About the job

Summary

HMICFRS independently assesses the effectiveness and efficiency of police forces and fire & rescue services – in the public interest. We promote improvements in policing and fire & rescue services to make everyone safer.

We are independent of the government, police and fire and rescue services. We ask the questions that we believe the public wish to have answered and produce major reports which shine a light on issues at the very heart of policing and fire and rescue services. Our reports are widely covered by the media and help inform the public of the performance of their local police forces and fire and rescue services. You can find out more about HMICFRS on our website (https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs/) and see some of our recent reports.

Working at HMICFRS gives you an opportunity to make a real difference to the quality of local police and fire and rescue services and the lives of the general public. We are a unique organisation with staff seconded or loaned from across the civil service, police forces and fire and rescue services. We are also a rewarding place to work. We set ourselves high standards, taking great pride in the quality of work we achieve and the opportunities we create for our staff.

Job description

If you are successful, you will be registered as an associate and placed on HMICFRS’ associate register for up to 24 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 non-fair & open, duration-based contracts at a pre-agreed rate. We may also be able to offer you a non-fair & open 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.

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 24-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.

Responsibilities

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.

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

Essential Criteria

• 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 Criteria

• 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 DETAILS - For each business area are as follows:-

Efficiency (within policing and/or the fire & rescue services)- 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 (within policing) - Experience in one or more of the below:

• 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 (within policing) - Experience in one or more of the below:

• Procedural justice model

• Police powers, in particular

- Stop and search

- Use of force

• Community engagement, in particular

- Hard to reach communities

- Safety training

- Conflict and de-escalation

• The organisational justice model

Non Home Office Police Force - Experience in one or more of the below:

• 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 or Victim Service Assessment - Experience in one or more of the below:

• 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

• Have investigative experience as a Senior Investigating Officer (SIO)

Analysis - Experience in one or more of the below:

• 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

• 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 and or Power BI skills

Programme /Project Management - Experience in one or more of the below:

• 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.

Protecting Vulnerable People- PEEL, Thematic, Specialist and Joint Inspections

• 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.

Effectiveness includes the following:

Crime Prevention - Experience in one or more of the below:

• Neighbourhood policing experience specifically in relation to crime reduction, early intervention initiatives and problem solving

• Experience of police problem solving processes/training/ skills

Investigation- Experience in one or more of the below:

• 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 in one or more 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)

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

• Learning and Development tailored to your role

Learning and Development tailored to your role

We will ensure that the knowledge and skills that are required for you to successfully undertake your role are provided.

• An environment with flexible working options

We promote flexible working that balances professional and personal commitments. We support virtual and smart working, making best use of our technology and building collaborative working models to help all staff to work from home and/or in the office in a ‘hybrid’ way.

• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity

The diversity of our people is a real asset to HMICFRS. We are committed to creating a welcoming, inclusive workplace where all our people are able to bring their whole selves to work and perform at their best. We particularly welcome applications from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic candidates and people with disabilities, as they are currently under-represented within this grade level. Appointments will be made on merit on the basis of fair and open competition.