The Home Office works to build a safe, fair and prosperous UK. We achieve this through our work on counter-terrorism, policing, fire, crime, drugs policy, immigration and passports.
Border Force is a law enforcement arm of the Home Office. We are responsible for managing the UK border control by implementing immigration and customs regulations and working with the wider Home Office on counter terrorism, tackling organised crime, modern slavery and trafficking.
About the role
The National Dog Team sits within National Operational Headquarters and has a hugely important mission: to transform our canine detection capability and performance, and to ensure that we have the right policies, processes and procedures in place to support the operational business to drive up performance and ensure our dogs are trained on Control Strategy Priorities.
We are looking for a professional and dedicated individual to play a vital role in our efforts to combat and deter smugglers and those seeking to evade border controls.
The Kennel Manager will oversee daily operations and manage Animal Care and Welfare Technicians at the Felixstowe kennel site and the new Border Force Detector Dog Training School in Tilbury.
This varied role includes both physical interactions with the animals alongside administrative tasks, where you will ensure that the health, fitness and welfare of Detector Dogs is maintained in accordance with organisational polices, guidance and animal welfare legislation and provide administrative support to the Dog Unit Manager and Senior Officer.
Working Arrangements
Due to the business requirements of this role, it is only available on a full-time basis. You will work shifts which are usually between eight or ten-hours in duration and will need to be flexible and adaptable to meet unexpected demands. This may mean rescheduling days off and changing attendance times at short notice to meet operational demands. You may also need to be on-call, for which an allowance will be paid.
You will be required to travel regularly between Felixstowe and Tilbury, as well as deploy to ports and airports both within and outside of the regional base. Overnight stays away from home are an integral part of the role.
Training
You will receive full training and support to do the job including the Border Force Kennel Training Package, which is 2 weeks in duration, and is pass or fail. You will also receive mentoring and support until you are fully confident in the role.
More about the Kennel Manager role
It is essential that you have a natural affinity with animals, a high level of physical fitness and a commitment to high standards of care and welfare management for all dogs within the program. This role requires the ability to lift and carry the dogs, providing exercise and high intensity interval training when needed. This job also involves an element of lone working both on and off site.
Meet the team
You can learn more about our work and ask questions at our one of our Border Force Kennel Manager online events. Sign up for one of the below sessions to secure your place on Eventbrite.
Tuesday 11 February 11:00 – 12:00
Monday 17 February 11:30 – 12:30
This is your opportunity to hear what working in this role is really like on a day-to-day basis, and you’ll be provided with hints and tips to help you with your application.
Benefits
- A salary of £30,000 to £31,500 plus an Annualised Hours Allowance (AHA) currently of 25% of salary, which equates to an additional £7,500 per annum based on salary minimum. Please note, AHA is subject to review and could go down as well as up.
- Civil Service Pension with employer contribution rates of 28.97%.
- In-year reward scheme for one-off or sustained exceptional personal or team achievements.
- Full training, along with access to development opportunities to help you grow in your career.
- Eight days of public holidays, plus one additional privilege day.
- An environment with flexible working options and a culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
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Felixstowe
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Animal Care and Welfare
- Manage a team of Animal Care and Welfare Technicians (ACWT) at both locations who are responsible for the day-to-day care of Detector Dogs to ensure that operational priorities and welfare standards are met. This will include producing roster and deployment plans for both sites, prioritising and reallocating resource as needed.
- Oversee kennel activities at each site ensuring that the performance, health, fitness, and welfare of Detector Dogs is maintained in accordance with organisational policies/guidance. This includes care, feeding and exercise to national standards and delivering kennel enrichment and stimulation tailored to the individual needs of the dog within your care. When required you will undertake these duties yourself.
- training received to deal with dog fights and dog aggression, reporting and recording of these incidents in line with Border Force Policy
Administrative tasks
- Undertake regular kennel assurance reviews, ensuring the working kennel environment is maintained to required national standards of hygiene.
- Provide support to line manager and countersigning manager with national and regional tasking of K9 resources.
- Deliver the Kennel Training Package to all new staff.
- Writing and updating Business Continuity Plans, Risk Assessments, Safe Systems of Work, Fire Safety and Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) in line with policy and guidance.
- Financial/procurement responsibilities including liaising with external contractors to ensure all maintenance works are completed in a timely manner.
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Within your Personal Statement, you are required to confirm the following three (3) essential criteria:
- that you are comfortable and confident around dogs; and
- that you have not been disqualified from keeping or owning a dog under the terms of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991; and
- that you have not been disqualified from having custody of a dog under the terms of both the Animal Welfare Act 2006 & the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991.
You will also need to demonstrate the following:
- Leadership and Management: Demonstrable experience of leading and managing teams to achieve business objectives.
- Organisational skills: Able to take responsibility for your work to achieve goals effectively and professionally, often multi-tasking to deliver to tight deadlines.
- Effective communication and interpersonal skills: confident engaging with a variety of colleagues, stakeholders, and members of the public
- Problem solving and making effective decisions: Able to find solutions to problems and make difficult decisions, even if they prove to be unpopular.
- A full valid manual UK driving licence is an essential requirement for this role as daily driving of official vehicles (vans/large cars) to/from exercise areas, to veterinary visits and to exercise or deployment locations will be necessary.
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Stage 1: Application
As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a:
- CV
- Personal Statement (maximum 750 words).
Your CV should consist of your career history and the qualifications, skills and experience that are applicable to this role. Your CV will be used to provide further context on your personal statement and scored against the essential criteria.
The Personal Statement should be aligned to and demonstrate how you meet the skills and experience set out in the essential criteria, 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.
Stage 2: Sift
The sift will be held on the CV and Personal Statement.
Stage 3: Assessment Interview
If you are successful at sift stage, you will be invited to attend a one-day assessment that will involve practical tasks to determine your suitability for the role.
During the assessment you will be asked to complete a series of tasks that are routinely carried out by our Dog Handlers and Kennel staff which are designed to assess your potential to become a Border Force Kennel Manager.
During the assessment candidates will be given a full explanation of the role, duties involved and have the opportunity to address any questions or concerns they may have.
The assessment will take place in person at Felixstowe dog unit.
Stage 4: Interview
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.
The interview will take place via Microsoft Teams
For guidance and information on what to expect and how to prepare for an interview, you are encouraged to visit Civil Service Careers.
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The closing date for this role is 23:55 on Wednesday 19th February 2025.
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If you are interested in this role, please apply
