About the job Summary

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) independently inspects fire & rescue services and police forces in the public interest. For fire and rescue services, our inspection focuses on their efficiency, effectiveness and how they look after their people. Inspections of police forces across England and Wales focus on police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy as well as leadership. We are independent of the government, the police service and fire & rescue services.

We produce major reports – widely covered by the media – which shine a bright light on issues at the very heart of policing and fire and rescue services, and of very great importance to the public and their safety. Working as an associate with HMICFRS puts you at the heart of the inspection activity. You will have the opportunity to develop your understanding of inspection processes while working with other partners. You will be in regular contact with HMICFRS colleagues and staff.

Working at HMICFRS will also provide you with an opportunity to make a real difference to the quality of local police and fire & services and the lives of the communities they serve.

Job description

Associate Scheme:

If you are successful, you will be registered as an associate and placed on HMICFRS’ associate register for up to 12 calendar months. Registration as an associate is not a guarantee of employment. Nor is it a route to becoming a permanent civil servant. The register is simply a list of individuals whom we have identified as possessing skills or experience that we require to do our inspections and who have successfully applied in a fair and open competition.

While you are on the register, we may offer you short-term, project-based work. You will be appointed on duration-based contracts at a pre-agreed rate. We may also be able to offer you a fixed term contract (as a temporary civil servant) where the piece of work is likely to be for more than 6 months but less than 1 year. When the period of the fixed term appointment comes to an end, you will return to the register providing the duration of your registration has not yet expired. These are not consecutive appointments.

Where contracts are offered on a Fixed Term Appointment basis, this will be to help with a temporary increase in work.

If you are currently a permanent Civil Servant, you will not be expected to change your employment status from permanent to fixed term appointment but will transfer on loan for the length of the contract required (Home Office staff will move on detached duty).

Once on the HMICFRS’ associate register, individuals will be allocated short-term fixed-term appointment contracts dependent on:

1. Business need
2. Level of role and leadership required
3. Match with the skills required; and
4. Experience and capability of individuals selected to the associate register.

HMICFRS reserves the right to remove an associate from the register at any point before the end of your 12 month registration period. The associate register is regularly reviewed in line with HMICFRS business need so that the available skills and experience it provides remain focused on our priorities.

We are therefore looking for talented individuals who have the drive, enthusiasm and skills to be part of these inspection programmes. You will need to be inquisitive and be able to assess performance objectively. You will be expected to form strong, constructive relationships that will help you to work closely with those we inspect, ask tough questions, identify areas for improvement and to share best practice.

Responsibilities as an Associate:

As an associate you will be required to help design, lead or support inspections across HMICFRS. The main responsibilities will be as follows:

• Act as an ambassador for HMICFRS ensuring the highest standards of professional conduct are demonstrated at all times
• To provide advice and guidance to HMICFRS with an understanding of the subject matter and the knowledge of the methodology and questions sets within your specialist area of expertise
• Work with colleagues across the organisation to promote HMICFRS’s objectives, purpose and to embed organisational change
• Collaborate with inspection teams to prepare inspections
• Be responsible for carrying out inspection fieldwork and evidence gathering (e.g. focus groups, interviews, reality testing) to a consistently high standard and recording the evidence gathered in a way that provides a sound evidence base
• Supporting inspection leads and ensuring that the right type of evidence is gathered; including briefing inspection teams prior to inspection, analysing data, drawing conclusions and drafting force reports.
• Working with portfolio director and deputy portfolio director to ensure that reports follow set processes for ensuring factual accuracy and moderating reports
• Contribute to the production of detailed reports for Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI)
• Effectively communicate with chief officers, HMIs and senior government officials and their staff in accordance with HMICFRS’s Code of Conduct and ensure that an objective and productive relationship is maintained throughout the inspection
• Provide feedback during inspections to support continuous improvement to portfolio director ensuring that reports follow set processes for ensuring factual accuracy and moderating force reports.

Allowances
For short term contracts of less than 6 months, the daily rate for these posts is between £180, £265 and £300 dependent on the requirements of the contract offered. Tax and national insurance will be deducted at source.

If you are offered a Fixed Term contract, these would be offered on Home Office pay rates dependent on the contract. These could be (pro-rated dependent on length of contract and hours worked):

Team support/Higher Executive contracts- National £29,040- London £33,032
Team Member/Senior Executive contracts- National £35,290- London £39,530
Team Lead/Grade 7 contracts- National £49,048- London £54,121
 

Responsibilities

All applicants will be expected to have the following skills and experience set out below:

Essential:
• Experience of gathering a wide range of incomplete and complex data and presenting well considered, balanced conclusions and well-articulated reports for presentation to senior management and other stakeholders
• Effective leadership and management skills with experience of relationship management
• Communicating (both oral and written), liaising, negotiating and influencing strategic change with senior stakeholders
• Previous experience in contributing to programmes, projects, inspection design, processes or leading inspections
• A good understanding of office-based computer systems and the capability to interrogate and use different computer applications such as Microsoft Outlook, MS Excel and MS Word

Desirable:
• Assessment of project business cases
• Experience of working within a police, fire & rescue service related field
• Experience in auditing and/or value for money assessments.

Person specification

The associate role will require working in at least one of the following specific areas:
1. Effectiveness (within policing and/or the fire & rescue services)
2. Efficiency (within policing and/or the fire & rescue services)
3. People (within policing and/or the fire & rescue services)
4. PEEL Legitimacy (within policing)
5. Non Home Office Police Force
6. Crime Data Integrity Programme
7. Protecting Vulnerable People- PEEL, Thematic, Specialist and Joint Inspections
8. Analysis
9. Programme /Project Management
10. Inspection / Corporate support

Effectiveness
Requirements:
Crime Prevention
• Neighbourhood policing experience specifically in relation to crime reduction, early intervention initiatives and problem solving
• Experience of police problem solving processes/training/ skills

Investigation
• PIP 2/3 accredited investigator
• Experience of supervising crime investigations
• Experience of intelligence collection and management in relation to investigations and the protection of vulnerable people
• SIO experience in major crime

Armed Policing
• Experience of police firearms (operational and/or strategic)

Serious & Organised Crime
Experience of all of the below:
• Police intelligence work
• Police partnership work
• Policing at the regional or national level
• Police investigations
• Being a Lead Responsible Officer (ideally with 4P planning experience)

Fire and rescue
Experience of:
• assessment of risk, prevention, protection and/or response activities
• organisational design

Efficiency
Requirements:
Experience in one or more of the below:
• Understanding of financial accounting, forecasting and financial management;
• Producing or analysing public sector accounts;
• Understanding demand and resourcing demand efficiently;
• Designing, managing or high level assessment of organisational development or change programmes;
• Assessment of project business cases
• Auditing and/or value for money assessments
• Understanding of good corporate governance controls

People
Knowledge and experience (including, where applicable, an understanding of the legislative and political context and what constitutes good practice) of one or more of the following:
• Policies, procedures and legislation relating to recruitment, retention and progression
• Wellbeing of the workforce
• Leadership
• Diversity, equality and inclusion
• Ethics and culture
• Counter corruption (including vetting)
• Police complaints and misconduct system

PEEL Legitimacy
Requirements:
Knowledge and experience (including, where applicable, an understanding of the legislative and political context and what constitutes good practice) of one or more of the following:
• Procedural justice model
• Police powers, in particular
o stop and search
o use of force
• Community engagement, in particular
o Hard to reach communities
o Safety training
o Conflict and de-escalation
• The organisational justice model

Non Home Office Police Forces
Requirements:
• You will have been a senior leader with proven experience of leading and managing the police response to critical incidents, major investigations and complex operations.
• You will have operational and strategic command experience including the following qualifications:
- SIO (to PiP 3 where appropriate)
- CT SIO/CT network experience
- Tactical/strategic firearms commander

Crime Data Integrity Programme
Requirements:
• Have recent (within the last two years) knowledge and application of the National Crime Recording Standard (NCRS) and (HOCR)
• Have a good knowledge of criminal law, police crime recording procedures and police command and control, and crime recording IT systems;
• Have experience of auditing police and crime records

Protecting Vulnerable People- PEEL, Thematic, Specialist and Joint Inspections
Requirements:
• Robust strategic and operational knowledge, understanding and experience of police responsibilities and practices in relation to protecting vulnerable people which may include child protection, managing offenders, mental health or police custody. And/or SIO experience of PVP/non-recent abuse investigations.
• Recent experience of managing Protecting Vulnerable People (PVP) investigations and/or police safeguarding activities.
• Experience of police partnership working specifically around the protection of vulnerable people (operational and/or strategic)
• For child protection: An excellent understanding of and experience in the role of the police in child protection issues, including detailed knowledge of police and other partner agencies’ responsibilities under the ‘Working Together’ statutory guidance.

Analysis
Requirements:
• Strong analytical and reasoning skills.
• Excellent organisational skills; a good planner and manager of own and others’ work, and ability to take initiative and be highly proactive in progressing work.
• An understanding of the strengths and limitations of different sources of information, including administrative data sources, survey data, and audit/inspection data.
• Experience in one or more of the below:
• Economics, operational research, statistical analysis, social research, police intelligence or performance analysis, local government performance analysis, financial analysis, or other data analysis/research in the public, private, voluntary or academic sector.
• Strong Excel skills

Programme/Project Management
Requirements:
• Experience of effectively managing programmes and projects.
• Excellent organisational skills; a good planner and manager of own and others’ work, and ability to take initiative and be highly proactive in progressing work.
• Able to set up and maintain programme and project products and produce regular reports and dashboards to present updates on activities.
• Able to carry out process reviews to ensure the effective management of programmes and projects.

Inspection / Corporate Support
Requirements:
• Supporting the HR team with recruitment processes
• Supporting the delivery of projects, board papers and presentations
• Providing secretariat support to senior managers
• Producing management information and reports
• Drafting secondment agreements with police forces/fire services
• Providing various portfolios with senior corporate/logistical or programme support

Within the application form you will be requested to state which roles you are best suited for.

Behaviours

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

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

Benefits Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension

Things you need to know Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours, Ability and Experience.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

In the personal statement, please give details of any education, qualification and knowledge or experience which are directly relevant to the role for which you are applying. Please state how you meet the essential criteria set out above as well as the requirements for the role as listed below in the job description. You may wish to include the desirable criteria however this is optional.

After submission of your application you will be invited to complete an online test (Verbal Reasoning test). You must be successful at this stage to progress further. Please complete the online test as soon as possible (within 24-48 hours is recommended), the closing date for the test is 23:59 on 29th October 2019.

Please note that online test associated with this vacancy is not subject to time limits.

The test is taken online and we will send you an invitation and will provide full instructions on how to complete the test.

The test is grade specific and is a measure of verbal reasoning: the ability to think about something in a logical way in order to form a conclusion or judgement, based on written information. In the verbal reasoning test, the applicant is asked to read a paragraph, which is followed by a statement. They need to decide if the statement is true, false or not possible to say, based on the information contained in the paragraph. There is no time limit for completion of the test. Applicants can take as long as they need but should set aside at least 40 minutes for each one.

Practice tests are available as follows:

Practice test for the VRT:https://2x-dc2.kenexa.com/2xAssess/uktriallinks/trialTest/take/5360f29e7f59452b989f5972c1ce200d

Within the application form you will be requested to state which roles you are best suited for.

A sift of your CV and personal statement will be conducted against the essential and desirable criteria and job description. If candidates do not meet the essential criteria, their application will not progress further. For candidates who pass the sift stage, their application will progress to interview.