Specialist Surveillance Operations

Job summary

Discover what it’s like to work in a compliance role that makes an impact. Could you help us shape a stronger, fairer future? Your next career move starts here.

HMRC is the UK’s tax, payments and customs authority and we have a vital purpose: we collect the money that pays for the UK’s public services and help families and individuals with targeted financial support.

HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service (FIS) is responsible for the department’s civil and criminal investigations.

FIS provides HMRC with an effective investigation arm to enforce the Department’s compliance policies. This enables the Department to deliver against the strategic responsibilities across all the taxes and duties it administers. This includes complex offshore evasion, international smuggling of illicit excise goods, exports of controlled weapons and technology, labour market abuses, VAT and Self-Assessment repayment frauds and a host of other fraud attacks targeted at the tax system.

FIS is home to a wide range of people with a variety of skills and professional backgrounds – including accountants, cybercrime specialists, criminal justice professionals, tax professionals and operational delivery support teams to name but a few. We use a range of powers and approaches to protect funding for UK public services, investigating the most harmful tax cheats and ensuring nobody is beyond our reach.

Covert Operations, Digital Exploitation (CODE) sits within FIS. Working across Law Enforcement and government, CODE provides investigative tools and covert techniques to front-line investigations and works with key partners to develop and provide access to new technology and systems to enable investigators to respond to serious and complex tax evasion and crime.

This is an exciting opportunity to join a Technical & Surveillance Operations within Covert Operations. The Unit will have national coverage but will be split between two locations, one in Gillingham, Kent, the other in Leeds, West Yorkshire.

Job description

This is an exciting opportunity to join a Technical & Surveillance Operations within Covert Operations. The Unit will have national coverage but will be split between two locations, one in Gillingham, Kent, the other in Leeds, West Yorkshire. Successful candidates if not appointed to, will be required to make regular travel to specialist sites located in either Gillingham, Kent or Leeds, West Yorkshire, therefore this role may not be suitable for candidates who live outside of a reasonable travelling distance from either of these locations. This will typically be once a week but could be more or less frequent depending on circumstances. If not appointed to one of these locations, then travel time/costs will be paid. Reasonable travelling distance is suggested as no more than approximately two hours each way. Please contact the vacancy holder for further information.

As a Surveillance Officer you will be expected to conduct mobile, foot and static surveillance in pursuit of serious and organised crime investigations led by HMRC. You will gather evidence and intelligence on subjects of investigations in order to help the Fraud Investigation Service deliver against it’s strategic and tactical objectives.

This is a field role and successful applicants, once trained, will be working in the operational field throughout the UK.

This role is initially offered on a two-year fixed term appointment with the potential to secure permanent employment with HMRC.

Continued employment is contingent on successfully passing the role specific training.

The role of Specialist Surveillance Operations will include the following:

Collaborate with Covert Managers, technical surveillance Officers and case teams to address specific case objectives by acting as a point of contact providing subject matter expert advice on undertaking surveillance, with varying tactical solutions in difficult environments.

Undertake mobile, foot or static surveillance in support of HMRC investigations anywhere in the UK.

Use surveillance technology, such as radio, photography, audio and video recording equipment.

Gather evidence and produce surveillance logs, notebooks, witness statements and exhibits (audio or imagery).

Support specialist technical surveillance deployments, working alongside tactical surveillance personnel.

Work with other Law Enforcement partners, such as the National Crime Agency and Police Forces.

Support HMRC operations nationally, requiring regular deployment at short notice, working unsocial hours, being on-call and undertaking frequent duty changes and additional hours.

Plan and brief for deployments, including preparing risk assessments under the guidance of the lead.

Make dynamic decisions in the operational environment.

Subject to additional training the following duties may also apply:

Under your lead’s supervision, in collaboration with technical surveillance officers and covert managers, undertake a feasibility study and provide advice and a range of options on how specific case objectives may best be met through detailed reconnaissance.

Provide detailed planning and reconnaissance information prior to CODE supported deployments and pre-knock reconnaissance of subject premises.

Conduct close target reconnaissance (CTR) and in-depth survey of specific areas, premises to acquire intelligence or evidence.

Act as operational deployment lead on ground during operational deployments.

Observe, report, and/or record the movements of targets or activity at target premises for evidence and intelligence gathering purposes.

Person specification

The post holder will be part of a busy operationally deploying team where planning, communication, risk assessment and collaboration is key. The post holder will receive surveillance training and will be expected to work alongside Technical Surveillance Officers to assess the tasking that has been received and assess what is required to reach the objectives. The post holder will have to communicate effectively with other surveillance officers, covert managers and on occasions with members of the Operational case team.

As a surveillance officer the post holder will plan covert deployments, taking into consideration safety and compromise risks and then command operations on the ground.

The post holder will also be expected to maintain personal and team admin, carry out and be pro active with research and development of equipment, training and standard operating procedures This is a demanding role and on occasions the post holder will be away from home and being asked to deploy with little notice.

Length of nFTA is 2 years, end date October 2028. A fixed-term appointment can be justified where employment is contingent on completing or passing specific training, provided there is a genuine business need and the requirement is applied fairly.

Continued employment on this occasion is contingent on successfully passing role-specific training, with some courses assessed on a pass/fail basis.

Essential Criteria:

All applicants must:

• Have good observational skills.
• Have excellent communication skills.
• Be adaptable.
• Possess a full UK driving licence. - at the time of application and be willing to drive official vehicles*.
• We recognise that some people cannot drive due to a disability or underlying health condition and may not be able to meet this requirement. Where this applies, you can apply but will need to declare that you require a reasonable adjustment at the point you receive a provisional offer. The vacancy holder will then discuss your specific requirements to consider if this can be reasonably accommodated in this role.
• Be able to work in a demanding role which requires a high degree of flexibility & able to respond under pressure.
• Have the organisational skills to deliver in a dynamic environment.
• Have an aptitude to work with technology.

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience of working in Law Enforcement, Policing or in the Armed Forces.
• Experience of Map reading / navigation tools.

Full time only

Due to operational needs, these posts are full-time; however, applicants who need to work a more flexible arrangement are welcome to apply. We can’t guarantee that we can meet all requests to work flexibly as any agreement will be subject to business ability to accommodate. Any request to work a more flexible arrangement should be made prior to your acceptance of the provisional offer.

Further Location Information

Please ensure that you only apply for a location that you are willing and able to work from, as we will only make one offer of employment. Any additional notes included in a ‘Further Location Preferences (optional)’ field within the application form, will not be considered. Please be aware that you cannot change your location preference after submitting your application.

Office closures

For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations .

If your location preference is for one of the following sites, it’s important to note that these are not long-term sites for HMRC and we will require you to move to a new building in the future, subject to our location strategy and the applicable employee policies at that time.

These sites are:

• Benton Park View, Newcastle - moving to Pilgrims Quarter, Newcastle
• Lynx House, Portsmouth – moving to an alternative office in Portsmouth

You will be given more information about what this means at the job offer stage.

Leeds Locations

Moves Adjustment Payment will be available for this role, provided the successful applicant is a current HMRC colleague in Bradford and meets the eligibility requirements outlined in the HMRC’s Moves Adjustment Payment guidance.

Further information

For more information about our Directorates, Lines of Business and some of our roles, please visit the FIS Careers pages HMRC – Fraud Investigation Service , Civil Service Careers

Training

Applicants will be required to be cleared by an occupational health assessment to be able to attend a public and personal safety training (PPST) course. Successful completion of the PPST is required to undertake duties away from the office for this role. Failure to pass and maintain the PPST certificate may affect receipt of the flexibility payment.

Licences

Possess a full UK driving licence. - at the time of application and be willing to drive official vehicles*.

*We recognise that some people cannot drive due to a disability or underlying health condition and may not be able to meet this requirement. Where this applies, you can apply but will need to declare that you require a reasonable adjustment at the point you receive a provisional offer. The vacancy holder will then discuss your specific requirements to consider if this can be reasonably accommodated in this role.

Behaviours

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £31,096, HM Revenue and Customs contributes

£9,008 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).

HMRC operates both Flexible and Hybrid Working policies, allowing you to balance your work and personal commitments. We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible, considering our operational and customer service needs.

We offer a generous leave allowance, starting at 25 days and increasing by a day for every year of qualifying service up to a maximum of 30 days.

• Pension - We make contributions to our colleagues’ Alpha pension equal to at least 28.97% of their salary.
• Family friendly policies.
• Personal support.
• Coaching and development.

To find out more about HMRC benefits and find out what it’s