Head of HR Investigation Service

About the job

• Benefits
• Things you need to know
• Apply and further information

Location

Leeds (Quarry House), Glasgow (Atlantic Quay), Newcastle upon Tyne (Benton Park View), Sheffield (Kings Court), Birmingham (Arena Central), Blackpool (Peel Park), Treforest (Ty Taff).

Please note that for candidates requesting to work in Newcastle, this role will be based at Benton Park View from September 2025, and then at 1 Pilgrim Place in Newcastle city centre by the end of 2027.

For candidates requesting to work in Blackpool Peel Park, please note these roles will initially be based at Blackpool Peel Park and will then move to Blackpool Fylde View by April 2027.

About the job

Job summary

This leadership role sits within the People and Place function in DWP, with accountability for leading the HR Investigation Service (HRIS) within the HR Advice and Support Team. The HR Advice and Support Team delivers specialist HR services across DWP through four key functions: HR Casework Operations, Employment Tribunal and People Risk, HR Investigation Service, and Continuous Improvement. HRIS provides expert support and oversight for the Department's most complex, sensitive and high-profile HR investigations, while also driving investigative capability and standards across the wider organisation.

The HR Investigation Service has undergone significant transformation in recent years, including professional accreditation of investigators, expansion of the team and the development of a more collaborative and insight-led operating model. The service plays a critical role in supporting organisational risk management, employee experience and continuous improvement across the Department.

The post holder will provide strategic leadership for the HR Investigation Service, ensuring investigations are delivered to the highest professional standards and in line with legislation, DWP policy and recognised best practice. They will lead a geographically dispersed team of specialist investigators, drive continuous improvement and quality assurance, and ensure insights and lessons learned from investigations inform organisational learning, policy development and cultural improvement.

As a member of the HR Advice and Support senior leadership team, you will shape the future direction of HR investigations across DWP, building capability, strengthening partnerships and ensuring the service remains professional, responsive and aligned to departmental priorities.

Job description

Reporting to the Head of DWP Casework and Investigations Team, you will operate with a high degree of autonomy, providing visible and credible leadership for the HR Investigation Service across DWP.

You will play a pivotal role in maintaining professional investigative standards, managing organisational risk and ensuring the effective delivery of complex and sensitive investigations.

Working closely with Senior HR Business Partners, HR Policy, Employee Relations, wider DWP investigation networks and cross-government partners, you will lead service improvement, organisational learning and capability development across the HR investigations profession.

You will be responsible for:

• Setting the strategic direction for the HR Investigation Service, ensuring investigations are delivered consistently, professionally and in line with legislation, DWP policy, ACAS guidance and recognised best practice.
• Leading and developing a geographically dispersed team of specialist HR investigators, building capability, supporting professional accreditation and career development, promoting wellbeing, and fostering a culture of high performance and continuous improvement.
• Managing investigative resources, workforce planning and workload prioritisation, ensuring effective deployment of capacity, appropriate oversight of high-risk and complex cases, and delivery against agreed standards and timescales.
• Acting as the senior escalation point for investigators, HR Business Partners, managers and senior stakeholders, providing expert advice and guidance on complex, sensitive and high-profile investigation matters.
• Driving continuous improvement and quality assurance across HR investigations, ensuring policies, processes, guidance, documentation and investigation outcomes are regularly reviewed and enhanced through feedback, lessons learned, stakeholder insight and best practice.
• Building and maintaining strong relationships with senior stakeholders across DWP, wider government and professional investigative networks, promoting the HR Investigation Service, sharing best practice and strengthening investigative capability across the Department.
• Acting as a strategic partner to senior leaders, HR Policy and Employee Relations teams, using investigation outcomes and insights to influence policy development, address organisational and cultural issues, and improve people management practices.
• Leading the HR investigations risk management approach, ensuring robust governance and quality assurance arrangements are in place to identify, assess and mitigate operational, legal and reputational risks.
• Using trends, themes and lessons learned from investigations to drive organisational learning and continuous improvement, while providing strategic leadership and oversight of the Department's most complex, sensitive and high-risk investigations.

Person specification

Your evidence will be assessed against the following essential criteria. You must ensure you provide specific examples to demonstrate these criteria in your personal statement.

Candidates will be able to demonstrate the following:

Essential Criteria:

• Significant experience of leading and delivering HR investigations, with expert knowledge of employment law, HR policy and best practice investigation standards, including alternative and informal resolution approaches. (LEAD CRITERION)
• Excellent written, verbal and presentation skills, with the ability to communicate complex or sensitive messages and influence stakeholders at all levels.
• Experience of interpreting and applying complex policies, procedures and processes to deliver effective and proportionate investigations.
• Track record of leading and inspiring teams and building effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders to drive improvements in investigative standards, organisational capability and service delivery.
• Experience of identifying organisational and reputational risks and applying a risk-based approach to developing and implementing appropriate mitigation strategies.
• Demonstrable resilience and sound judgement when managing complex and sensitive issues, including communicating difficult or unwelcome messages to individuals experiencing challenging circumstances.
• Demonstrated ability to use data, insight and evidence to drive service improvements and address organisational or cultural issues arising from investigations, casework or employee feedback.

Qualifications/professional memberships

• Accredited Investigations Practice qualifications or willingness to achieve this within 12 months.

Behaviours

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

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Changing and Improving
• Delivering at Pace

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £57,946, Department for Work and Pensions contributes

£16,786 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.

Stage 1: Application & Sift

Our CV element is short and allows an initial check of eligibility but is not scored so please put the main content of your evidence and skills in your Personal Statement.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide a Personal Statement of no more than 1000 words against the essential criteria as outlined above.

If we receive a high volume of applications, an initial sift may be conducted using the lead criterion:

Significant experience of leading and delivering HR investigations, with expert knowledge of employment law, HR policy and best practice investigation standards, including alternative and informal resolution approaches.

Stage 2: Interview

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend an interview lasting up to 60 minutes. Interviews will be conducted Face to Face at Newcastle Upon Tyne, Benton Park View. The interview panel will be a minimum of 3 people and will assess you using both Behavioural and Strength based questions.

Indicative Sift and Interview Timeline:

• Sift week commencing 14/9/26
• Interviews week commencing 12/10/26

Hybrid Working:

This role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. If a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for the role and for you, you will normally be required to spend a minimum of 60% of your contracted working hours from your DWP office. If you have a disability, caring responsibilities, or other circumstances that may affect your ability to meet the minimum office attendance requirement, please discuss this with us using the contact details in this advert.

Important Information – Visa Sponsorship

For these vacancies, we strongly recommend that applicants consult with an immigration specialist or qualified advisor to assess their eligibility for Visa Sponsorship before deciding to apply. Please note that while we consider sponsorship requests in accordance with current DWP guidance and Home Office policy, sponsorship cannot be guaranteed.

Further Information​

At the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welc