The Home Office works to build a safe, fair and prosperous UK. We achieve this through our work on counter-terrorism, policing, crime, drugs policy, immigration and passports. Immigration Enforcement is responsible for enforcing the government’s immigration laws, tackling illegal migration, removing foreign national offenders and immigration offenders from the UK. It also aims to disrupt the organised criminal groups that exploit the vulnerable for their personal gain. Learn more on our careers pages As a key member of the Detention Engagement Team based at Colnbrook and Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centres (IRC), you will work directly with individuals being held securely while their case is progressed. Your role involves face-to-face engagement with them about their return, ensuring they understand the process and steps required to bring their case to a conclusion. You will also be responsible for monitoring and supporting their welfare, raising concerns promptly, ensuring access to information and services, and contributing to a safe, professional and respectful environment within the centre. In this role you’ll be making a genuine difference, supporting vulnerable people at a difficult point in their lives while helping to maintain safe, lawful and effective immigration controls for the UK. Serving as a Detention Engagement Officer means that each working brings new and different experiences. Your role is multifaceted and will involve face-to-face engagement with detained residents, supporting them to understand their case and ensuring they receive clear information at the right time. You will provide steady, practical guidance that helps them move through the immigration process in a safe, lawful and timely way. As a key point of contact, you’ll help maintain strong links between residents, their caseworking teams, on-site healthcare and other service providers, making sure communication is consistent, accurate and dependable. Because much of your work is people-facing and often sensitive, you will need to be a calm, confident communicator who can build trust quickly and maintain professionalism and integrity, even in challenging situations. The role and the environment can be demanding so you’ll need to bring resilience and a confident approach. You’ll operate within a secure facility with residents confined to designated areas. You’ll encounter emotionally charged moments and challenging behaviour, but you won’t face them alone. With comprehensive training and a strong, supportive team around you, you’ll quickly build the confidence and assurance needed to handle complex situations professionally and safely. You also need to be aware that the role can be physically demanding as you’ll spend much of your day on the go. These roles are based at Colnbrook and Harmondsworth IRCs, both of which are located next to Heathrow Airport. The Centres are purpose-built facilities with capacity between them to house around 900 adult men who are either foreign national criminals, immigration offenders, illegal small boats arrivals or failed asylum seekers. Two of the seven residential units at Harmondsworth IRC are built to Category B (high security) prison specifications. The Centres are located next to each other, and you will be expected to work at both. Whilst both have lifts, usage cannot be guaranteed so you will need to be comfortable using stairs. Both Centres can be reached by bus from nearby train stations. Car parking for staff is limited. The successful candidate must be available to attend the centre for all scheduled shifts. Key Responsibilities Conduct face-to-face engagement with residents: Manage interactions with a portfolio of residents, delivering inductions, serving official paperwork and providing clear explanations to help them understand the next steps in their case, which include returning to their country of origin and the consequences of non-compliance. Support vulnerable people: Work collaboratively with all stakeholders to support and signpost vulnerable people. Be the onsite link: Work collaboratively with caseworking teams, healthcare providers and the IRC supplier to resolve issues relating to case progression quickly and professionally. Undertake information gathering and record keeping: You will need to take an unbiased and methodical approach to information gathering. Daily interactions and case updates should be logged promptly and accurately, providing a clear audit trail on Home Office IT systems to support case progression and the smooth running of the team. Work safely and professionally: Act professionally and with integrity, following security, safeguarding and confidentiality requirements at all times. General administrative duties: This includes inbox management and answering phone calls. Working Pattern You will need to undertake your role entirely within the IRC; working from home is not possible. This role is available on a full-time basis, unfortunately, the option of compressed hours working will not be considered. However, this role is suitable for part-time working hours, with a minimum requirement to work three full shifts (22.2 hours) per week across the full range of shifts. Please note that full shifts will be required even if a part time contract is sought. This role requires you to be flexible. Successful candidates will need to be able to attend for early and late shifts. On weekdays, the early shifts are 08.00 to 15.24 and late shifts are 13.36 to 21.00. On weekends and public holidays (excluding Christmas Day and New Years Day), the early shifts are 08.36 to 16.24 and late shifts are 12.06 to 19.30. Candidates are required to be available for all scheduled shifts and will not have the option to select specific shifts. Training You will receive full training and support to do the job. Training takes place initially in the classroom and then continues on the job with a mentor who supports you until you are fully confident in the role. Even then you are never alone; you work as part of a team where there is always someone around for advice and support. This includes our strategic partners Mitie who are responsible for the day-to-day running of the Centre, including the safety and security of staff and residents. Once confident in the role there will be further opportunities for professional development. Further information on what the training involves can be found on our website. Please note that candidates will need to complete Public and Personal Safety Training (PPST) level 2 for this role. Trauma-exposed roles involve working with sensitive and potentially distressing material and supporting vulnerable people. We provide team members with comprehensive support so you can make a real difference in a safe, compassionate environment. Learn more on our website. Meet the team If you want to learn more about these roles you can join one of our free online live events, during which you will hear from current Immigration Enforcement staff about what the job is like, what opportunities and career prospects you will have and why the job matters. We will also talk about the recruitment and security vetting processes, and you’ll have the opportunity to ask questions from our friendly and experienced team members. Register by clicking on the date and time you want to attend. There’s no requirement to attend in order to apply. Tuesday 10 March, 13.00-13.45 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/eo-detention-engagement-officer-online-event-tickets-1983604518512?aff=oddtdtcreator Saturday 14 March, 10.00-10.45 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/eo-detention-engagement-officer-online-event-tickets-1983608309852?aff=oddtdtcreator Wednesday 18 March, 18.00-18.45 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/eo-detention-engagement-officer-online-event-tickets-1983608616770?aff=oddtdtcreator Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme Disability Confident About Disability Confident A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that declares they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer. It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. For more details please go to Disability Confident .