Fraud Officer - Southport

Job summary

Within the Counter Fraud, Compliance and Debt Directorate (CFCD), we work to reduce fraud, error, and debt, to protect the public purse.

As a Fraud Officer, you’ll be at the forefront of tackling fraud within the benefits system, conducting thorough interviews and reviews, pursuing all reasonable lines of enquiry, and taking corrective action on benefit awards where necessary.

We offer a role where you can learn, progress, and maintain a healthy work-life balance while making a real impact.

Job description

As a Fraud Officer, you will: 

• Conduct robust interviews with individuals by phone or in person, gather, review and closely scrutinise detailed evidence, taking corrective action when errors are found.
• Ensure compliance, adhering to DWP policies, CFCD operational procedures, and maintaining quality standards.
• Collaborate with teams and external partners, promoting fraud awareness within DWP and engaging effectively with business partners.
• Manage cases effectively, gathering and verifying information to support accurate benefit reassessments and overpayment calculations.
• Handle sensitive information, maintaining accurate records, redacting sensitive material, and liaising with other departments.
• Prioritise your workload, navigating shifting priorities efficiently in a fast-paced environment.

Due to the nature of this role, it will require occasional travel and overnight stays. 

Person specification

We’re looking for individuals who: 

• Have strong communication and leadership skills, engaging effectively with colleagues and external partners. 
• Possess excellent organisational and decision-making abilities to manage complex tasks. 
• Are confident in presenting information professionally to diverse audiences. 
• Pay attention to small and subtle detail and are able to identify discrepancies or inconsistencies across very detailed types of evidence e.g. identify documents that are potentially not original or official. 
• Work well both independently and within a team to achieve shared goals. 
• Can handle sensitive situations, including interactions with challenging or vulnerable individuals. 
• Demonstrate energy, positivity, and adaptability in delivering outcomes and driving change. 
• Are willing to travel, if required, based on business needs.

Webinar Event

We will be holding a webinar event to let you know more about this role. 

This will take place on 02/09/2026 between 13:00 and 14:00 .

Please follow the link below to register for the session.

Fraud Officer - Southport - Webinar

**If the webinar page does not open, please check that pop-ups are enabled on your browser**

Those who attend may be contacted following the event for evaluation purposes to improve our service.

Civil Service Careers

The attached link will take you to the Counter Fraud, Compliance and Debt website which gives you further information about these roles. CFCD , Civil Service Careers

Government Counter Fraud Profession (GCFP)

The DWP is committed to investing in people and ensuring their teams are a professional workforce. It is a requirement of counter fraud post holders within DWP to attain, and retain, membership of the Government Counter Fraud Profession (GCFP) at Practitioner level. This means if you are successful in applying for this role you will need to undertake an annual self-assessment to evidence your knowledge, skills, and experience within your role to attain and retain practitioner level membership. We provide post holders with a learning routeway to support them in achieving as well as any workplace adjustments they may require. Failure to attain membership of the GCFP at practitioner level may result in DWP seeking an alternative role for you.

In applying you will have indicated that you have read and fully understood the professional requirements for this Counter Fraud Officer role.

Behaviours

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

• Leadership
• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £32,137, Department for Work and Pensions contributes

£9,310 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).

DWP have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:

• Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
• Generous annual leave – at least 23 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro–rata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.
• Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.
• Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).
• Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year’s continuous service.
• Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.
• An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women’s Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

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 (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.

**Ensure that you read the full information about the selection process before starting your application**

Please note the closing date for your full application (Appl ication Form, CV and Written Statements) is 23:55 on 8 th September 2026

Stage 1 – Application Form  

Please complete the application form with your basic information, which includes your personal details, eligibility to apply and any reasonable adjustments required.

Stage 2 - Curriculum Vitae (CV)

You will be asked to complete a CV with details of your job history, full qualification details, previous skills and experience.

You are not required to upload your personal CV.

In the previous skills/experience section you should detail your employment and/or education history relevant to this vacancy (we recommend a maximum of 500 words).

The CV will also cover your work history (we recommend you include up to the last 3 roles of employment history, plus any others that you feel are relevant) and your qualifications. 

Your CV will not be formally assessed so please put the main evidence of your skills into your behavioural statements. Your CV will be used to add context to your behavioural examples. 

Stage 3 – Behavioural Statements and Sift

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete examples of the Civil Service behaviours below using no more than 250 words for each behaviour. These should contain things you have done in the past and how your skills and experience demonstrate those Civil Service behaviours.

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

Executive Officer – Level 2.

• Leadership ( Lead Behaviour ) 
• Managing a Quality Service ( Second Lead Behaviour ) 
• Communicating and Influencing

It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain:   

• WHO - W hat it was,  H ow you approached the work/situation and what the  O utcomes were, what did you achieve? or 
• STAR - What was the  S ituation? What were the  T asks? What  A ction did you take?  What were the Results of your actions?

You don’t have to explain the whole process, just what you have done and the skills and experience you have used.

If you do not have work-based examples then please give examples from school/college, clubs, volunteering or other activities you have been involved in. 

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the lead behaviour or lead and second lead behaviours, if so, we will sift on: 

• Leadership ( Lead Behaviour )
• Managing a Quality Service ( Second Lead Behaviour )

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to an interview. 

In the event we don’t receive a high number of applications we may not undertake a sift and progress all candidates to interview. For these reasons, the timeline is subject to change depending on the approach we take.  

• **The closing date for all stages of your application is 23:55 on 08/09/2026**
• If you fail to complete all stages before the deadline, your application will be withdrawn
• The sift is schedul ed to be held from 09/09/2026 to 25/09/2026 .  These dates may be subject to change. 

Following completion of the sifting period above, results will be collated, and candidates will receive confirmation of the outcome. Those candidates who have met the agreed pass mark will be invited to interview.

No feedback will be provided at this stage.

Stage 4 - I nterview 

If you pass the written application sift w ith the required score you will be invited to a blended interview and will receive an electronic notification to your Civil Service Jobs account.

If high application volumes are received, the benchmark / score for candidates to proceed to the interview stage may be raised.

The interview will be conducted face to face, and is scheduled to be held at Southport.

If you require any reasonable adjustments to attend a face-to-face interview, please ensure you state those on your application form when asked to do so.

Interviews are scheduled to take place from 26/10/2026 - 13/11/2026.

Please note that these dates are only indicative at this stage and could be subject to change.

Interviews will be scheduled Monday to Friday, between 09:00 to 17:00.

Communications will be electronic and/or by SMS/telephone therefore it is important that you check your Civil Service Jobs account regularly, as well as your spam/junk email folder. Telephone calls may show as a withheld number, it is important that you answer so that your interview can be confirmed. If you wish to opt out of SMS messages, please email this address, including the vacancy reference and your candidate ID CFCD.RECRUITMENTINBOX@DWP.GOV.UK . As part of our commitment to improving the candidate experience, you may be contacted during the recruitment process to provide feedback.

Preparing for the Interview  

The interview will tak e approximately 30 to 40 min utes and will consist of behaviour and strength-based questions.

A blended interview aims to be more of a conversation offering a more inclusive approach. The questions explore what you, the candidate, can and have done, but also your potential.   

Behaviours

You will be assessed against the Civil Service Behaviours listed at:

Executive Officer – Level 2.

An example of a behavioural question would be “Tell me about a time when you