DDaT - Chief Technology Office - Accessibility Consultant

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, counter terrorism, 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 Home Office systems be holistically accessible to people with access needs, as well as meeting the:

Home Office Accessibility StandardWeb Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2+ AA
Government Service Standard
Equality Act 2010
Public Sector Bodies (Website and Mobile Application) Accessibility Regulations
The team also collaboratively develops and embeds the standard into processes and professions, then assesses the efficacy of controls to meet it. This includes assurance of checks performed by testers, plus advising development teams and content producers.

You will play a vital part in our central Accessibility Assurance team, in the Chief Technology Office of the Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) directorate. You are very comfortable engaging with a range of people to effectively transfer your expertise - through conversations, presentations, training or written guidance. You are confident with getting hands on with systems to find, demonstrate and explain accessibility issues, at all stages of the software lifecycle.

Your main day to day responsibilities will be:

• Contributing to and supporting the adoption of accessibility standards for services, suppliers, DDaT professions and other roles.

• Delivering training, consultancy and guidance about providing services/content/resources to meet access needs. This includes research, design, procurement, implementation/build and test stages.

• Conducting in-house assurance of accessibility to reduce risks, by performing and reporting on reviews of delivery teams’ actions, practices and plans, as well as testing against WCAG.

• Working with delivery teams on prioritising accessibility issues discovered during planning or testing or user research, providing pragmatic recommendations and on fixes and publishing an effective statement.

• Supporting the compilation of data about products, their conformance with governance processes and compliance with accessibility regulations.

You will also be expected to carry out the following day to day activities:

• Participating in ways to improve the team’s effectiveness and efficiency.

• Contributing to, supporting and sharing the work of the accessibility community across government.

• Keeping up to date and sharing accessibility and usability trends and techniques.

This post is eligible for a DDaT RRA. Successful candidates with exceptional skills & experience may apply for a Recruitment & Retention Allowance.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.

Person specification
You will have experience of accessibility and have demonstrable skills in testing manually and using tools and assistive technologies on a range of browser and devices. With other consultants you will drive greater accessibility of the internal and public digital products that are built/procured/used by Home Office. Together you will improve the capability, confidence and culture of delivery teams to exceed our standard and legal requirements.

Essential criteria

You’ll have demonstrable experience of:

• Interpreting the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and good practices for web pages and other formats.

• Creating and executing plans for testing services for compliance with accessibility standards plus consideration of wider equality requirements.

• Examining and advising about accessible HTML and CSS code as well as awareness of JavaScript and frameworks.

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

• Making recommendations to avoid or resolve accessibility issues and eliminate disadvantage due to processes or policies.

• Understanding and explaining the ways people with access requirements, need to use services and things that help/hinder them. Please see link to the technical skills. Accessibility Specialist role in the government Digital Data and Technology profession

Desirable criteria

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

• Assurance of others work and giving feedback.

• Working on digital transformation of services and an understanding of the social and technological context for those services.

• Planning, developing and delivering training as well as evaluating it’s effectiveness.

• Liaising with suppliers, managers and specialists (such as researchers, designers, developers) to understand their circumstances, then advise on appropriate steps to take to be inclusive.

• Writing and communicating in a clear and simple way.

• Familiarity with user centred design (UCD) principles and practices.

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

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

Communicating Information
Consultancy
Leadership & guidance
Technical understanding (accessibility)
Testing
User Focus
Benefits
Learning and development tailored to your role
An environment with flexible working options
A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
Things you need to know
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), 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 detailing job history/qualifications/skills
A statement of suitability (personal statement) (maximum 1000 words)
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 in the job advertisement.

For guidance read: How to write your personal statement.

An initial sift will be based on the CV and the statement of suitability which will be marked.

Candidates shortlisted will be invited to an interview which will be technical skills based. A task will be set alongside the interview invitation. The submission deadline will be a few days before the interview.

Sift and Interview dates

The sift will be from week commencing the 22nd January 2024.

Interviews are expected to take place from week commencing the 12th February 2024.

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.

Interviews will be carried out via video. Candidates will be required to have access to:

A laptop (personal or work) with a working webcam
Good internet connection
Skype for Business/Microsoft Teams
PLEASE NOTE: Due to time constraints we may not be able to offer alternative interview date(s). It is therefore expected that candidates who are successful at sift stage will make themselves available during the above time frame given.

Further Information

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.

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 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.

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working.  This is a non-contractual arrangement where all employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estates capacity, by Spring 2024. Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details).

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.

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.

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 https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

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.

Feedback



Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:

UK nationals
nationals of the Republic of Ireland
nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) 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 (opens in a new window).
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.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Apply and further information
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) 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 - DDaT Resourcing
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.