Presenting Officer
Home Office
Apply before 11:55 pm on Monday 6th January 2025
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London pay location: Feltham, £41,300 min-£44,191 max
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About the job
Job summary
The Home Office works to build a safe, fair and prosperous UK. We achieve this through our work on counter-terrorism, policing, fire, crime, drugs policy, immigration and passports.
Customer Services is a recently established capability, playing a key role within the Migration and Borders System. Customer Services has typically over 13m customers annually, with a workforce of over 14,000 across its legacy constituent business units including: Asylum & Human Rights, Visas and Citizenship (V&C), His Majesty’s Passport Office (HMPO), and the General Registrar Office (GRO). We take a customer-led approach to delivering services, whilst always maintaining robust security controls.
Appeals, Litigation and Administrative Review - ALAR (part of Customer Operations Support Services) is responsible for dealing with all applications where an appeal or legal challenge has been lodged, and to defend those where it is appropriate to do so, and to provide a casework remedy for applications that do not meet the Immigration Rules and are not entitled to a full right of appeal.
Appeals is the largest part of the Appeals, Litigation and Admin Review (ALAR) Directorate, which consists of approximately 1200 staff operating out of 10 locations defending tens of thousands of immigration decisions, and is in turn part of Home Office. We deal specifically with the administration and presentation of the Secretary of State’s case in Immigration Tribunal cases.
Everyone in the Appeals team play a key role in contributing to the Home Office’s overarching strategic objective of controlling immigration and making Home Office a globally trusted operation delivering excellent customer service and accurate decisions, which keep the UK safe and secure.
The primary function of the Directorate is to ensure that high quality decisions on cases have been made, then robustly defend those decisions which are sustainable, in the First-tier Immigration Tribunal; before the Upper Tribunal where required; and in responding to judicial review proceedings whilst working with other parts of the organisation to ensure effective immigration control.
For more information about working for the Home Office, please visit We’re recruiting Presenting Officers - Home Office Careers
Job description
The Presenting Officer role is a very demanding position which requires the post holder to have the ability to remain positive and focused in a challenging, dynamic, and fast changing environment.
Although Presenting Officers have access to expert advice, they operate alone when representing the Secretary of State at the tribunal and need to be comfortable and capable doing so.
Applicants must be able to think quickly and proactively in a complex legal environment to deliver effective representation of the Secretary of State’s position. The post holder must be articulate under pressure and able to deliver as an effective advocate within the Tribunal environment.
This is a challenging position but one that allows for personal flexibility and decision-making in preparing and presenting cases in the First-tier Immigration Tribunal and undertaking the review of complex immigration decisions and responses to legal representations.
The role is mentally demanding and due to its adversarial nature, requires the post holder to be resilient in the face of frequent and often robust challenge from both legal representatives and Immigration Judges.
The role requires extended periods of concentration, and an ability to maintain focus over long periods of time when preparing cases, presenting in opposition to legal representatives and when undertaking target-driven review work.
The extent to which the job holder’s time will be split between court and review work will be determined by operational requirements and so will vary over time. Job holders will therefore need to be flexible and open to undertaking all elements of the role as required and have the capacity and resilience to frequently present at the immigration tribunal on 60% of their contracted working days.
Post holders must also be able to balance and deal with a challenging schedule of case preparation, frequent attendance at the immigration Tribunal, and complex immigration review work which forms the main elements of the role. Post holders also need a high degree of personal resilience to quickly move forward from any significant challenge at the Tribunal, to be able to focus on preparing and presenting newly allocated cases.
Additionally, post holders must be able to pick up, prepare and present often complex cases at short notice, and in very limited time, due to list changes or to meet the listing demands of the court. Post holders must therefore be able to analyse information very quickly, identify key points and present a coherent argument under significant time pressure.
Presenting Officers develop strong and effective communication skills, the ability to make decisions and review information quickly and deal with complex legal arguments. These skills will assist in your development and experience.
Training
Training for successful candidates includes a revised, comprehensive foundation programme that provides a solid base of knowledge across multiple areas of immigration law and how to operate effectively in the Tribunal. Mentoring is followed by consolidation training and other continued learning as required to ensure that Presenting Officers develop strong communication and analytical skills. Foundation and mentoring are typically completed over 12 weeks and provide a supported environment to increase knowledge and skills in review, preparation, and presentation of Immigration Appeals.
Successful candidates will need to be available in person for the training period. The training team can offer some flex around start and finish times and in some cases in training dates, however this is limited. Candidates will therefore be expected to prioritise attendance on the training programme over other commitments. Where this is likely to pose a difficulty, candidates should raise this with the vacancy holder in advance of their application.
Successful candidates will need to apply themselves effectively once in the role, demonstrating the ability to take on a large volume of information and learning, including complex immigration law, court procedures and conduct, and safeguarding measures during induction training. They will need to demonstrate continued development and progress during their mentoring phase and consolidation training and their progress throughout these phases will be formally assessed to ensure the required level of competence is met.
Travel
Successful candidates will join a busy team of presenting staff engaged in presenting cases at the local Tribunal Hearing Centre. Note in some locations, the hearing centre is located away from the Presenting Officer Unit so the post holder may need to travel slightly further to the hearing centre than to their unit from their home address. There will also be an occasional need to travel and present at other Tribunal Hearing Centres to meet operational demands, however some of these hearings will be presented via video link.
Key Responsibilities
- Presenting cases before the Immigration Tribunal on 60% of available working days adhering to professional standards and ensuring conduct is appropriate to a public Tribunal.
- Developing and maintaining an effective knowledge of Immigration law and processes.
- Reviewing and preparing cases and reviewing decisions and further legal representation in a manner that assesses their potential to be sustained and then identify key evidence to allow for effective supported argument.
- Working flexibly around any court listing changes or operational requirements, including preparing and presenting cases at short notice to meet operational demands.
- In an adversarial court environment provide structured cross examination and submissions to ensure appeals are upheld appropriately.
- Undertaking post hearing work in a timely and accurate fashion.
- Undertaking immigration review work in accordance with the relevant rules, instructions, guidance, and standards where court attendance is not possible or in line with business and operational needs.
- The post holder will be expected to develop and maintain effective relationships with key stakeholders including Immigration Judges, HM Court Service staff and legal representatives as well as engaging with colleagues in decision making areas.
The immigration tribunal generally convenes in-person appeal hearings in a face-to-face setting, meaning Presenting Officers are routinely expected to attend court hearings in-person. Whilst some appeal hearings take place remotely by video, it is important to note that listing arrangements are a judicial function and fall outside of the control of the Home Office so these could revert to 100% in-person hearings at any time.
Additionally, staff are required to attend the office for training and mentoring, and typically about once every fortnight to maintain a link with their line manager and other staff members. Candidates are advised to apply on the understanding that they are able to satisfy these requirements.
Working Pattern
We encourage applications from candidates who wish to work part-time; however, part-time opportunities cannot be guaranteed and are subject to the requirements of the role and business. Candidates wishing to work part-time should notify the vacancy holder as soon as a provisional offer of employment is made, to explore whether this can be accommodated at your selected location.
Person specification
Essential criteria
- Candidates must have the ability to gain a strong working knowledge of immigration law.
- A high degree of accuracy when reviewing and considering complex legal arguments.
- The ability to work in an environment with key skills in communicating and influencing with a range of external stakeholders.
- A high degree of resilience in the face of stern challenge and opposition.
- Ability to work with dynamism in a changing and time pressured environment.
- Strong analytical skills.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Delivering at Pace
- Making Effective Decisions
Benefits
In addition to your salary, a career with the Home Office offers a range of benefits, including:
- A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
- In-year reward scheme for one-off or sustained exceptional personal or team achievements.
- 25 days annual leave on appointment, rising with service to 30 days.
- Eight days of public holidays, plus one additional privilege day.
- Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement where all employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office.
- See more of our benefits on our careers website.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.
We will endeavour to conduct the selection process in line with the dates indicated below, but cannot guarantee that these will not, where necessary, be revised.
Application – by 6th January 2025
As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:
- Personal Statement (maximum 750 words)
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
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.
For guidance and information on how to construct your application (Personal Statement), you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers website.
Sift - week commencing 6th January 2025
The sift will be held on the Personal Statement.
Interview - week commencing 3rd February 2025
If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to an interview.
You will be required to prepare and then present a 10 minute presentation (no slides or handouts required) plus respond to follow-up questions from the interview panel to assess your suitability for the role. The details of the presentation will be provided to you at the start of your interview. 3 Behaviours will be marked and assessed through the presentation.
The interview will take place via Microsoft Teams.
For guidance and information on what to expect and how to prepare for an interview, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers.
Problems during the application process
If you experience problems accessing this advert, or you think you’ve made a mistake on an initial application, please contact hocandidates.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk, including the vacancy reference, at least two working days before the vacancy closes. Further information can be found on our website.
Location Preferences
You can select up to two locations in order of preference. Please ensure that these are locations you are prepared to travel to. If you are offered a role at one of your preferred location(s) and you decline, your application will be withdrawn.
Reserve List
A reserve list may be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made. There is no guarantee that being held on a reserve list will lead to a job offer. Further information can be found on our website.
Reserve lists will be held for each location. Candidates will be appointed in merit order by location.
Additional Security Checks
As well as successfully obtaining UK Security Vetting clearance, candidates will be subject to a range of additional checks. The range of checks carried out will depend on whether you are a current Home Office employee, existing civil servant or an external new entrant as well as the role requirements. Further details are included in the Notes to Candidates.
As part of our pre-employment checks, enquiries and online checks may be made with the following organisations to identify whether they hold information which could be relevant when we assess your suitability for appointment. These checks may be made for existing Civil Servants as well as new appointments and will be based on publicly available information:
- Office of the Immigration Service Commissioner (OISC)
- Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
- The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx)
- The Bar Standards Board (BSB)
- Law Society of Scotland
- Faculty of Advocates
- Law Society of Northern Ireland
- The General Council of the Bar of Northern Ireland
If you are invited to an interview, you will be required to bring documentation for the purposes of establishing your identity.
You will need to meet the nationality requirements for this role and obtain the necessary security clearance to take it up.
For meaningful security checks to be carried out, individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time. Learn more on our website. Security Checks - Home Office Careers
For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/demystifying-vetting
Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter
In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service /Disclosure Scotland 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.
For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email Info@disclosurescotland.co.uk
Visa sponsorship
We do not sponsor individuals via Skilled Worker Sponsorship / Tier 2 (General) work visas.
Reasonable Adjustments
If a person with disabilities is at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:
- Contact Government Recruitment Service via HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs
- Complete the “Assistance Required” section in the “Additional Requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you're deaf, a language service professional
If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the ‘Contact point for applicants’ section.
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 : Home Office Resourcing Centre
- Email : HORCCampaignTeamHMPOandUKVI@homeoffice.gov.uk
Recruitment team
- Email : HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
Further information
