Enforcement Manager
Department for Business and Trade
Apply before 11:55 pm on Sunday 3rd November 2024
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About the job
Job summary
About OPSS
Do you care about the safety of products and want to protect people and places? Can we use your skills, knowledge and experience to enable UK business to thrive? If the answer is yes, then we would like to hear from you!
We are the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS), part of the Department for Business & Trade. We are here for the purpose of making regulation work to deliver real world impact. Regulation is a powerful Government tool to address market failures, influence behaviour and promote positive action. Crafted and delivered well, regulation can be an enabler of growth, innovation and efficiency.
Since early 2018 we have been building a positive and creative team that enjoys a position of influence and respect within an organisation that continues to grow,
Our primary purpose is to protect people and places from product-related harm, ensuring consumers and businesses can buy and sell products with confidence
Further information can be found on our website here.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles. We embrace diversity and promote equality of opportunity. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives and skills. There is a guaranteed interview scheme (DCS) for people with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
We are Inclusive
We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible and recognise how important inclusivity is to achieve the best outcomes. We hope to attract applications from all underrepresented groups.
We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation if required to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform crucial job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.
Job description
The Role and Our Team
We are looking to recruit into several Grade 7 Enforcement Manager roles across the Regulation Impact Area at OPSS. The Regulation Impact Area’s work has real world impact, protecting people and places from unsafe goods, ensuring that regulation is enforced and is fit for purpose. Our work is nationally significant and high-profile, often attracting media and Parliamentary interest.
Protecting consumers, we enforce a range of regulations, deliver evidence-based solutions, and issue advice to businesses to support them to meet their legal obligations. We enforce and deliver regulation with proportionality, through enforcement, engagement, and collaboration across-Government, with local, national, and international regulators. We are a collaborative regulator, sharing our expertise and knowledge to lead and influence on both the domestic and global stage.
We have ambitious and innovative programmes of work, including enforcing recently-introduced Product Security & Telecommunications Infrastructure legislation, working across online and global supply chains, developing expertise, technical capability and practical experience for construction products, and developing a product safety regime that is agile and responsive to advances in technology, thereby ensuring that our approach is fit for the future and embraces the opportunities of innovation.
This is an exciting opportunity for dynamic and motivated individuals to make positive change happen within and beyond OPSS, and who are keen to build a stimulating career in the regulatory environment. We offer a wide-ranging development package, which includes both internal and external learning and development opportunities. Our Regulation Impact Area is growing to meet the challenges of the future, and there are plenty of opportunities for people committed to their professional development.
We are recruiting into a range of challenging, creative, and impactful Regulation teams. The posts include roles in:
Construction Products - This team works with industry and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) to help the UK build better, safer buildings, ensuring that construction products meet their performance requirements and are safe. Where construction products do not meet these requirements, we take the necessary enforcement action.
Products and Sectors Regulation - This team enforces a range of product, environmental, and energy efficiency regulations across a wide variety of product types. Our work spans a range of sectors, and we support priorities across Government, working closely with other Departments to deliver shared outcomes. This includes supporting growth, through providing a regulatory environment in which businesses have confidence to invest and grow, whilst continually ensuring that consumers and the environment are protected from harm. We regulate products in new and emerging sectors, supporting innovation and ensuring connected consumer appliances offer protections.
Online and Supply Chain Enforcement - The Online and Supply Chain Enforcement team works to ensure that consumers across the UK can feel as safe shopping online as they do on the UK’s High Streets; we are committed to preventing unsafe and non-compliant products entering the UK supply chain. This team delivers an innovative programme of enforcement activity, finding the right intervention points to stop bad actors within the supply chain, including at ports and fulfilment centers. The work is intelligence-led and includes proactively monitoring online marketplaces and other platforms who make products available to UK consumers. A range of enforcement activities are undertaken, including withdrawing and recalling products from sale and taking proportionate action, including prosecution.
The Key Responsibilities within each team:
- Leadership and line management responsibilities, in accordance with OPSS and Civil Service requirements; you will ensure staff performance levels remain high and develop your team
- Lead on high-profile cases that are nationally significant, novel or contentious
- Manage your team's casework alongside your own, ensuring that investigations are progressed appropriately, whether through civil or criminal sanctions, to achieve proportionate regulatory outcomes
- Manage the resources in your team to deliver a broad range of proactive and reactive work, investigations, and broader enforcement activities, flexibly reallocating resources and re-prioritising as needed, which can include supporting cross-team enforcement priorities
- Develop and deliver a work programme that supports strategic organisational objectives and priorities; work with your team and others across OPSS to identify important issues and develop innovative ways to fix them
- Develop and implement our regulatory approaches and processes. Plan, review, and deliver your team's operational plan, alongside supporting other functional teams where enforcement support is required
- Provide advice and support, as a subject matter expert, to OPSS Leadership, policy sponsors (where applicable), Ministers, and others.
You will apply through this generalised campaign, which includes all of the roles detailed above. As part of your personal statement, please indicate your preferred team - either Construction Products, Products and Sectors Regulation, or Online and Supply Chain Enforcement. You will have a further opportunity to discuss your preference at interview. This will then be taken into consideration based on a merit order determined during the application process. If we offer you a position that you do not wish to accept, you should not expect to be offered a further role in this case.
Please note that this role is open to candidates working in either our Birmingham or Teddington office. When you are required to give a preference, Twickenham will appear rather than Teddington, so please be aware that you should choose this option if you wish to be based in Teddington.
Person specification
Essential criteria
We are keen to hear from people from varying backgrounds, who can demonstrate their capability against the following criteria:
- Significant experience in a management investigatory role in any of the following fields: regulation, enforcement, or compliance.
- Experience of conducting investigations of suspected non-compliance and in managing and overseeing case files; a proven track record of delivering investigations from inception to an appropriate resolution.
- Excellent knowledge of PACE (Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984), CPIA (Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996), and relevant Codes of Practice, and experience of monitoring and managing their implementation in an enforcement context.
- Awareness of RIPA (Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000).
- Strong leadership skills, confidence to challenge, and eager to take ownership.
- Excellent communication, influencing and interpersonal skills Ability to develop and maintain positive working relationships at all levels applying your knowledge to suit wider business considerations and support those we regulate.
- Experience of operating in a fast-paced environment where there are gaps, ambiguity or uncertainty.
- Experience of using a variety of regulatory tools to achieve impact.
- A full valid driving licence. If you do not hold a driving licence because of a protected characteristic, please speak to the recruitment manager to let them know, and this will be taken into account.
Desirable criteria
- Product Safety knowledge. However, the relevant training will be available.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Leadership
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Delivering at Pace
- Changing and Improving
Benefits
- 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 employer contribution of 28.97%
We recognise the challenges that people with (multiple) protected characteristics may experience on the job market and in their career progression. We are fully committed to being an inclusive employer and ensuring equal opportunities. We are keen to make our workforce as diverse as possible, and we hope to attract applications from underrepresented groups, including ethnic minorities, people with a disability, and people with gender diverse identities.
Please refer to the attached candidate pack for further information on our benefits.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
Interviews for this vacancy will be conducted virtually. We will, however, consider in-person interviews by exception.
Please ensure that you check your emails regularly as all updates from us will be sent to you this way.
To apply for this post, you will be asked to complete the following as part of the online application:
- A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Provide employment history that relates to the essential criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained. The CV should not exceed more than 2 x A4 pages.
- A Personal Statement of up to 1000 words, explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role in reference to the essential criteria.
In the event of a large number of applicants, an initial short sift will be conducted on the Personal Statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to assessment/interview.
As part of your interview, you will be asked to deliver a short oral presentation, details will be provided prior to your interview.
It is likely that the sift will take place 1-2 weeks after the closing date and interviews 3-5 weeks after the closing date, though this is subject to change.
Reasonable Adjustments
We are committed to supporting candidates so they can perform at their best throughout the recruitment process. This includes making reasonable adjustments to our process. In order to request an adjustment:
Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section on the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process.
Alternatively contact the Government Recruitment Service at DBTrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.
Candidate Support
You may want to join a virtual Candidate Support Session. These sessions include helpful tips and advice on the recruitment process, from application to interview.
Please see attached Candidate Pack for further information on: Diversity and Inclusion; Benefits; Learning and Development; Working Patterns and what we deliver as a department.
Further Information:
- A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made. Reserve Lists will be for each location and appointments made in merit order based on location preferences.
- Any move to the Department for Business and Trade from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments.
- The Department will not consider sponsoring a visa or issuing a Certificate of Sponsorship. We are unable to offer advice on any Visa and Immigration cases.
- New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.
- Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty. Any applicant who has details held on the IFD will be refused employment.
- A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.
- Terms and Conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.
- Please note – the successful candidate will be expected to remain in post for a minimum of 18 months before being released for another role.
- This role may be considered as a secondment opportunity. Please reach out to the hiring manager listed at the bottom of this advert to discuss.
In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.
However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.
Feedback
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Nationality requirements
Working for the Civil Service
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).
Diversity and Inclusion
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : Erin Kehoe
- Email : OPSS.recruitment@businessandtrade.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : dbtrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Further information
If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact DBT by email: Resourcing@businessandtrade.gov.uk.
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission, which regulates all Civil Service recruitment.
For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: Click here to visit Civil Service Commission/Complaints
