Nature of Appointment: The successful candidate will not be an employee of the Home Office or the Office of the Windrush Commissioner. Accordingly, nothing in this document shall be construed as, or taken to create, a contract of employment between the successful candidate and the Department or His Majesty’s Government.
Appointment Term: The successful candidate’s appointment as Windrush Commissioner will be made by the Home Secretary. The appointment will be for a period of three years.
Re-appointment (or extension) can be made at the end of the period of office for a further term of up to three years at the discretion of Ministers, subject to a satisfactory appraisal of performance and mutual agreement. It should be noted that this post is a public appointment, appointments may be terminated prior to the conclusion of the period of appointment.
Remuneration and Time Commitment:
- The role has a remuneration of £130,000 (per annum pro rata).
- Min 3 days a week (full or part time can be considered)
- The remuneration is taxable through Home Office payroll but the appointment is not pensionable.
- The post holder can claim reimbursement for reasonable travel and subsistence costs necessarily incurred during the course of their duties at rates set centrally.
Location: Flexible, with regular travel to Central London.
Security clearance: The successful candidate will be required to have or be willing to obtain security clearance to SC level. It usually takes between 4-6 weeks to obtain the security clearance. The role will be offered on a conditional basis until the successful candidate has passed all checks. The successful candidate will be encouraged to take up the appointment as soon as possible, subject to the successful completion of all appointment checks.
Confidentiality: The successful candidate will be subject to the provisions of the Official Secrets Act and required to exercise care in the use of official information acquired during official duties, and not to disclose information which is held in confidence.
Disqualification for appointment: There are circumstances in which an individual will not be considered for appointment. They include:
- people who have received a prison sentence or suspended sentence of three months or more in the last five years;
- people who are the subject of a bankruptcy restrictions order or interim order;
- in certain circumstances, those who have had an earlier term of appointment terminated;
- anyone who is under a disqualification order under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986, or Part 2 of the Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1989; and
- anyone who has been removed from trusteeship of a charity.
Further advice about disqualification for appointment can be given by contacting the Public Appointments Team on publicappointments@homeoffice.gov.uk
Standards in public life: You will be expected to demonstrate high standards of corporate and personal conduct. Candidates will be expected to abide by the “Seven Principles of Public Life” set out by the Committee on Standards in Public Life. Failure to do so may result in sanction up to and including dismissal.
Registration of interests: The purpose of these provisions is to avoid any danger of a public appointee being influenced, or appearing to be influenced, by their private interests in the exercise of their public duties.
Public appointments require the highest standards of propriety, involving impartiality, integrity and objectivity, in relation to the stewardship of public funds and the oversight and management of all related activities. This means that any private, voluntary, charitable, or political interest which might be material and relevant to the work of the body concerned should be declared. It is important, therefore, that you consider your circumstances when applying for a public appointment and identify any potential conflicts of interest, whether real or perceived.
There is a requirement to declare any actual or potential conflict of interest you may have in being appointed to the Windrush Commissioner in a separate form. Any actual or perceived conflicts of interest will be fully explored by the Panel at interview stage.
Political Activity: The Windrush Commissioner will need to show political impartiality during their time and must declare significant party-political activity they undertake in the period of their appointment. Details of the successful candidate’s declared political activity must be published by appointing departments when the appointments are publicised.
The Political Activity Declaration will be kept separate from your application and will only be seen by the Panel prior to interview – the Panel may at that stage explore with candidates any potential for conflict of interest. It is appreciated that political activities may have given you relevant skills, including experience gained from committee work, collective decision making, resolving conflict and public speaking. If, therefore, you have had such experience and you consider it relevant to your application for this post, you may if you choose include it separately in the main body of your application.
Equal Opportunities Monitoring: The Home Office is committed to providing equal opportunities for all, irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
As part of the application process, we ask candidates to complete equal opportunities monitoring information. This will help us to monitor selection decisions to assess whether equality of opportunity is being achieved. The information on the form will be treated as confidential and used for statistical purposes only. The form will not be treated as part of your application.
Disability Confident: The Home Office is an accredited user of the government’s “Disability Confident” disability symbol, which denotes organisations which have a positive attitude towards disabled applicants. Applicants who meet the minimum criteria in the job specification are guaranteed an interview (GIS). Selection will be on merit. If you wish to apply for consideration under this scheme, please complete the relevant form on the Miles Advisory website here. It is not necessary to state the nature of your disability.
Whether you choose to apply under the GIS or not you can still ask us to make particular arrangements for you when attending an interview. You can also contact us if you want to discuss the criteria for the role or have questions regarding your application.