Discover what it’s like to work in a compliance role that makes an impact. Could you help us shape a stronger, fairer future? Your next career move starts here.
About HMRC
HMRC is one of the UK’s largest organisations, with around 60,000 employees, collecting over £605 billion in tax revenue. We are an effective, efficient, and impartial tax and payments authority with a vital purpose: to collect the money that pays for the UK’s public services and help families and individuals with targeted financial support.
About Fraud Investigation Service
HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service (FIS) is responsible for the Department’s civil and criminal investigations.
FIS provides HMRC with an effective investigation arm to enforce the Department’s compliance policies. This enables the Department to deliver against the strategic responsibilities across all the taxes and duties it administers. This includes complex offshore evasion, international smuggling of illicit excise goods, exports of controlled weapons and technology, labour market abuses, VAT and Self-Assessment repayment frauds and a host of other fraud attacks targeted at the tax system.
FIS is home to a wide range of people with a variety of skills and professional backgrounds – including accountants, cybercrime specialists, criminal justice professionals, tax professionals and operational delivery support teams to name but a few. We use a range of powers and approaches to protect funding for UK public services, investigating the most harmful tax cheats and ensuring nobody is beyond our reach.
Job Description
This is a Band HO role eligible for a Flexibility Payment (FP) at Level 2, worth £14,400 p.a. (National) and £15,300 p.a. (London), paid in addition to basic salary. In return, you’ll work your hours flexibly (including out-of-hours, at weekends and on public holidays) and change your work pattern at short notice. You’ll also undertake periods of on-call and work additional hours. Payment of FP is dependent on successful completion of training – you can find more detail about this and other FP requirements in the document attached.
FIS fulfils the principal export control enforcement function on behalf of the Department for International Trade, the UK Export Licensing Authority.
This role is on the team responsible for export licensing control enforcement and counter proliferation (CP) activity. The team’s job is to detect breaches of UK export controls and other counter proliferation (CP) legislation (including trade sanctions) and take appropriate enforcement action to promote compliance within the UK exporter community. This will include disrupting illicit attempts to procure strategic goods from the UK and where appropriate reporting cases to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for consideration of criminal proceedings.
As a Criminal Investigator – SESE – SC Vetting engaged on CP duties you will be expected to:
•Develop intelligence in relation to suspected breaches of export controls
•Have recent criminal justice experience as a law enforcement professional working in operational/intelligence development work
•Possess at least SC security clearance
•Represent HMRC at cross Whitehall meetings with CP partners
•Conduct outreach visits to the UK exporting community
You will interact with a wide number of internal and external stakeholders including the Department for International Trade, Border Force, Police, National Crime Agency, Solicitors, Crown Prosecutors and colleagues from Other Government Departments and Agencies engaged in counter proliferation work.
There will be appearances in court and you will be required to make, and be accountable for, decisions and activities within the criminal justice system. These will also be subject to scrutiny and inspection by external authorities.
HMRC is hosting information sessions on Tuesday 23rd June 4 – 5pm and Wednesday 24th June 10 – 11am to accompany the application process where you will be able to
hear more about the vacancy. To join the session you will need to register by completing the following: Candidate Information Session – Candidate Information Session – Criminal Investigator HO – Weds 24th June @ 10am – Fill in form Candidate Information Session – Candidate Information Session – Criminal Investigator HO – Tues 23rd June @ 4pm – Fill in form
Person Specification
· Ability to lead and progress complex criminal and/or civil investigations, taking ownership of decisions and outcomes.
· Strong investigative judgement, with the confidence to make defensible decisions under pressure.
· Excellent analytical skills, including the ability to review large volumes of information and identify risks, patterns and evidential opportunities.
· Experience producing clear, accurate and legally compliant written material (e.g. case files, warrants, interview records and reports).
· Effective communication skills, including the ability to work confidently with senior stakeholders and external partners and give evidence in court.
· Proven ability to plan, prioritise and manage multiple tasks to deadlines.
· Operational capability to lead or support enforcement activity, managing risk and securing best evidence.
· Strong leadership skills, including coaching others, managing performance and supporting colleague wellbeing.
· Confident use of Microsoft Excel and the wider Microsoft 365 suite.
· Resilience, integrity and professionalism, with flexibility to meet operational demands.
Essential Criteria
· Utilisation of criminal justice procedures including knowledge and experience of:
· The rules of chain of evidence
· The PEACE model of interviewing
· Keeping contemporaneous evidential notes
· Taking witness statements
· •Execution of search warrants and production orders
· •Use of the powers within the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 for posts in England and Wales, Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 for posts in Northern Ireland and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 & Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010 for posts based in Scotland
· • Understanding Property Interference as defined within Police Act 1995 and the utilisation of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIPA) Act 2000 and/or Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) 2016
· •Applied knowledge of Criminal Procedure & Investigation Act 1996, (CPIA 96) ensuring strong standards of Disclosure Practise
· Experience of the creation or assurance of investigative strategies, applying technical competence to identify pertinent lines of enquiry including the day-to-day management of criminal investigation cases.
· Command & Control, supporting operational activities to secure best evidence and an understanding of crime scene control, systematic search techniques and risk management
· Strong stakeholder engagement, supporting evidential submissions to the Crown Prosecution Service (For Northern Ireland it is Public Prosecution Service (PPS) and Scotland it is (COPFS) Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service) through the appropriate Manual of Guidance forms and applied quality standards (or equivalents in devolved jurisdictions / agencies with retained prosecuting authority
· Management of others, either operationally or HR people management.
· A full UK driving licence – please see below under licences.
· Due to the nature of the work and to perform the core functions of this role, a full valid UK driving licence and willingness to drive official vehicles is an essential requirement. You will be asked to provide evidence of a valid licence at the pre-employment stage.
Working Arrangements
The nature of criminal investigation work and your role duties mean you must be willing and able to:
- Work your hours flexibly to meet business needs, including at night-time, weekends and public holidays, and change your work pattern at short notice
If required, you must also be able to:
- Be “on-call” throughout the day and night for 1 week out of every 4
- Work a specified number of additional hours
The nature of the attendance requirements and duties of this role mean it isn’t suitable for HMRC’s hybrid working arrangement. FIS will support colleagues receiving the Flexibility Payment to work from home for some of the time, but this won’t be fixed to a number of days per week or month, or to specific days of the week. The role’s attendance requirements also mean some Flexible Working arrangements may not be available – please discuss your situation with us before accepting this role.
Candidates are asked to provide 1 location preference only. Please ensure that you only apply for a location that you are willing and able to work from, as we will only make one offer of employment. Any additional notes included in a ‘Further Location Preferences (optional)’ field within the application form, will not be considered. Please be aware that you cannot change your location preference after submitting your application.
Training
Training Requirement
A comprehensive training programme is provided. There will be a requirement for you to attend a four-week face to face training programme which may take you away from home. Through this training period you will be required to be available full-time.
The programme will comprise three consecutive classroom weeks followed by a return to home office for up to three weeks and then a one week Final Exercise.
This training event will build on previous experience in the Law Enforcement arena and provide a refresh and upskilling in HMRC powers and procedures.
For those that have not previously had the power to carry out an arrest under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, you will be trained to use this power before attending the Final Exercise.
Successful completion of the training course is an essential condition for continuing in the appointed role. Candidates must demonstrate the necessary competencies and meet the assessment standards set out during the training period. If a candidate is unable to successfully complete the training, HMRC may explore suitable alternatives including completing HMRC’s full Criminal Investigation Foundation Training programme, which is 9 weeks and a mixture of digital and face to face events. You would need to be available for the full programme.
Public and Personal Safety Training (PPST) is a crucial element of becoming a criminal investigator. This is a PASS/FAIL event.
The event includes digital and face-to-face training where you will learn practical techniques to ensure your safety and that of your colleagues, as well as how to apprehend and physically restrain suspects and apply handcuffs.
The event is mainly physical and includes scenario-based exercises where you will require an appropriate level of fitness and mobility such as being able to carry equipment up and down stairs and get up and down from the floor unaided.
All officers undertaking this training must obtain a valid occupational health certificate (acquired from HMRC’s healthcare provider) stating they are fit to undertake regular physical training. Once this training is complete, you will have a one-day refresher training event at least every six months after this to ensure you are able to carry out operational duties.
An annual Job Related Ability Test is being introduced for all participants of PPST which is also a Pass/Fail event.
Failure to meet the required standards for the programme will result in appointment to this role being brought to an end and consideration of redeployment into an alternative role. This can result in the removal of the Flexibility Payment (FP) paid in respect of the Criminal Investigator role. Where it is not possible to redeploy the candidate into an alternative role, the candidate may be assigned to the HMRC Redeployment Register.
Candidates appointed on promotion who do not successfully complete the training will revert back to their previous substantive grade and the respective HMRC pay scale for this grade. Where FP is removed, jobholders will not be entitled to a Period of Adjustment (POA), but they will receive 2 months’ notice in writing of the cessation of the allowance.
Additional Security Information
Successful candidates must hold or be willing to hold security Check (SC) Clearance
Licences
A Full UK Driving Licence
We recognise that some people cannot drive due to a disability or underlying health condition and may not be able to meet this requirement. Where this applies, you can apply but will need to declare that you require a reasonable adjustment at the point you receive a provisional offer. The vacancy holder will then discuss your specific requirements to consider if this can be reasonably accommodated in this role.
Technical skills
We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
· Application and working knowledge of Law Enforcement procedures and policies.
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £37,682, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £10,916 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
HMRC operates both Flexible and Hybrid Working policies, allowing you to balance your work and personal commitments. We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible, considering our operational and customer service needs.
We offer a generous leave allowance, starting at 25 days and increasing by a day for every year of qualifying service up to a maximum of 30 days.
· Pension – We make contributions to our colleagues’ Alpha pension equal to at least 28.97% of their salary.
· Family friendly policies.
· Personal support.
· Coaching and development. To find out more about HMRC benefits and find out what it’s really like to work for HMRC hear from our insiders or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service.
Closing date: 6 July 2026.