JOB SUMMARY

As part of the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) response to tackling fraud within the welfare system, the Department utilise covert surveillance to gather evidence to prove/disprove offences.
This is an opportunity to join as a team leader within our team of highly trained, dedicated Operatives in this challenging but highly rewarding role. This is not a normal office hours role. It will require you to work unsociable hours (early start and late finishes) including some weekend work alongside a good level of fitness.

LEARNING REQUIREMENTS

Successful candidates will be required to complete a demanding suite of learning. Some of these events are residential and may require you to be away from home (excluding weekends) for 2 weeks. They are also assessed events that require you to pass them to undertake this role.

Successful candidates must be willing to attain the mandatory learning as follows:

• RoSPA (Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents) Defensive driving L2.
• Foot surveillance tactics.
• Mobile surveillance tactics.

These qualifications are essential to undertake the technical functions of the role.
Please Note - Successful appointments to this role will be subject to completion of the above learning. Failure to comply or failure to achieve the required level to pass the courses may be dealt with under disciplinary or poor performance procedures and may lead to termination of the employment contract or exceptionally, redeployment into another DWP role.

GOVERNMENT COUNTER FRAUD PROFESSION (GCFP)

The DWP is committed to investing in people and ensuring their teams are a professional workforce. It is a requirement of counter fraud post holders within DWP to attain, and retain, membership of the Government Counter Fraud Profession (GCFP) at Practitioner level. This means if you are successful in applying for this role you will need to undertake an annual self-assessment to evidence your knowledge, skills, and experience within your role to attain and retain practitioner level membership. We provide post holders with a learning routeway to support them in achieving as well as any workplace adjustments they may require. Failure to attain membership of the GCFP at practitioner level may result in DWP seeking an alternative role for you.
In applying you will have indicated that you have read and fully understood the professional requirements for this Counter Fraud Officer role.

QUALIFICATIONS

To apply for this post all candidates must hold at least one of the following.•
Counter Fraud Investigator Apprenticeship (CFIA),•
Accredited Counter Fraud Investigations Program (ACFIP),•
NCA accreditation in Financial Investigations OR an equivalent such as PiNS (Professionalism in Security) or PIP2.
You will be asked to provide confirmation of you accreditation during the selection process. You may be required to undergo refresher or additional training, depending on the time lapse since attaining your qualification.
You will not be able to take up post until confirmation is received of holding at least one of the above qualifications.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

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

• You will be asked a question on your Surveillance Skills
• You will be asked a question on your Surveillance Leadership Skills

STAGE 1 - APPLICATION AND SIFT

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a personal statement detailing the relevant skills and experience you can bring to the role. In no more than 750 words, please carefully consider the question below. You should address this when constructing your personal statement. You should also consider both the job description and person specification details above when providing your evidence. .

• Tell us about a time when you have led a team-based surveillance or investigation operation in the last 18 months.

Within your answer you should cover the whole life of a referral with a focus on how you led your team and the decision making you undertook to achieve outcomes, including any considerations you made relating to allocation and resourcing of the operation.
Please ensure no confidential/sensitive information is included in your answer.
Your personal statement needs to set out evidence of how your experience meets the requirement set out above. Your layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc. One narrative example may cover the requirement needed.
If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all DCS candidates who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards.
However, in the event we don’t receive a high number of applications we may not undertake a sift and progress all candidates to the Interview stage.
Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
You will also be asked to complete a CV with details of your education, professional qualifications and full employment history. Your CV will not be formally assessed so please put the main evidence of your skills into your personal statement. Your CV will be used to add context to your personal statement.
Please note the closing date for your full application is 23:55 on 2nd September 2025
Sift to be held 8th September 2025 to 19th September 2025. These dates made be subject to change.

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

We will be holding a webinar event to let you know more about these roles on the following date.

• Thursday 28th August between 12:00 and 13:00PM Webinar Covert Surveillance Team Leader 28/08/202

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a personal statement detailing the relevant skills and experience you can bring to the role. In no more than 750 words, please carefully consider the question below. You should address this when constructing your personal statement. You should also consider both the job description and person specification details above when providing your evidence. .

• Tell us about a time when you have led a team-based surveillance or investigation operation in the last 18 months