Investigation Team Leader - Bromley

Do you have an inquisitive mind? Do you enjoy engaging with customers? If so, we need you!

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is responsible for welfare, pensions and child maintenance policy and is responsible for helping people move into employment, supporting pensioners and protecting some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

Counter Fraud Compliance and Debt (CFCD) aims to drive down the level of fraud, error and debt within the benefit system, to protect the public purse.

As part of CFCD you will be at the heart of DWP’s efforts to reduce fraud and error in the benefit system. This is a hugely important public service, and our challenge is bigger than ever.

If you want to join somewhere that recognises the importance of work-life balance, where you can learn new skills and progress your career, then CFCD is the place for you.

CFCD Higher Executive Officer (HEO) Investigation Team Leaders support the flexible, effective, personalised delivery of customer service, quality and performance across sites. HEO Investigation Team Leaders inspire colleagues through difficult situations, transform performance and are accountable for the effective utilisation of operational resources, delivering improved value for money and driving out inefficiencies.

Due to the nature of this role, occasional travel and overnight stays may be required. A flexible approach to working is essential and some unsociable hours may be necessary.

Key tasks include:

• Directly line manage a team, provide clear, visible and strong leadership and engage with colleagues to drive high performance and quality.
• Create an inclusive team environment, embracing different individual needs, views and ideas, making it clear to all that bullying, harassment and discrimination is unacceptable.
• Motivate, develop and encourage teams, undertake regular performance reviews, undertake coaching, learning and development opportunities, and regular one-to-one meetings to develop capability and skills.
• Work with internal and external stakeholders, including local authorities, the police and HMRC, encouraging collaborative working between teams, building relationships and achieving mutually beneficial outcomes.
• Provide relevant information to colleagues regarding changes to DWP policy or CFCD operational instructions, legislation and statutory requirements as appropriate, and identify and implement best practice.
• Provide advice and direction to Investigation Officers to support the progression of investigations.
• Record, retain and review material gathered during criminal investigations to meet disclosure requirements.
• Conduct interviews under caution as per legal guidelines under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (England and Wales) and Common Law (Scotland).
• Review prosecution cases following Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and National File Standard guidance (England & Wales) and in line with Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service guidance in Scotland.
• Attend court and give evidence in criminal cases and appeal tribunals.
• Communicate confidently and professionally with internal staff and external agencies.
• Identify risks to performance achievement and drive forward continuous improvement.
• Monitor and improve the quality of the face-to-face/telephony and end-to-end customer experience, ensuring that ‘one customer, one service, one business’ becomes a reality within DWP.
• Ensure all security matters (including information protection) are dealt with promptly and sensitively, in line with DWP policies and procedures.
• Use networking and influencing to create, maintain and improve service delivery for all customers.
• Support the identification of priorities and work collaboratively to ensure the delivery of both your own and others’ objectives.
• Promote fraud awareness across DWP and with external partners.

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, Strengths, Ability and Experience.

• *Ensure that you read the full information about the selection process before starting your application.**

Please note the closing date for your full application, (application form, online test, CV and personal statement) is 23:55 on 01/09/2026.

Stage 1 – Application Form

Please complete the application form with your basic information, which includes your personal details, eligibility to apply and any reasonable adjustments required.

Stage 2 – Online Test

After submission of your application, you will be invited to complete a Civil Service Management Judgement Test. Please complete the online test as soon as possible (within 24 - 48 hours is recommended). You will need to allow at least one hour to complete the test plus time to complete your written application. (see below for details).

Guidance and a practice test will be available when you are invited to take the test. The tests are administered online and accessed via the Civil Service Jobs website.

If you successfully pass the test, you will be invited to complete the final stage of the application.

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

Online tests - Our online test supplier will be performing scheduled maintenance on the following dates:

• Sunday 23rd August 2026 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
• Sunday 30th August 2026, 4 p.m. – midnight.

There will be a period during this time where candidates will not be able to access online tests. All online tests will be affected.

Impact for candidates - Candidates who are taking a test when the downtime starts will have their test paused. They will be able to pick up where they left off after the downtime. They can do this by accessing the test again from their application centre. Candidates will not be able to launch new tests during the downtime. Candidates reporting issues are advised to return to take the test after midnight 30/08/2026.

IMPORTANT: After the test deadline, we will look at all candidate scores to decide what the job’s pass mark will be. We will consider the impact on protected groups and the number of invitations to the next stage. We may decide to raise the pass mark for the job - if so, you will be informed, and you will be told if you have passed or failed at the raised standard. Meeting the minimum test requirements for a job level is no guarantee of an invite to continue the selection process.

Stage 3 - Curriculum Vitae (CV)

You will be asked to complete a CV with details of your job history, full qualification details, previous skills and experience. You are not required to upload your personal CV.

In the previous skills/experience section you should detail your employment and/or education history relevant to this vacancy (we recommend a maximum of 500 words).

The CV will also cover your work history (we recommend you include up to the last 3 roles of employment history, plus any others that you feel are relevant) and your qualifications.

Your CV will not be formally assessed so please put the main evidence of your skills into your personal statement.

Your CV will be used to add context to your personal statement.

Stage 4 – Personal Statement and Sift

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a personal statement detailing the relevant skills and experience you can bring to the role. In no more than 1000 words, please carefully consider the statements below. You should address these when constructing your personal statement. You do not need to answer each individually as one example of evidence may cover all of the questions / statements. You should also consider both the job description and person specification details above when providing your evidence.

• Provide an example of a time you led a team through a complex operational challenge. What actions did you take, and what was the outcome? (Lead Statement)
• Describe a time when you motivated and developed a team during a challenging period. How did you use communication to build team cohesion, support development, and achieve positive performance outcomes?

Your personal statement needs to set out evidence of how your experience meets the requirements set out above. Your layout is entirely your preference; you may choose narrative, bullets, etc. One narrative example may cover the requirements needed. You don’t have to explain the whole process, just what you have done and the skills and experience you have used.

If you do not have work-based examples then please give examples from school/college, clubs, volunteering or other activities you have been involved in.

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the lead statement. If so, we will sift on:

• Provide an example of a time you led a team through a complex operational challenge. What actions did you take, and what was the outcome? (Lead Statement)

Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to an interview.

In the event we don’t receive a high number of applications we may not undertake a sift and progress all candidates to interview. For these reasons, the timeline is subject to change depending on the approach we take.

Please note the closing date for your full application, (application form, online test, CV and personal statement) is 23:55 on 01/09/2026

If you fail to complete all aspects of your application before the closing date and time, your application will be withdrawn.

The sift is scheduled to be held from 02/09/2026 to 18/09/2026. These dates may be subject to change.

Following completion of the sifting period above, results will be collated, and candidates will receive confirmation of the outcome and successful candidates will be invited to interview.

No feedback will be provided at this stage.

Stage 5 - Interview

If you pass the written application sift with the required score you will be invited to a blended interview and will receive an electronic notification to your Civil Service Jobs account. If high application volumes are received, the benchmark / score for candidates to proceed to the interview stage may be raised.

The interviews will be conducted face to face. Where possible Interviews will be conducted at the following address, subject to availability at the time:

• 4 Abbey Orchard Street, Westminster, London, SW1P 2BS

However candidates may be expected to travel to an alternative location as required.

If you require any reasonable adjustments to attend a face-to-face interview, please ensure you state those on your application form when asked to do so.

Interviews are scheduled to take place from 26/10/2026 to 06/11/2026.

Please note these dates are only indicative at this stage and could be subject to change. Interviews will be scheduled Monday to Friday, between 09:00 to 17:00.

Communications will be electronic and/or by SMS/telephone therefore it is important that you check your Civil Service Jobs account regularly, as well as your spam/junk email folder. Telephone calls may show as a withheld number, it is important that you answer so that your interview can be confirmed. If you wish to opt out of SMS messages, please email this address, including the vacancy reference and your candidate ID CFCD.RECRUITMENTINBOX@DWP.GOV.UK. As part of our commitment to improving the candidate experience, you may be contacted during the recruitment process to provide feedback.

Preparing for the Interview

The interview will take approximately 30 to 40 minutes and will consist of behaviour and strength-based questions.

A blended interview aims to be more of a conversation offering a more inclusive approach. The questions explore what you, the candidate, can and have done, but also your potential.

Behaviours

You will be assessed against the Civil Service Behaviours listed at Higher Executive Officer – Level 3.

An example of a behavioural question would be “How did you lead by example to inspire and motivate your teams?”.

It may help to use one or more examples of a piece of work you have completed or a situation you have been in and use the WHO or STAR model to explain:

WHO - What it was? How you approached the work/situation? What the Outcomes were, what did you achieve? or

• STAR - What was the Situation? What were the Tasks? What Action did you take? What were the Results of your actions?

Strengths

It is difficult to prepare for strength type questions. However, you can think through your answers, focus on your achievements and aspects you enjoy and decide how these can be applied in the organisation and role. While strengths questions are shorter and we do not expect a full STAR response, the panel is interested in your first reaction to the question and information or reasoning to support this.

If you do not have work-based examples then please give examples from school/college, clubs, volunteering or other activities you have been involved in.

If you withdraw your application at any stage, it will not progress further.

Stage 6 – Offer

Once all interviews have been completed, you will be notified of the outcome by email. Offers will be made in strict merit order to the highest scoring candidate first. Offers will be made around the end of November 2026.

The successful candidates will be notified of a start date following successful pre-employment and security checks, which is likely to be during January 2027.

Further Information​

At the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce.

Find out more about working for DWP on the DWP Careers Hub.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for a period of 3 months from which further appointments can be made.

If you are placed on a reserve list but we cannot immediately offer you a post, please note:

• If you are later offered the role you applied for, in a location you have expressed a preference for, and you decline the offer or are unable to take up post within a reasonable timeframe you will be withdrawn from the campaign and removed from the reserve list, other than in exceptional circumstances (e.g. a contractual part time working pattern cannot be accommodated in the initial role offered or in the case of serious ill health).
• If we make an offer of an alternative role or location to that which you originally applied for, and you decline that offer, you will be able to remain on the reserve list.

Visa Sponsorship

Please note that for these vacancies we recommend that applicants seek specialist advice on their eligibility for Visa Sponsorship (if applicable) when considering whether to apply for any role.

We can never guarantee sponsorship; requests will be considered in line with the relevant DWP guidance and Home Office policy in place at the time.

Office Location

• Unicorn House, 28 Elmfield Road, Bromley, BR1 1NX.

You should only apply for suitable posts where you can travel to and from your home office location daily within a reasonable time. Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas. Relocation costs will not be reimbursed. Make sure the location works for you before applying!

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.

Hybrid working will not commence until any training and consolidation period has been successfully completed.

Working pattern​

Part-time, part-year, term-time compressed hours and job-sharing working patterns within working hours will be considered but must meet business needs. We will do our best to let people with existing part time contracts retain their contracted hours provided they are in line with current business needs.

Please note that successful candidates with agreed alternative working patterns will be required to work full time for specific periods to complete all training and consolidation. Currently initial training can last for up to 12 weeks.

Hours of work ​

The full-time working week in DWP is 37 hours. You may be required to work at any time between the hours of: ​

• 7:45am and 8:00pm on any day between Monday to Friday, and​
• 8:45am to 5:00pm on Saturday.​

Managers will agree working patterns with successful candidates within these business hours and review these as appropriate. You will be given advance notice of your personal schedule.

Learning and Development

DWP takes development seriously. Our aim is for our colleagues in these roles to be appropriately skilled and qualified – as determined by the business. To support this aim you may be required to undertake a work-based qualification, which may be in the form of an apprenticeship, which will support you in further developing your professional knowledge and skills for this role and your future career development. The qualification can be undertaken in work time, you agree to take this job on the basis that you may be required to undertake a work-based qualification; a candidate’s failure to participate fully in the professional programme, once appointed, may be a breach of their employment contract. Important: If you hold a level 3 qualification (2 A levels or equivalent) then please bring your certificates with you to the interview if you have them.

Disability Confident Scheme

If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards.

Reasonable Adjustments

We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should contact the Government Recruitment Service via DWPRecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the “Reasonable Adjustments” 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 candidates’ section.

Integrity, Plagiarism and Civil Service Principles

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words.

Examples of plagiarism can include:

• Presenting the work, ideas and experience of others as your own.
• Copying content or answers from an online or published source that is not your own.

Disclosure and Barring Service and Internal Fraud Database Checks

To process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to the 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:

Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check will be carried out.

Candidates who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave employment before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty, where dismissal would have occurred had their employment continued. Any candidate’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

Political Impartiality​

Due to the nature of our role, DWP is required to ensure that the political impartiality of its employees cannot be brought into question. The role you are applying for is classed by DWP as a ‘sensitive’ role because it involves contact with the public, so permission cannot be given to anyone in such a role to engage or remain politically active in any kind of local councillor role. There may also be restrictions applied to other political activities which are set out in the Department’s Standards of Behaviour Policy which is underpinned by the Civil Service Management Code. You may therefore wish to decide at application stage whether, if your job application was successful, there would be a conflict of interest with any political activity role you have and whether, knowing the restrictions we necessarily apply as an employer, you wish to pursue your application with DWP. If you have any questions about this or need further information about the restrictions, please contact CFCD.RECRUITMENTINBOX@DWP.GOV.UK.​

Salary

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Important

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Before applying for this vacancy, current employees of DWP should check whether a successful application would result in changes to their terms & conditions of employment, e.g. mobility, pay, allowances. If you are a current employee and are successful you must be able to be released from your current post within four weeks.

Those on protected TUPE/ COSoP terms and conditions applying on promotion or voluntary permanent level move will adopt DWP’s Terms and Conditions and this may have a different impact on pay and allowances. Please review this prior to acceptance of a role.

Civil Servants that would transfer into DWP from other government organisations, following successful application, will assume DWP's terms & conditions of employment current on the day they are posted, unless DWP has stated otherwise in writing. Accepting a post will be taken to mean acceptance of revised terms & conditions.

Civil Servants applying on promotion will usually be appointed to the salary minimum or within 10% of existing salary.

Any move to DWP from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may, however, be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at the Childcare Choices Website.

Find out more about working for DWP on the DWP Careers Hub. Click on the Application Guidance link for lots of help and guidance on making your application.

Feedback

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