Chief Technology Office - Accessibility Consultant

Summary
The first duty of the government is to keep citizens safe and the country secure. The Home Office has been at the front line of this effort since 1782. As such, we play a fundamental role in maintaining the security and economic prosperity of the UK.

The Home Office leads on immigration and passports, refugee protection, counterterrorism, policing, fire services, and crime and drugs policy.

Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) enables the Home Office to keep the UK safe and secure. We design and build the services that help people apply for visas or passports; support policing and counter-terrorism operations; and protect the UK’s borders.

This is an exciting time to be at the Home Office. You’ll have a chance to shape the future and support our mission to deliver exceptional public services that work for everyone.

Our work is guided by these principles:

• We put user needs first
• We value delivery and outcomes over process
• We work in the open

Our flexible working policy ensures a healthy work-life balance. We also nurture talent and offer a broad range of learning and development opportunities that will help you flourish in your role.

We work hard to maintain a positive working culture and are committed to helping you fulfil your potential.

We value diversity and provide an open, inclusive, and supportive environment to help you do your best work.

You can keep up to date with our work on the Home Office DDaT blog.
Job description
This important role requires an experienced individual to help teams, portfolios and programmes to meet:

• Government Service Standard
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AA
• Equality Act 2010
• Public Sector Bodies (Website and Mobile Application) Accessibility Regulations 2018

You will have experience of accessibility and have proven skills in testing using assistive technologies.

You will work with delivery teams to ensure that the public services and internal systems are accessible and work for everyone. This might include supporting them to define accessibility requirements, educating and upskilling team members on how to deliver in accessible ways and supporting test teams to conduct accessibility testing.

You will also play a vital role in providing assurance and oversight of accessibility across delivery teams and portfolios.

You will be very comfortable explaining and demonstrating accessibility issues and you will be eager to transfer your expertise appropriately across the range of digital professionals.

Recruitment and Retention Allowance

This post is eligible for DDaT RRA. Successful candidates with exceptional skills and experience may apply for a Recruitment Retention Allowance up to a maximum of £5000. This allowance is subject to an initial review within six months of taking up the post and thereafter an annual review in line with departmental priorities and could be reduced or withdrawn at any time.
Responsibilities
Your main day to day responsibilities will include:

• Conducting in-house assurance for accessibility through a range of techniques such as holistic reviews, WCAG audits and assistive technology testing.

• Supporting delivery teams to incorporate accessibility in acceptance criteria and to perform manual and automated testing themselves, typically in an agile environment.

• Contributing to and supporting the adoption of accessibility standards and guidance.

• Delivering training on designing, building and testing services for accessibility.

• Working with delivery teams to prioritise issues discovered during testing, along with pragmatic solutions and improvement recommendations.

• Supporting the compilation and publication of accessibility statements in order to meet compliance with accessibility regulations.

Essential Criteria

You’ll have demonstrable experience of:

• Interpreting the latest version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

• Creating and implementing plans for auditing and testing services for compliance with accessibility standards, plus consideration of global accessibility and wider equality legislation.

• Applying a thorough knowledge of assistive hardware/software and activities related to accessibility testing.

• Upskilling and training others in accessibility in order to build capability beyond your specialism.

• Making recommendations to avoid or resolve accessibility issues, and contribute to the development of policies and standards.

• Understanding and explaining the ways people with access requirements, need to use services and things that help/hinder them.

• Writing and communicating in a clear and simple way.

The skills listed above are reflective of the Home Office DDaT Profession Skills and Competency Model (based on the industry standard SFIA framework). Please see below for the relevant skills required for your role:

• User Focus – Level 3
• Communicating Information - Level 3
• Leadership & Guidance - Level 3
• Test Analysis, Design and Execution - Level 3
• Accessibility policy, standards and assurance - Level 3
• Digital Inclusion - Level 3

Desirable Criteria

Ideally you will also have the following skills or some experience in:

• Knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript as well as awareness of JavaScript based frameworks.

• Familiarity with User Centred Design (UCD) principles and practices.

• Completion or active progression of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) CPACC qualification.

Please note: If you are currently an agency member of staff working within the Home Office, you can only apply for roles that are advertised externally, i.e. outside the civil service. If you are eligible to apply for a role, you are required to select yourself as an external applicant and not internal when submitting your application on Civil Service jobs. This will prevent any delays in pre-employment checks should you become successful in being made an offer of employment after the Interview stage.
Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

Application of WCAG 2.1 AA
Understanding of assistive technologies
Test Analysis, Design and Execution

Benefits
• Learning and development tailored to your role

• An environment with flexible working options

• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity

• A Civil Service pension
Things you need to know
Security
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check.

See our vetting charter.
People working with government assets must complete basic personnel security standard checks.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.
This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and a Suitability Statement (Max Word Limit:1250).

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Please note your Statement of Suitability should concisely explain your motivation for applying to this role, and evidencing how you meet the essential criteria listed on the Job Specification.

The sift will be based on the Suitability Statement.

The CV is for information only and will not be marked.

Candidates shortlisted will be invited to an interview which will be Experience based questions and a Technical based task. Details of which will be provided prior to interview.

Sift and Interview Dates

The sift will commence 4th May 2022.

Interviews are expected to take place from 18th May 2022.

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates.

We are closely monitoring the situation regarding Coronavirus, and will be following Central Government advice as it is issued, as such you will be invited to attend a video interview utilising Skype for Business or Microsoft Teams.

Further information

For meaningful checks to be carried out, individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 3 years if the role requires CTC clearance, 5 years for SC clearance and 10 years for DV. A lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder/Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice.

Please read the essential skills for this position carefully. We will only consider those who meet the listed requirement.

If you have previously made an unsuccessful application for a role with the same essential skills and are not able to demonstrate how you have developed these skills since your last application please reconsider applying as your application is unlikely to be successful.

A reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role become available within that period you may be offered this position.

We often have similar roles available at different grades. If a candidate is suitable for a similar role, or a lower grade than they have applied for, we may offer the candidate that role without the need to go through a further selection process providing the role has the same behaviours and essential skills.

Every day, Home Office civil servants do brilliant work to develop and deliver policies and services that affect the lives of people across the country and beyond. To do this effectively and fairly, the Home Office is committed to representing modern Britain in all its diversity, and creating a welcoming, inclusive workplace where all our people are able to bring their whole selves to work and perform at their best.

We are flexible, skilled, professional and diverse. We work to recruit and retain disabled staff and area Disability Confident Leader. We are proud to be one of the most ethnically diverse departments in the civil service. We are a Social Mobility Foundation top 75 employer.

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

Applicants 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 before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant's details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

For further information please see the attached notes for candidates which must be read before making an application.

Existing Civil Servants should note that some of the Home Office terms and conditions of employment have changed. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the Terms and Conditions they will adopt should they be successful in application and should refer to the notes for candidates for further details.

Transfer Terms: Voluntary.

If you are invited to an interview you will be required to bring a range of documentation for the purposes of establishing identity and to aid any pre-employment checks.

Please see the attached list of Home Office acceptable ID documents.

Any move to the Home Office 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 here

Reasonable Adjustments

If a person with disabilities is at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs

• Complete the “Assistance Required” 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 applicants’ section.

A Great Place to Work for Veterans

These roles are included in the pilot phase of this Initiative, which is aimed at encouraging veterans from the armed services into public sector roles.

For more information and eligibility requirements please visit here

Landing page: "https://www.gov.uk/government/news/making-the-civil-service-a-great-place-to-work-for-veterans"

Feedback

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

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

UK nationals
nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
nationals of the Republic of Ireland
nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals

Further information on nationality requirements
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles.
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
Apply and further information
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :

Name : Home Office Resourcing Centre
Email : HORCCampaignTeamDDAT@homeoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team :

Email : HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information
If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the recruitment principles, and wish to make a complaint, then you should contact in the first instance HORecruitment.GRS@cabinetoffice.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission.