Defence Business Services - Decision Maker and Appeal (DMA) Caseworker

Are you a dedicated person who is passionate about making a difference?

Would you like to work for the Ministry of Defence?

Defence Business Services (DBS) is one of the largest shared service organisations in Europe that provides a wide range of corporate services, to over 1.2 million end users, including serving and past military and families, as well as MoD civil servants and industry.

DBS delivers large scale administration and smaller specialist services to enable the wider MOD to focus on its core aims, maintaining the UK’s Defence and Security. Services include Human Resources, Pay, Veterans, Finance and Procurement.

Vision - To be the best shared service centre in Government

Mission - Proudly delivering excellence in shared services, through customer centric solutions to enable Defence outcomes

DBS is committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues. We are building an inclusive culture and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society.

We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us through opportunities to develop your skills and experience. We also offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career accessible to you and offer a Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%. Where your role permits, we support a blended working approach alternatively known as hybrid working.

Come and join the DBS community today!

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DBS is part of The National Armaments Directorate (NAD) Group which is at the heart of delivering and sustaining the UK’s defence capability. Bringing together organisations responsible for developing, procuring, supporting and modernising Defence equipment, infrastructure and services, the Directorate works closely with industry, international partners and academia to ensure the Armed Forces have the capabilities they need to deter threats, protect the nation and succeed on operations. NAD drives innovation, operational readiness and value for money while supporting economic growth and strengthening the UK’s defence industrial base.

This role is advertised as 37 hours per week.

The Decision Making & Appeals service provides consistent, expert decision making across Ministry of Defence HR casework policies. Using a joint decision-making model, the service supports fair policy outcomes, business needs and a positive employee experience while reducing organisational risk.

As a DMA Caseworker, you will manage critical and highly complex HR casework decisions and appeals. You will provide authoritative advice on policy expectations, appropriate outcomes and risk, produce robust written decisions, and help ensure a consistent approach across the Department.

Responsibilities:

• Manage critical and highly complex HR casework decisions, providing expert input to DMA panels on policy, outcomes and risk management.
• Arrange and manage decision and appeal meetings in line with policy, process and required timescales.
• Produce clear, concise and well-reasoned decision and appeal outcomes that can be robustly defended at Employment Tribunal.
• Provide instruction to the Government Legal Department and act as an expert witness on behalf of the Ministry of Defence where required.
• Act as a single point of contact for trade union and legal issues relating to HR casework.
• Work with Investigation Operational Support to establish feedback loops and ensure investigations are fit for purpose and robust.
• Support TLB representatives throughout the decision-making and appeals process.
• Produce and analyse management information on decisions, appeals and Employment Tribunals, identifying demand, outcomes, trends and emerging issues.
• Promote continuous improvement, structured learning, professional development and effective knowledge management.
• Maintain accurate case records and fulfil all information and data-capture requirements.

There is a requirement for business travel nationally, which may include overnight stays.

DBS supports flexible working and hybrid working is adopted within the service. The weekly office attendance requirement is 60% in office and 40% homeworking. During initial training periods office attendance may be increased.

Fixed-term appointment information

This is a Fixed-term Appointment as a HR Caseworker in the HR Advisory and Casework Service. Your responsibilities will be as described in this job advert. The

reason why you are appointed for a fixed period is to implement recommendations from a HR casework review. This post will therefore begin on your appointment and end 24 months after that date.

If you are a permanent MoD civil servant and are found successful for an advertised Fixed-term Appointment (FTA) you should move into the post under a Temporary Transfer (for up to a maximum of 23 months). At the end of the posting you will return to your previous MoD Business area. If this posting is at a higher grade, your promotion will be temporary, and you will return to your substantive grade at the end of the Temporary Transfer. If a Temporary Transfer cannot be agreed between all parties then a transfer on an FTA contract is possible, read the FTA and Change of Work Location in the UK policy for further information.

If you are transferring to MoD from another government department (OGD) you should join the MoD on an inward loan. At the end of the loan you will return to your home (OGD) department. If a loan cannot be agreed between all parties then a transfer on an FTA contract is possible, read the FTA policy for further information.

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)

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

Please ensure that at the application and interview stages of the campaign you review the Success Profiles Framework to assist you in the demonstration of your skills and experience.

Your suitability for the role will be assessed using the Success Profile elements that have been chosen for this campaign. Each element will be scored accordingly, and the successful candidate will be appointed on merit.

Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include job history and previous skills and experience.

Candidates will also be required to provide a Personal Statement of no more than 750 words explaining how the candidate meets the criteria in the job description, with examples of relevant tasks, skills and experience.

At sift, candidates will be assessed against their CV, Personal Statement and the following:

• Making Effective Decisions

Applications will be sifted on all Success Profile elements, but in the event of a high number of applications, the sift will be conducted on your CV and Personal Statement only.

At interview, candidates will be assessed against the following:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace

In the rare case where individuals have exact matching scores, the order of merit will be determined based on the behaviour scores at interview in the following order:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace

If candidate scores are still exact, the merit order will then be determined on the sift score in the following order:

• Making Effective Decisions
• CV
• Personal Statement

Sift and interview timeframes

Sift start date: Week commencing 7 Dec 26

Interviews are currently taking place via the following method: Face to face at Abbey Wood Bristol

Interview start date: Mid December

Further information:

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.

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category, and we will not sponsor a visa. It is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system.

Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.

The Ministry of Defence adopts a zero-tolerance approach to unacceptable behaviours, which includes bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and victimisation. You will not be eligible and will not be considered for this post if you have been dismissed from a role for such unacceptable behaviours within the last five years. This will also apply if you resign or otherwise leave a role but, because of an adverse decision, would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had you continued in that employment. Pre-employment checks will be carried out.

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