detention Engagement Officer, you will be the vital interface between the caseworker and the resident. As you work, you’ll gain a range of skills in an environment that’s constantly changing, while upholding ethical standards in immigration enforcement. It is a role that demands both resilience and empathy.

You’ll liaise with numerous different stakeholders on and off site, such as healthcare suppliers, interpreters, and the IRC Suppliers, to ensure that vulnerability issues are identified and managed effectively in line with Home Office policy. The work is varied: you might be conducting interviews one day and compiling management reports the next. In return for your efforts, you can expect competitive benefits including an outstanding pension scheme and an Annualised Hours Allowance (AHA), which can add between 15.56% and 21.57% to your base salary.

About you:

As a member of the Detention Engagement Team, you will be expected to demonstrate professional behaviours and personal integrity, as well as an unbiased and methodical approach to information gathering.

With a strong ethical compass and a compassionate approach to engaging with residents, you will bring resilience and organisational skills to your role. In our selection processes, we’ll test the extent to which you meet the following criteria:

1. Solid verbal and written communication skills.
2. Leadership potential and the ability to manage testing situations.
3. Flexibility, adaptability, and problem-solving skills.
4. Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Outlook, and Excel.

If you are passionate about making a difference and have the skills and dedication required for the Detention Engagement Team role, we would love to hear from you. Join us at the Home Office and be part of a team that truly makes a difference.

Training and development:

You will receive full training and support to perform your role, and you will follow a clear career path. Initial training takes place face-to-face and then continues on the job. You’ll also have a mentor who supports you until you are fully confident in the role. Even then, you are never alone; you work as part of a team where there is always someone around for advice and support. Further information on what the training involves can be found on our website.

Working Patterns:

This role is suitable for part-time working hours, with a minimum requirement to work 3 full shifts per week. We encourage applications from people who wish to work part-time; however, part-time opportunities cannot be guaranteed in frontline roles due to the 24/7 operational nature of the business. If you want to work part-time, you should flag this as soon as a provisional offer of employment is made, to explore whether this can be accommodated at your selected location.

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