Counter Fraud - Business Development and Operations Manager

Job summary

The Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) is responsible for holding departments and arms-length bodies to account for their handling of fraud in the public sector. The Authority will write the standards for counter fraud work across government and hold public bodies to account against these. Working in the PSFA offers access to a wide range of stakeholders across government and the opportunity to work with various sectors in a high profile policy area with high media, parliamentary and ministerial interest.

The Team

As well as being part of the PSFA, a new authority established in 2022, you will also be part of the Government Counter Fraud Function (GCFF). The PSFA is at the centre of this function but a role in this team will make you part of a Counter Fraud Function that spans government and has members in all departments, at all levels, in all sectors. The PSFA is outcome and performance driven, offers a depth and breadth of expertise and works jointly with HMT to tackle fraud in the public sector.

The PSFA, whilst sitting within the Cabinet Office, reports jointly to the Cabinet Office and Treasury Ministers. Maintaining close working relationships with HMT colleagues is key to ensure the PSFA can deliver its mandate effectively. The PSFA is a team of c.140 staff members with locations across the country – including Manchester, York, Glasgow and London. As a result, hybrid working is fully embraced and teams are encouraged to collaborate in the various Cabinet Office Hubs around the country.

Job description

The Team

As well as being part of the PSFA, a new authority established in 2022, you will also be part of the Government Counter Fraud Function (GCFF). The PSFA is at the centre of this function but a role in this team will make you part of a Counter Fraud Function that spans government and has members in all departments, at all levels, in all sectors. The PSFA is outcome and performance driven, offers a depth and breadth of expertise and works jointly with HMT to tackle fraud in the public sector.

The PSFA, whilst sitting within the Cabinet Office, reports jointly to the Cabinet Office and Treasury Ministers. Maintaining close working relationships with HMT colleagues is key to ensure the PSFA can deliver its mandate effectively. The PSFA is a team of c.140 staff members with locations across the country – including Manchester, York, Glasgow and London. As a result, hybrid working is fully embraced and teams are encouraged to collaborate in the various Cabinet Office Hubs around the country.

Within that team, the Digital Economy Act (271) Debt and Fraud Data Sharing Secretariat, promotes and facilitates debt and fraud data sharing across the public sector and private entities through the DEA gateway. The Team readily and actively collaborates with bodies to manage & reduce debt and to combat fraud. From conception, scoping to delivery the Team provides expert advice including legislative and data governance support, pilot design and delivery, governance and management of Ministerial permissions/sign offs and further into business as usual.

Working at the heart of counter-fraud and data sharing work within Government, you will be responsible for setting and leading the strategic direction of the Digital Economy Act Team’s counter-fraud work (and by proxy, its associated debt work). In this role, you will undertake research and produce outcomes based upon these findings to further enhance and strengthen the counter-fraud data-sharing work cross-Government, linking these with the connected debt work of the Digital Economy Act team. At the same time, you will project manage resultant pilots, act as Secretariat to the Digital Economy Act Review Board and produce Ministerial Submissions to gain approval for the launching of counter-fraud data sharing pilots. The role also requires an understanding of the Government's Debt Fairness Charter relating to the management and debt recovery and management.

A key aspect of this role also relates to identifying the benefits and outcomes of completed Digital Economy Act pilots and employing this evidence to gain buy-in and resource allocation among data-sharing bodies to move those data-sharing provisions into business-as-usual. Through these tasks, you will influence the decision-making of senior leaders cross-Government and the Private Sector.

The role is a challenging one with a high level of exposure and responsibility across both the public and private sector and is a unique opportunity to understand the full scope of Government counter-fraud and debt landscape and counter fraud data-sharing in a complex and evolving department.

You will be expected to work independently and represent the Public Sector Fraud Authority both inside and outside of the Cabinet Office. Communicating, including public speaking, with impact, nuance and sensitivity - both orally and in writing - will be essential. You’ll quickly build and maintain strong relationships with the offices of senior Civil Servants and other senior digital and technology professionals, as well as other stakeholders, balancing and mitigating tensions and dependencies across a wide audience in order to deliver. Therefore, you will need excellent interpersonal skills, an ability to delineate/present complicated and nuanced findings and be comfortable interacting with and influencing senior officials and stakeholders from inside and outside Government.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Stakeholder Engagement:

• Working alongside senior leaders to shape, drive, and implement the strategic direction for the Digital Economy Team's counter-fraud and debt recovery management work.
• Lead proactive outreach and engagement strategies with a broad range of public sector organisations to increase awareness and uptake of the DEA data-sharing powers
• Linking the Digital Economy Team’s counter-fraud work with its debt recovery and management work in a coherent and iterative/agile way. Liaising and negotiating with HMT’s Government Debt Management Function (GDMF) on debt related data sharing.

Pipeline Management & Negotiation:

• Provide expert consultancy to potential partners during the initial scoping phase, negotiating complex information-sharing requirements to ensure alignment with both PSFA / GDMF’s and departmental objectives and legislative frameworks.
• Producing, maintaining and expanding the Cabinet Office’s Digital Economy Team’s pipeline of counter-fraud pilots and contributing to the creation of debt-related pilots.
• Identifying and brokering solutions to issues raised within cross-Government counter-fraud data-sharing using the Digital Economy Act.
• Analysing pilot outcomes and performance data to build evidence-based business cases for future interventions.

Briefing & Advocacy:

• Providing accurate, timely, helpful advice and support to the Digital Economy Act Team and the wider Government Counter Fraud Function and Government Debt Management Function.
• Undertaking regular outreach and networking (e.g., conference attending) to ensure knowledge and excitement about the Digital Economy Act’s Fraud (and debt) Powers is heightened cross-Government
• Advising on issues of strategic significance in contemporary and future-planned cross-Government counter-fraud data-sharing, ensuring Cabinet Office’s strategic interests are embedded in delivery programmes across the organisation.
• Draft high-quality briefing materials and deliver persuasive presentations to senior leaders and cross-government steering groups to advocate for the value of the DEA in mitigating public sector loss.

Collaborative Partnership Working:

• Build and maintain a robust network of senior stakeholders across government, local authorities, and Arm's Length Bodies, facilitating multi-agency collaboration to deliver cross-cutting fraud and debt initiatives.
• Having oversight of various and specific areas of the Digital Economy Act Team’s counter-fraud work whilst working with and alongside the Directorate’s Senior Leadership Team responsible for those areas.

End-to-End Process Facilitation:

• Manage the transition of proposals through the governance lifecycle—from initial expression of interest to formal submission for approval—ensuring all documentation meets the required standards of public benefit and transparency.

Please note

Recruitment campaigns for the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA) are continuing as usual, but candidates should be aware that following the Government’s announcement on the changes to some civil service departments, roles will be subject to the machinery of government move of the PSFA to DWP. We will provide more information on any potential or future impact this will have on office locations and other elements if you are selected to interview. This work remains of high importance to the civil service, and we thank you for your continued interest.

Person specification

Essential and Desirable Criteria

The following criteria outline the specific knowledge, stakeholder environment, and technical background required to perform effectively in this role.

Essential Criteria

• Communication & Translation: Ability to translate complex legislative frameworks (e.g. DEA 2017) and data governance concepts into clear, accessible advice for non-specialist and senior audiences.
• Strategic Stakeholder Engagement: Proven experience in building robust networks and negotiating consensus across central government, local authorities, and the private sector to overcome barriers to collaboration.
• Governance & Secretariat Management: Experience managing complex proposals through formal governance structures (e.g., Review Boards or Secretariats) and drafting high-quality papers or Ministerial Submissions.
• Evidence-Based Case Development: Ability to interrogate pilot outcomes, performance data, and research findings to construct compelling, evidence-based business cases for data interventions.
• Outreach & Pipeline Management: Experience leading proactive stakeholder outreach strategies and managing a pipeline of program or pilot opportunities from concept to delivery
• Central Government or Counter-Fraud Experience : Proven experience working in a central government environment or in a counter-fraud role.
• Autonomy & Delivery at Pace : Track record of driving work forward independently, managing competing priorities across multiple teams, and producing high-quality briefing materials under tight deadlines.

Desirable Criteria

• Debt Recovery Context: Understanding of the Government's Debt Fairness Charter and the wider public sector debt recovery and management landscape.
• Agile Delivery: Experience working in a fast-paced environment utilising agile or iterative project management methodologies

Additional information:

Cabinet Office policy is that a minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace. For some roles, due to their nature and the business need, this may be up to 100%. Requirements to attend other locations for official business will also count towards this level of attendance.

Behaviours

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

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Making Effective Decisions

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £45,292, Cabinet Office contributes

£13,121 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Learning and development tailored to your role.
• An environment with flexible working options.
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
• A Civil Service Pension which provides an attractive pension, benefits for dependants and employer contributions of 28.97%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by one day per year up to a maximum o