We’re looking for confident communicators who can engage face-to-face, manage challenging situations, and support people with empathy and professionalism. If you possess these skills, this role could be right for you.
We have 8 Detention Engagement Officer roles and are inviting candidates to apply to join our Immigration Enforcement team on a fixed term contract of up to 12 months. This role is at the grade of Executive Officer (EO) and the closing date for applications is 12 December 2025.
This recruitment is being run under the Home Office Pathway to Employment Social Mobility Programme, which aims to provide employment opportunities and work experience for individuals who are unemployed and come from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Applications can only be made through the appropriate Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Jobcentre and candidates must meet the eligibility criteria, set out below, to apply.
The programme aims to offer eligible individuals fixed term appointments for up to 12 months within the Home Office. There may also be an opportunity for permanent employment after 12 months of continuous employment in the appointed role; however this is subject to a permanent vacancy being available and individuals meeting the Civil Service performance standards and passing a light-touch assessment.
During your appointment, you’ll receive a salary of £30,900 and a range of employee benefits.
Immigration Enforcement (IE) is responsible for enforcing the government’s immigration laws, tackling illegal migration, removing foreign national offenders and immigration offenders from the UK. It also aims to disrupt the organised criminal groups that exploit the vulnerable for their personal gain. Learn more on our careers pages.
About the role
Detention Engagement Teams are at the heart of Immigration Enforcement’s operational activity to remove Foreign National Offenders and those with no leave to be in the United Kingdom.
You will play a crucial role in engaging with residents, ensuring their understanding of progress with their cases and facilitating effective communication between them and caseworkers.
As a member of the Detention Engagement Team, you will be expected to demonstrate professional behaviours and personal integrity, as well as an unbiased and methodical approach to information gathering.
You can expect to work as part of a team, in a dynamic and testing environment, making a real difference. You will be accountable for a variety of tasks to ensure effective communication and engagement with residents. Alongside this, there will also be opportunities for professional development and training.
Working arrangements
These roles are 100% office based.
Training
You will receive full training which will take place on the job with a mentor who will support you until you are fully confident in the role. Even then you are never alone; you’ll work as part of a team where there is always someone around to ask for advice. Further information on what the training involves can be found on our website.
Meet the team
Listen to our Detention Engagement Officers sharing their account of what it’s like to work in an Immigration Removal Centre in the audio linked below.
Benefits
- A salary of £30,900 to £35,700 plus an Annualised Hours Allowance (AHA) currently of between 15.56% and 21.57% of your salary, depending on location
- 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
- 25 days annual leave on appointment, rising with service to 30 days
- 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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- Bedford
- Oxford
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To apply
- You must be unemployed and meet the low socio-economic criteria
- You must be eligible to work in the United Kingdom (UK) and meet the relevant nationality requirements
- Be able to provide valid identity documents to complete your pre-employment screening and security clearance
- Visit the Pathway to Employment Social Mobility Programme pages on the Home Office careers website for more information
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For meaningful checks to be carried out, individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance.
You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 3 years as the role requires (Counter Terrorist Check) CTC clearance or the new Level 1B security clearance.
As well as obtaining UK Security Vetting clearance, you will also be subject to an additional Integrity Check, as part of the pre-employment process, to determine your suitability to work for Immigration Enforcement. For further information on what this involves, please visit our website.
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- Conduct face-to-face engagements, including inductions and assessments
- Discuss options and the consequences of non-compliance with residents
- Identify and manage vulnerability indicators, ensuring they are recorded and managed in-line with policy
- Engage regularly with IRC suppliers and stakeholders
- Give case updates and manage a portfolio of residents
- Record interactions accurately on IT systems in a timely manner and provide feedback to caseworkers
- Contribute to management reports and undertake office administration duties such as inbox management and taking phone calls
- Flagging issues appropriately and in a timely manner to management or other appropriate departments
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The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate:
- Solid verbal and written communication skills
- Leadership potential and the ability to manage testing situations
- Flexibility, adaptability, and problem-solving skills
- Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Outlook, and Excel
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Interested individuals should speak with their DWP Work Coach at either the Bedford or Oxford Jobcentres, who will ask some questions to assess socio-economic status and eligibility for the programme.
DWP will then send a list of applicants to Home Office.
On receipt of this list the Home Office will invite eligible individuals to a virtual suitability conversation. This is an opportunity to discuss whether the individual is suitable for the role and also provides an opportunity for you to ask any questions.
This meeting is expected to last around 30 minutes.
Within 5 working days of the suitability conversation taking place, the Home Office will contact individuals to let them know the outcome.
If successful a provisional offer of employment will be issued which is subject to individuals passing pre-employment checks and security clearance.
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The closing date for applications is 17:00 on 12 December 2025.
If you are interested in one of these roles, visit a work coach at your local Bedford or Oxford Jobcentre to apply.
