JOB SUMMARY

The Civil Service Commission safeguards Civil Service impartiality and ensures recruitment, including to the most senior roles, is done fairly, openly and according to merit.
You will lead a small team of people on an impactful, risk-based audit function to ensure all government departments are operating according to the standards set out in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 and the Commission’s Recruitment Principles 2018.
You will use expert knowledge, analysis and judgement to work with senior officials and teams across all Civil Service departments, making impactful decisions that uphold the requirements of the Recruitment Principles and the values set out in the Civil Service Code.
You will work with the First Civil Service Commissioner, the Rt Hon Baroness Stuart, and the Civil Service Commissioners to take forward their key policy priorities, and may be involved in recruitment competitions to appoint the most senior roles in government - a truly unique opportunity for personal development.
We are an expert, friendly and impactful team with a highly collaborative ethos. Our excellent staff survey results demonstrate our great emphasis on wellbeing and providing stretching career development opportunities.

JOB DESCRIPTION

The Policy and Compliance Team sits at the heart of the Commission’s work with commissioners, departments and senior leaders. You will take on a key role in your team, with responsibility for enhancing the Commission’s impact and presence, leading and developing high-performing staff and continuing to enhance the team’s reputation for expertise and efficiency.
The Compliance Team has responsibility for delivering an ambitious audit programme over a three-year cycle. The Commission delivered the first year of audits across 71 departments and public bodies, and the next phase is to continue the audit programme to ensure departments remain compliant with the Recruitment Principles and the Commissions legislation to recruit talent into the Civil Service, ensuring recruitment is Open, Fair and based on Merit. The Compliance Team also collects recruitment data and is exploring ways to use this data in a meaningful way.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

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

• As part of the interview, candidates will be asked to complete a task. This will be to prepare a response to a list of questions, using the material provided, and demonstrating evidence of the behaviours. This task will be scored.

APPLICATION PROCESS

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:

• A CV detailing your career history, and skills/experience; and
• A Personal Statement (maximum 1,000 words) on your skills and experience related to each of the essential criteria.

Your CV should consist of your career history and skills/experience, including any key achievements in each role. Your CV will be used to provide further context on your personal statement and will not be scored.
The Personal Statement should be aligned to and demonstrate how you meet the skills and experience set out in the essential criteria, detailed in the job description.
In the event of a large number of applications we will conduct an initial sift on the Personal Statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.
For guidance and information on how to construct your application (CV, Personal Statement and Behaviours), you are encouraged to visit the Civil Service Careers website.

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)
• 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

TYPE OF ROLE

Audit
Business Management and Improvement
Governance
Knowledge and Information Management
Policy
Project Delivery
Risk Management

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Line managing and leading a small team to deliver an impactful compliance programme to educate and regulate Civil Service recruitment.
• Leading audit meetings with organisations to identify breaches to the Recruitment Principles, good recruitment practices, areas for improvement, and recommendations.
• Supporting the Commission’s ambitious training programme to deliver an understanding of the Recruitment Principles, and bespoke training, identified from the audit programme, to departments.
• Working with policy colleagues to provide advice to departments in line with the Recruitment Principles.
• Leading on the collection, validation and analysis of recruitment data from regulated organisations across government on a quarterly basis, and exploring ways we can use that data.
• Leading on Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) accreditation to allow NDPBs to advertise vacancies on Civil Service Jobs.
• Supporting the First Civil Service Commissioner to chair recruitment competitions to appoint to the most high-profile roles in the Civil Service.

At the interview stage for this role, we will assess you based on the Civil Service Success Profiles. You will be required to provide evidence of the following four behaviours in your interview for the role:

• Leadership
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pac