Apply before
16/07/2026, 23:55
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Reference number
1009
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Salary
£82,317
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London weighting allowance (Per Annum)
£4,218
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Role grade
G1
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Contract type
Permanent, Fixed Term Appointment, Loan, Secondment
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Length of employment
24 months
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Please note that the Length of Employment does not include those hired on Permanent contracts.
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Command
Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT)
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Business Area
Chief Data Office (CDO)
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Type of role
Governance, Knowledge and Information Management, Policy, Risk Management
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Working pattern
Full time, Part time, Flexible Working, Job share
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Number of roles available
1
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Head of Data Governance
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Location(s)
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Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Leicester, London, Normanton (Calder), Warrington
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About the Role
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Information about the Command
Digital, Data & Technology (DDaT), supports NCA operational commands with how we exploit data and to ensure the NCA uses the best technology platforms with the right tools and applications to further enable the NCA to protecting the public from serious and organised crime. We are responsible for defining and delivering our data and technology strategy, policy and architecture, and building and sustaining resilient services which are critical to our mission success.
The pace of change within the digital and tech world means we need to be agile and innovative in how we respond to threats while exploiting the opportunities this presents.
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Information about the Business Area
The Chief Data Office (CDO) provides specialist advice and guidance on all areas of data and information management. CDO is the accountable lead for the NCA’s relationship with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
CDO provides specialist advice and guidance on all areas of data and information management. CDO is responsible for corporate Information Management (IM), managing the NCA’s corporate record, setting the IM Policy for the NCA, and supporting the Chief Data Officer in the management of the NCA’s corporate IM risks.
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Role Summary
The Chief Data Office (CDO) provides specialist advice and guidance on all areas of data and information management including knowledge and information management, data governance, and data protection. CDO is the accountable lead for the NCA’s relationship with the Information Commissioner's Office (Information Commission) and also has regular engagement with other regulators and inspectors.
All areas of CDO regularly engage across policing and government departments in relation to the management of information and data.
This is a senior leadership role within the NCA accountable for leading and embedding the Agency's Information Governance Framework. It ensures legally compliant policies and procedures are established, implemented, maintained and adhered to, supporting the Agency to effectively exploit data in support of its strategic objectives.
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Role Description
You will be responsible for the ongoing management of the Agency’s information risk, ensuring appropriate mitigations are identified and implemented. You will lead assurance activity to test the effectiveness of controls and drive remedial action where necessary, escalating issues through relevant working groups and boards as appropriate.
You will support the delivery of Agency programmes by ensuring that information management legal obligations, standards, and best practice are embedded across all programmes and projects. This includes enabling the delivery of modern data capabilities and tools to support the Agency in achieving its long-term strategy and mission.
This role offers the opportunity to play a central part in shaping and delivering information capabilities across the Agency, ensuring the NCA continues to meet its obligations in handling data and information in line with legislative requirements and best practice. You will be part of a committed, forward-looking senior management team, working alongside peers in the law enforcement and national security community to drive improvements in data capability. This will support the delivery of business outcomes that directly contribute to the safety and security of the UK, its citizens, and its economy.
This role aligns with the Government Knowledge & Information Management Profession framework.
Applications for part-time working are welcomed; however, candidates must be able to work a minimum of 30 hours per week.
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Duties and Responsibilities
Duties & Responsibilities Overview
Information Framework Oversee and continue to mature the Information Governance Framework to ensure the effective management of information risk. Ensure key data management strategies, policy and guidance are established, implemented, maintained and complied with. Drive implementation of mitigations to manage information risk.
Information Assurance and Audit Lead the Information Assurance and Audit function to ensure the Agency complies with national system codes of connection in respect of our audit responsibilities. Establish a forward-look programme of assurance activity to test effectiveness of controls and make recommendations to improve compliance in relation to the management of data through its lifecycle. Further develop the Data Maturity Assessment ensuring remedial activity focuses on priority high risk areas.
Secretariat Function Ensure an effective secretarial function for all Boards and Groups within the Information Governance framework. Act as Deputy Chair for the Data Risk Working Group and other governance groups as appropriate
Knowledge and Information Management Lead the Agencies compliance with Police Information Records Management and Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996, ensuring all records are held in line with legislation. Provide integral support to the Departmental Records Officer. Play a key part in leading the Agency's compliance with the Public Records Act, working closely with the Cabinet Office and The National Archives. Ensure policy and enduring business as usual process are implemented
Business Planning Lead on the development and implementation of CDO's business planning activity to ensure delivery of the Agencies objectives. Monitor progress and provide guidance and support to manage competing priorities as they arise. Encourage continuous improvement of corporate performance to meet strategic objectives
Partner and Stakeholder Engagement Lead on building effective partner relations and work collaboratively with stakeholders and external agencies cross government and law enforcement. Ensure alignment of NCA policies and standards to enable effective collaborative working. Represent the Agency at Information Management forums, acting as an ambassador for the Agency
Team Management and Welfare Manage and develop officers, including the management of issues relating to performance and conduct of officers (as required). Work collaboratively with officers from across CDO and the wider Agency, to promote high performance and adherence to corporate values. Lead, promote and implement Health and Safety measures and ensure risk assessments are conducted effectively in line with Agency policy and safety legislation
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Person Specification
Skills, Knowledge and Experience Description
Ability to build and lead multi-functional teams Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams in delivering data compliance and information management improvements through coordinated planning, governance, and execution.
Experience of leading Information Governance Proven experience in leading Information Governance practices, ensuring effective management of information risk and driving improvements in data maturity.
Experience of influencing and impacting stakeholders Proven ability to influence stakeholders at all levels to embed information best practice and enable effective collaboration across the Agency and its partners.
Collaborative Leadership Builds trust and fosters a culture of inclusion and teamwork, sharing responsibility across diverse stakeholder groups
Strategic Resilience Maintains focus and composure under pressure, adapting quickly to changing priorities and complex challenges
Results Driven Proactively seeks opportunities for improvement and innovation, ensuring delivery of high-quality outcomes in a dynamic environment
Sound Judgement Makes informed decisions based on evidence and risk analysis, even in ambiguous or high-stakes situations
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Desirable Criteria
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Desirable criteria are only used for assessment in the event of a tie break.
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Professional accreditation or qualifications relating to the Government Knowledge and Information (GKIM) Framework or Government Digital and Data (GDaD) framework would be beneficial in this role, but are not essential.
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Salary
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Allowances are reviewed annually and may be increased, decreased or removed.
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All salary offers will be made in line with Remuneration Policy.
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Roles based in London will receive an additional London Weighting (Per Annum) of £4,218
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Benefits
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All NCA employees are members of the UK Civil Service and eligible for the Civil Service pension scheme, alongside your salary the NCA contributes £23,847. Further information on the benefits of the scheme is available on the Civil Service Pension Website.
New entrants to the NCA receive 26 days annual leave, rising to 31 on completion of 5 years continuous service, plus 8 bank holidays.
If qualifying criteria is met new joiners from UK Police Forces or the UK Intelligence Community (UKIC) will have service with those employers taken into account for continuous service purposes for annual leave entitlement only, this will be up to a maximum of 31 days leave (including 1 privilege day).
Other benefits include:
Flexible working, including flexi-time, compressed hours and job sharing (in line with business requirements)
Family friendly policies, notably above the statutory minimum
Learning and Development opportunities
Interest free loans and advances, including season tickets, childcare and rental deposits
Housing schemes - Key Worker status
Discounts and Savings with a wide variety of services including Cycle to Work, Smart Tech schemes, dental insurance, gym discounts and savings on everyday spending, available through the Reward Gateway | Edenred and Blue Light Card schemes.
Staff support groups/networks
Sports and social activities, including membership to the Civil Service Sports Council (CSSC)
Further information is available on the NCA Website.
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Selection Process Details
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This vacancy is using the Success Profiles framework and will assess using the following criteria: Behaviours, Experience, Technical Skills
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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.
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How we will assess you
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Your application will be assessed against the following:
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Technical - this will be assessed by 250 word examples on:
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Information Governance (Lead Criterion)
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Experience - This will be assessed:
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CV
Please include your full career history, training, qualifications, key responsibilities, and achievements. Explain any employment gaps in the last two years. Ensure all accreditation dates are accurate.
Details of what is expected within your CV are as follows: Please detail how your career history meets the requirements detailed in the person specification.
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Experience Criteria - will be assessed by 250 word examples on:
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Building and leading multi-functional teams
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Building effective relationships
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A panel will assess how well your application demonstrates the requirements outlined above.
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Longlist
In the event of a high number of applications, we may operate a longlist. Applicants will need to meet the minimum pass mark for the lead criteria.
- Information Governance (Lead Criterion) .
Candidates who do not meet the minimum pass mark for the lead criteria will not progress to having their other criteria assessed. Applications must meet the minimum criteria to be progressed to the assessment stage.
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You will receive an acknowledgement once your application is submitted.
We aim to have sift completed and scores released within 10 working days of the closing date of the advert. For high volume campaigns this timeframe may be extended.
Scores will be provided but further feedback will not be available at this stage.
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For guidance on the application process, visit:
NCA Applying and Onboarding
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Assessment 1
The format of this assessment will be a Presentation which will be tested on via the details listed below.
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You will be required to deliver a presentation assessing the Civil Service behaviour of Leadership.
Candidates will be assessed on how their Leadership can help their team and the Agency navigate through the fast changing environment in which the Agency has to compliantly manage its data and information to enable effective operational outcomes
Candidates successful at application sift will receive the presentation topic in advance. The presentation should be no longer than 10 minutes.
Candidates who pass this stage will be invited to attend a second-stage interview at a later date, where they will be assessed against the remaining criteria outlined in this advert.
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If you are successful you will be invited to the second assessment.
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Assessment 2
The format of this assessment will be Interview which will be tested on the criteria listed in the Success Profiles at Assessment section.
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Success Profiles at Assessment
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Behaviours
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Changing and Improving
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Technical
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Information Governance (Lead Criterion)
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Experience
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Building and leading multi-functional teams
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Building effective relationships
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Assessment Outcome
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Outcomes will be communicated via the NCA recruitment portal.
If successful but no role is immediately available, you may be placed on a reserve list for 12 months.
Reserve lists can be used to fill similar role types across the Agency where the assessment criteria is considered a match by the recruitment team and the business area.
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In the event of a tie at the assessment stage, available roles will be offered in merit order using the following order:
Lead criteria (behaviours/technical/experience)
If still tied, desirable criteria will be assessed (if advertised)
If still tied, application sift scores will be used
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Feedback is provided only to those who attend an assessment.
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You will be subject to vetting and pre-employment checks before appointment.
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Once the vacancy closes, the advert will no longer be accessible. Please save a copy for your records.
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We encourage all candidates to visit the NCA Careers Page for more information.
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Eligibility, Pre-Employment Check and Vetting
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Please see the NCA T&Cs and Privacy Policy (pdf) for details on how your data is handled.
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If you are an internal candidate who has passed interview but is undergoing an internal investigation or have a written warning in place preventing a post move you may not be able to be posted until this investigation is concluded or restriction lifted.
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Nationality Requirements
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This role is broadly open to the following groups:
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- UK nationals or dual nationals, where one component is British
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- Nationals of the Republic of Ireland
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- Nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
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- 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)
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- 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)
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- Individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
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- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
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Further information on nationality requirements
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You will be required to participate in digital right to work and address checks as part of the recruitment process.
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Security and Vetting
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People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard checks.
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Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is SC Enhanced. All security clearances will be managed by the NCA.
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For more information on security vetting please visit: UK Security Vetting guidance for applicants and Demystifying Vetting and see our vetting charter at: The Vetting Charter.
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Vetting requirements - SC Enhanced
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Prior to commencing the role, you will need to successfully complete SC Enhanced clearance and then achieve DV Enhanced clearance within the first 12 months in post.
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The requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years.
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The requirement for DV Enhanced clearance is to have been present in the UK for at least 7 of the last 10 years.
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Failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected.
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If you fail to obtain the increased clearance within 12 months of starting, your contract of employment is at risk of termination.
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For further information on National Security Vetting checks please visit the following page Demystifying Vetting
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Individuals will be required to undertake and pass a substance misuse test as part of pre-employment checks.
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Occupational Health
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Successful candidates will be expected to undertake an occupational health assessment. Depending on the role an in-person medical may be required in either London or Warrington. Unfortunately, travel costs will not be reimbursed.
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Things you need to know
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Multi Location
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Where multiple locations are advertised, appointments will be made in merit order for each location.
Please indicate up to three location preferences clearly. Only your first three preferences will be considered. You may be allocated to any of the locations you select. If you decline an offer for a location you have selected as a preference, a further offer may not be made.
If you choose to reject an offer and no alternative preferred location can be offered, you will not be able to return to the process or be placed on a reserve list.
Only the advertised locations are available; any additional notes added to the application will not be taken into account.
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Near Miss
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If you meet the criteria for a lower grade, you may be offered that role if not appointable at the advertised grade.
Conversely, if found appointable at a higher grade but no posts are available, you may be offered a lower-grade role.
All offers are made based on merit.
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Hybrid Working
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The NCA supports hybrid working. The extent of remote working will depend on the role and can be discussed at the offer stage.
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Reasonable Adjustments
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We’re proud to be a Disability Confident Leader and an inclusive, equal opportunities employer.
We’re committed to creating a workplace where everyone can be their authentic self. If you’re neurodiverse, have a disability, or live with a long-term health condition, we encourage you to let us know about any reasonable adjustments you may need during the recruitment process.
If you experience accessibility issues with the advert or require reasonable adjustments, please contact our Recruitment Team at
[email protected] before the advert closing date.
Please ensure you complete the ‘Equal opportunities’ and 'Reasonable Adjustments' sections in the application form to inform us on what support you may need in the recruitment process.
For more on our Disability Confident commitment, visit Disability Confident Scheme | Civil Service Careers.
Visit NCA Benefits and Support for more details.
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Inclusion
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The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy
In order to monitor the effectiveness of the National Crime Agency's Diversity & Inclusion strategy, we require certain personal details about you on submission of your application for statistical and monitoring purposes only. Please note that this will be treated in confidence and will not impact your application.
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This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.
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Working for the Civil Service
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The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit on merit through fair and open competition, in line with the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
If you believe your application has not been treated fairly, email:
[email protected] (quoting the vacancy reference).
If unresolved, you may escalate your complaint to the Civil Service Commission.
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Working for the NCA
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The National Crime Agency is a 24/7 organisation, and working patterns must support business requirements. Some roles may require you to respond at short notice or outside of core hours.
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If preferable, alternative contract types may be available. Please review the green bar of this advert to view all available contract types for this role. Where Loan or Secondment options are available, these would be for existing Civil Servants (Loan) and applicants from accredited Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) or any other employer (Secondment). Prior agreement to be released on a loan basis must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return.
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If you have any specific queries about the role that are not covered by the advert, please contact:
Name : Central Recruitment Team
Email : [email protected]
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