Security Officer Associate

Job description

About the job

Job summary

The Home Office works to build a safe, fair and prosperous UK. We achieve this through our work on counter-terrorism, policing, crime, drugs policy, immigration and passports.

The Corporate Services Group works closely with the Home Office's policy and operational commands to enable us together to deliver the department's priorities. The group is comprised of different teams and professional functions, including Commercial, Communications, Finance, People, Portfolio and Project Delivery, Private Office, Security, Estates and Information.

Home Office Security is within Security, Estates, & Information Directorate. Our mission is to raise standards and protect our people, assets, and information. We provide a range of services, advice and assurance to the department and seek to mitigate malicious or inadvertent risk, investigate alleged wrong-doing and identify vulnerabilities, and prepare for disruptive challenges.

Job description

The successful candidate will form part of a Security Team responsible for providing effective operational security to ensure the security of Home Office buildings, staff and assets are maintained at all times.

This is an important role covering a variety of tasks which has a considerable effect on the day-to-day operation of a variety of Stakeholders within the Home Office.

There are many reactive tasks associated with the post, therefore flexibility and an ability to prioritise are key skills required for this role.

This role requires good communication skills and the ability to build relationships with other teams and colleagues across Government. You will need to be proactive in your approach to work, making effective decisions, managing information and contributing to the smooth running of the Organisation.

Security Officers are required to be able to read and absorb information, implementing what has been read, ensuring it is followed and use available information to brief colleagues and plan. Security Officers require effective IT skills, including a good knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook.

In particular, in this role you will have the opportunity to:

Gain skills in Customer Service being the first point of contact for all visitors to the Organisation.

Develop effective communication skills with a variety of stakeholders, including colleagues across the Organisation and other Government department security teams.

Gain expertise in protective security by understanding best practice for business continuity, physical and manned security whilst using state of the art security equipment and electronic systems.

Key Responsibilities

• Control access & egress to HO buildings in compliance with the Home Office Security Pass and Access Control Policies
  • When required, deal with conflict professionally and calmly using the skills learnt in the Conflict Management Training
  • Conduct Internal and external patrols vigilantly as directed, remaining observant of your surroundings and respond positively to situations discovered
  • Complete all written work accurately and efficiently ensuring it is legible and clear
  • Produce comprehensive incident reports in a timely and accurate manner
  • Follow the Home Office Pass Policy when dealing with all visitors or contractors to ensure correct pass issuance
  • Search vehicles and individuals when required in adherence with Home Office searching procedures.
  • Report and record in a timely manner, all incidents, accommodation and health & safety issues identified
  • Respond to all alarms as per Home Office policy
• Assist the FCC Supervisor by monitoring the Fire Control centre and its panels and attending alarm activations for investigation.

Working Pattern

Due to the business requirements of this role, it is only available on a full-time basis.

Travel

Successful candidates will need to be able to attend for all shifts including early starts, late night finishes, and overnight shifts. These shifts may be outside of public transport operating hours.

Training

This is a diverse and exciting role, for which, full training will be provided, along with mentoring ensuring you are fully supported within the role.

Due to nature of the role, applicants must be physically fit. On appointment, the post holder must attend and pass Conflict Management Training Theory classroom-based practice in De-escalation and Dojo Training in physical intervention (4 days, in person). Support will be provided. It will then be undertaken as an annual refresher.

Uniform - All Security Officers are required to wear Uniform and PPE. This will be provided by the department and must be worn at all times.

Person specification

Essential criteria

• Are flexible and able to successfully perform a range of multi-skilled duties.
• Can confidently manage potentially difficult and challenging situations.
• Good communication and interpersonal skills (both verbal and written)
• Strong IT skills - including Microsoft Word, Outlook and Excel.
• Professional and customer-focused, ability to understand the needs of vulnerable customers.
• Experience in security provision or a high-pressure customer-service environment and a commitment to the highest standards.
• Confident working with a range of internal and external partners
• Physical Readiness: Able to conduct full foot patrols of internal and external areas while wearing the supplied uniform and PPE (Toe protected boots/shoes, Ballistic body armour) throughout the shift (excluding breaks).

Behaviours

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

• Managing a Quality Service
• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Managing a Quality Service

Benefits

In addition to your salary, a career with the Home Office offers a range of benefits, including:

• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
• In-year reward scheme for one-off or sustained exceptional personal or team achievements.
• 25 days annual leave on appointment, rising with service to 30 days.
• Eight days of public holidays, plus one additional privilege day.
• See more of our benefits on our careers website.
• Sign-up on our website to receive emails with information about careers at the Home Office

This is an Annualised Hours position which attracts allowances for the following:

• Flexibility and Predictability
• Rostered Shift Allowance - the post holder will be required to work shifts:
• Premium Hours which includes weekend working and may include Public Holidays.
• Additional Night Hours will form part of the pay package and staff will be expected to work as a minimum of 70 hours in the year to cover night shifts 1830-0630
• The allowances are not guaranteed and are subject to change depending on business needs.

Allowances will be confirmed if offered the role.

Salary £31740 with allowances of 32.08% on top of salary of £10.180

Overtime - At times there may be overtime available based on business needs, however this is not guaranteed.

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.

This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

We will endeavour to conduct the selection process in line with the dates indicated below, but cannot guarantee that these will not, where necessary, be revised.

As part of the application process, you will first be asked to confirm your eligibility by providing some basic personal information.

After submission of this first stage, you will be invited to complete the followingCivil Service Judgement Test and Customer Service Skills tests.

1. Online Test - by 28th August 2026.

If you successfully pass thetests, you will be invited to complete the full application form. Please complete the online tests as soon as possible (within 24-48 hours is recommended). If you fail to complete the online tests or full application before the deadline, your application will be withdrawn.

You cannot complete the tests on a mobile phone or tablet.

You will be directed to the Talogy - True Talent - Scheduled Maintenance Window Webpage for online tests during an outage.

Please note: Our online test supplier will be performing scheduled maintenance between4pm to 7pm Sunday, 23 August 2026. You will be unable to access tests during this period.

If you are in the middle of a test when the maintenance begins, your progress will be paused. You will be able to resume your test from where you left off via your application centre once the downtime has ended.

Please note that you will not be able to launch any new tests while the system is offline.

Following successful completion of your tests, you will then be asked to complete the full application form.

1. Application - by 28th August 2026.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:

• CV.
• Personal Statement (maximum 500 words).
• Evidence of the Behaviour Managing a Quality Service (maximum of 250 words)

Your CV should consist of your career history, and skills/experience, including any key achievements in each role. Your CV will be scored against the experience required for the role as noted within the essential criteria.

The Personal Statement should be aligned to demonstrate your skills and experience for the role and how you meet the essential criteria as detailed in the job description.

For guidance and information on how to construct your application (CV, Personal Statement and Behaviours), you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers website.

2. Sift - from 2nd September 2026.

The sift will be held on the CV, Personal Statement and Lead Behaviour as listed in the advert.

Should a high volume of applications be received, an initial sift will be conducted on the CV. Candidates who pass the initial sift will then be progressed to a full sift that will consist of all the remaining elements submitted Personal Statement / Lead Behaviour.Candidates who fail to meet the minimum pass score for the initial sift will not have their remaining submitted elements scored and will only receive a sift score for that assessed at the initial sift.

3. Interview - week commencing 23rd September 2026.

If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to an interview that will be Behaviours (as listed in the job advert) and Strength based questions. All Behaviours listed in the selection process will be scored at the interview

The interview will take place on Teams.

For guidance and information on what to expect and how to prepare for an interview, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers.

Problems during the application process

If you experience problems accessing this advert, or you think you've made a mistake on an initial application, please contact [email protected], including the vacancy reference, at least two working days before the vacancy closes. Further information can be found on our website.

Do not create or attempt to submit another application, online test or use a different Civil Service Jobs account to proceed as this would be in violation of the candidate declaration.

Location Preferences

You will only be able to select a single location preference so please ensure this is a location that you are prepared to travel to. If you are offered a role at your preferred location and you decline, your application will be withdrawn.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for a period of up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made. There is no guarantee that being held on a reserve list will lead to a job offer. Further information can be foundon our website.

Breaking Tied Scores

The behaviours and strength have been ranked in order of importance to enable us to differentiate between candidates with tied interview scores.

Standards

All Civil Servants are expected to comply with the Civil Service Code, and its core values of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality.

Additional Security Checks

As well as successfully obtaining UK Security Vetting clearance, candidates will be subject to a range of additional checks. The range of checks carried out will depend on whether you are a current Home Office employee, existing civil servant or an external new entrant as well as the role requirements. Further details are included in the Notes to Candidates.

Further Information

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct.

If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing [email protected] stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

Reasonable Adjustments

If a person with disabilities is at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via [email protected] as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs

• Complete the "Assistance Required" section in the "Additional Requirements" page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you're deaf, a language service professional

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Feedback

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).

People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• 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) (opens in a new window)
• 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)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

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.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Home Office Resourcing Centre - Corporate Enablers
• Email : [email protected]

Recruitment team

• Email : [email protected]

Further information

If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the Civil Service Recruitment Principles. and you wish to make a complaint, then contact the Government Recruitment Service via [email protected]. If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission.