Economic Crime Communications and Engagement Officer

Job content

Location

Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Salford

About The Job

Job summary

HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service (FIS) is responsible for the department’s civil and criminal investigations. We use a range of powers and approaches to protect funding for UK public services, investigating the most harmful tax cheats and ensuring nobody is beyond our reach.

The Economic Crime (EC) deputy directorate is an integral part of the HMRC Serious Fraud Strategy. We specialise in recovering the proceeds of crime and protecting the UK against the risk of money laundering and terrorist finance.  

Working within the Communications and Engagement Branch of the EC Private Office & Corporate Management Team, the Communications and Engagement Officer will play a central role in supporting the work of the Economic Crime Deputy Directorate through effective stakeholder engagement and the production of high-quality communications and briefing materials.

See what it’s like to work at HMRC : find out more about us or ask our colleagues a question . Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.

Job Description

The jobholder will be responsible for:

• Preparing concise and accurate briefs on a portfolio of policy and operational issues.
• Building and maintaining good working relationships with internal stakeholder groups to support the day-to-day work of the team
• Supporting the EC Deputy Director with the delivery of internal communications, both within EC and wider HMRC
• Liaising with the Communications Business Partner, Press Office and policy colleagues on ‘lines to take’ in relation to questions from journalists, lobby groups etc.
• Supporting the delivery of internal and external communications to promote operational results and the work of EC’s threats teams.
• Providing support to the Communications and Engagement Manager across a portfolio of work
  

Person specification

Essential Criteria:

• Strong written and oral communication skills, with the ability to tailor to different audiences and channels
• Be comfortable and experienced working in a fast-paced, environment with tight deadlines and prioritising conflicting demands.
• Able to take initiative and work flexibly within a small team
• Demonstrate the ability to build and maintain strong working relationships with colleagues from a range of professional backgrounds
• Due to the sensitive nature of the work, SC level of security clearance is required. Applicants without this level of clearance must be willing to undergo the necessary level of vetting and secure relevant clearances.
  

Desirable criteria:

• Able to analyse a range of sensitive and conflicting issues, drawing appropriate, logical and robust conclusions.
• Confident and experienced working with senior and external stakeholders.
  

Behaviours

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
  

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £35,092, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £9,475 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
  

Find more about HMRC benefits in ’Your little extras and big benefits handbook’ for further information or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Behaviours, Ability and Experience.

CV

As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide a CV, which should detail your three most recent job roles. The word limit for the free text box of the CV section is 250 words. Any information provided over this limit will not be considered and your application may be rejected if you exceed the word count as specified. The CV is for information only and will not be scored.

Personal Statement

You will be asked to provide a Personal Statement of up to 500 words. You must demonstrate how you meet the Essential Criteria and what you and your experience can bring to the role. The Personal Statement will be scored.

You will also be asked to provide examples of up to 250 words each, on three behaviours:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together
  

Sift and Interview

In the event of a large number of applications, an initial sift may be completed against the Personal Statement. If your application progresses to a full sift, the remaining Behaviours on your application will be assessed.

Please note: Any candidate who fails to demonstrate that they meet the Essential Criteria within their Personal Statement will be automatically scored a ‘1’ and their application will not be assessed further.

Candidates successful at sift will be invited to the next stage, which will consist of behavioural questions and a written exercise.

In the event of tied scores, the merit order will be determined on the overall score, then the scores of each element of the Success Profiles being considered.

We reserve the right to raise the pass score required at any stage of the process in order to manage the vacancy.

Interview dates to be confirmed.

A reserve list may be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles – if this applies to you, we’ll let you know via your Civil Service Jobs account.

Eligibility

To check that you are eligible to apply, review this eligibility information

Important information for existing HMRC contractual homeworkers:

This role may be suitable for existing HMRC employees who are contractual homeworkers. Occasional attendance to the office will be required where there is a business need, so please review the advertised office locations for this role when applying and only select locations from the ‘location preferences’ section that you are able to travel to.

Reasonable Adjustments

We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process because of a disability, condition, or impairment. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate.

If you need a reasonable adjustment or a change to be made so that you can make your application, review this information on reasonable adjustments , and contact hmrcrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible.

Diversity and Inclusion

At HMRC we are committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues and creating an inclusive and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society we serve.

Diverse perspectives and experiences are critical to our success and we welcome applications from all people from all backgrounds with the experience and skills needed to perform this role. We’re committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues here at HMRC. We want everyone to feel valued and supported to achieve their potential at HMRC.

For more information on how we make this happen, review this information on our culture and values

Applications received from candidates with a criminal record are considered fairly in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders Policy.

We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible after considering operational and customer service needs. We can’t guarantee that we can meet all requests to work flexibly, as agreement will be subject to business ability to accommodate, and any request to work a more flexible arrangement should be made prior to your acceptance of the provisional offer.

Customer facing roles in HMRC require the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English and/or Welsh where required. Where this is an essential requirement, this will be tested as part of the selection process.

The Civil Service runs a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Locations

HMRC has a presence in every region of the UK. For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations .

Security Update

For more information on the level of security checks we will carry out, review this information on security checks

Additional Security Information

Please note: in addition to the standard pre-employment checks for appointment into the Civil Service, all candidates must also obtain National Security Vetting at Security Check (SC) clearance level for this vacancy. You will normally need to meet the minimum UK residency period as determined by the level of vetting being undertaken, which for SC is 5 years UK residency prior to your vetting application. If you have any questions about this residency requirement, please speak to the vacancy holder for this post.

Further Information

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. The evidence you provide in your application must relate to your own experiences.

Any instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will be investigated and, if proven, the relevant application/s will be withdrawn from the process.

Duplicate applications for the same vacancy will also be withdrawn.

Transferring into HMRC from Civil Service If you are currently working for an ‘Other Government Department’ (OGD) and would like to consider the impact on your pay when joining HMRC, please see the attached document "Combined T&C and OGD Pay English”, found at the bottom of this advert. Further information on staff transfers can be found on gov.uk

Problems during the application process

If you experience accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the ’Contact point for applicants’ section.

If you think you’ve made a mistake on a short application form (e.g. you’ve ticked the incorrect eligibility box), please contact hmrcrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk at least two working days before the vacancy closes. After this, we won’t be able to reopen your application.

Please use the subject line to insert appropriate wording e.g. Please re-open my application - 320417 & vacancy closing date 10/11/2023 . Please note that we cannot amend or re-open your application if you have submitted your full application in the interests of fair and open recruitment.

For reasonable adjustments queries or requests, please see details within reasonable adjustments section above.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window) . See our vetting charter (opens in a new window) .

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality Requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
  

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s recruitment principles (opens in a new window) .

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Economic Crime Recruitment Team
• Email : economiccrimerecruitment@hmrc.gov.uk
  

Recruitment team

• Email : hmrcrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
  

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. You have the right to complain if you feel a department has breached the Recruitment Principles. In the first instance, you should raise the matter directly with the department concerned via complaints.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk If you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: Click here