Professional Standards Unit - Senior Investigator

DWP is committed to professionalising its counter fraud response. Alongside ensuring technical skills adhere to cross government standards (Government Counter Fraud Profession (GCFP), Counter Fraud Compliance & Debt (CFCD) are trialling a Professional Standards Unit (PSU), as a test and learn, to undertake Management disciplinary investigations, decision making and provide education to colleagues in certain counter fraud roles. Professional Standards provide a clear framework for expected behaviours, values and ethical principles within a profession, some of its key components are:

• Consistency and fairness
• Accountability
• Professional development
• Public trust
• Legal protection
The CFCD Professional Standards Unit upholds civil service standards of behaviour across counter fraud roles within the organisation, building trust. This is an exciting opportunity to influence the design and development of this test and learn unit within CFCD. Resilience and emotional intelligence are key to making this unit a success, due to the types of cases that are likely to be under investigation / require decision making. Lead investigations regarding discipline cases: The Professional Standards Unit Senior Investigator gathers and reviews evidence and undertakes misconduct investigations. They ensure that any evidence obtained is recorded, secured, and preserved appropriately so that investigations are dealt with in a timely manner and with integrity.
• Collect and gather material and assess intelligence and evidence from a range of sources.
• Retain and maintain records to support the professional standards investigative process.
• Plan and identify own investigative actions required (including travel and room bookings for face-to-face interviews) and consider resources, priorities, and proportionality to achieve investigatory objectives.
• Interview witnesses to gather all required evidence in relation to professional standards investigations, to generate further lines of enquiry where required, to build a balanced and proportional case.
• Manage case files, adhering to requirements throughout the investigation to ensure there is an accurate audit trail of the investigation.
• Document case findings, conclusions, and recommendations in a comprehensive Investigation report.
Undertake Decision Making on cases investigated by other areas of the business Decision makers are expected to:
• Be fair, objective, and consistent.
• Base decisions on the balance of probabilities.
• Consider mitigating factors and equality implications.
• Record decisions transparently.
• Justify outcomes clearly in decision letters.
Design and deliver education sessions
• Using insights from cases, design & deliver bespoke education sessions for colleagues through a fraud lens.
• Collaborate with HR, policy colleagues and other relevant stakeholders to ensure sessions are factual and tailored to requirements.
Promote the Professional Standards Unit (PSU)
• Be the "face" of the PSU across CFCD. Regular attendance at team meetings/conferences across CFCD sites nationally to promote the PSU.
Lead on a key area of PSU Priorities
• You will lead on one of the PSU's key deliverables, setting strategic direction in line with CFCD priorities.
Line Management responsibilities
• One of the SEO roles will include line management responsibilities for up to 5 PSU HEO Investigators. By applying for this vacancy, you are applying for both roles, either initially or in the future. You will be asked to indicate your initial preference later during the application process.
Due to the nature of the role and the geographically dispersed team, this role will require regular travel and overnight stays. This may be 2 or 3 days per week in some weeks.

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