Job summary This is an exciting opportunity to be part of a new and dynamic team which will introduce a Verification Assurance Officer (VAO) job role within selected Jobcentre and Service Centres.
The role will enable the VAO and Jobcentre colleagues to work together to identify and tackle fraud on the frontline, responding to potential fraud quickly and effectively at the outset. The aim is to prevent fraud entering the welfare system, reduce customer debt and to meet Fraud, Error and Debt strategy and strategic objectives.
As a VAO you will help improve the verification processes by strengthening our fraud controls on the front line. You will support the prevention of intentional fraud entering the welfare system, while actively increasing customer engagement and knowledge, educating them on their responsibilities.
As a great communicator you will also be responsible for raising Jobcentre colleagues' awareness of fraud and by providing practical support, making it clear that everyone has a responsibility to tackle fraud when they suspect it.
Due to the nature of the work, you will be required to be carry out this role fully from a Jobcentre location, the critical part of the role will be interviewing claimants and collaborating with Jobcentre colleagues face to face, so hybrid and home working cannot be considered. Job description As a Verification Assurance Officer, your key tasks will be:
- Work closely with Jobcentre and Service Centre colleagues conducting initial evidence interviews, further evidence interviews and verification activities by integrating within those teams in the sites.
- Conduct robust interviews where a colleague has a suspicion on the validity of documents produced for verification of Identification, housing costs, children and childcare costs elements of Universal Credit.
- Conduct review meetings with customers in scenarios where the Enhanced Review Team (ERT) and the customer have agreed to bring in evidence relating to their claim to a Jobcentre.
- Provide regular feedback at office meetings on trends, patterns of fraud, and how to detect them. Feed information intospecialist risk and intelligence teams within DWP.
- Lead customer education sessions jointly with Jobcentre colleagues to provide clarity on customer responsibilities and the consequences of non-compliance.
- Collate and maintain accurate Management Information (MI) as directed by analysts and performance teams.
Frequent travel between sites may be required depending on business needs. Person specification Key Criteria The successful candidates will need to demonstrate:
- They are highly skilled in customer engagement and conducting effective face to face interviews, able to build rapport and gather relevant information. (First Lead criteria)
- They work at pace, often to tight deadlines, whilst maintaining a focus on continuous improvement and identifying new ways of working. (Second lead criteria)
- Proven people engagement skills, including collaborative working relationships with colleagues and stakeholders across wider teams and organisations.
- Excellent verbal, written communication and organisation skills.
Webinar event We will be holding a webinar event to let you know more about this role.This will take place on
the 2nd of Novemberbetween
12 noon and 1pm. Please follow the link to register for the session. Verification Assurance Officer Webinar
If the webinar page does not open, please check that pop-ups are enabled on your browser . Those who attend may be contacted following the event for evaluation purposes to improve our service.
Civil Service Careers The attached link will take you to the Counter Fraud, Compliance and Debt website which gives you further information about CFCD roles CFCD , Civil Service Careers.
Behaviours We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Managing a Quality Service
- Working Together
- Seeing the Big Picture
- Communicating and Influencing
Benefits
Alongside your salary of 37,664, Department for Work and Pensions contributes 10,911 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).
DWP have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:
- Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
- Generous annual leave at least 23 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (prorata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.
- Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.
- Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).
- Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 years continuous service.
- Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.
- An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Womens Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.
Things you need to know
Artificial intelligenceArtificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection process details This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window) , and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths, Ability and Experience.
Ensure that you read the full information about the selection process thoroughly before starting your application . Please note the closing date for your full application (App lication Form, Tests and Written Statements) is 23:55 onthe 10 th of November 2026 Stage 1 Application Form Please complete the application form with your basic information, which includes your personal details, eligibility to apply and any reasonable adjustments required.
Stage 2 Online Test After submission of the first stage of your application you will be invited to complete a Civil Service Work Strengths Test. If you successfully pass the test, you will be invited to complete the final stage of the application.
Please complete the online tests as soon as possible (within 24-48 hours is recommended), the closing date for the tests is 23:55 on 10/11/2026 . If you fail to complete the online test before the deadline your application will be withdrawn. Guidance for the test will be available when you are invited to take the test. The tests are administered online and accessed via the CS Jobs website.
You will be directed to the Talogy - True Talent Scheduled Maintenance Window Webpage for online tests during an outage.
Our online test supplier will be performing scheduled maintenance between 16:00 and 00:00 on 01/11/2026 . You will be unable to access tests during this period.
If you are in the middle of a test when the maintenance begins, your progress will be paused. You will be able to resume your test from where you left off via your application centre once the downtime has ended. Please note that you will not be able to launch any new tests while the system is offline.
IMPORTANT :After the test deadline, we will look at all candidate scores to decide what the jobs pass mark will be. We will consider the impact on protected groups and the number of invitations to the next stage. We may decide to raise the pass mark for the job - if so, you will be informed, and you will be told if you have passed or failed at the raised standard. Meeting the minimum test requirements for a job level is no guarantee of an invite to continue the selection process.
Stage 3 - Curriculum Vitae (CV) You will be asked to complete a CV with details of your job history, full qualification details, previous skills and experience.You are not required to upload your personal CV.
In the previous skills/experience section you should detail your employment and/or education history relevant to this vacancy(we recommend a maximum of 500 words).
The CV will also cover your work history (we recommend you include up to the last 3 roles of employment history, plus any others that you feel are relevant) and your qualifications.
Your CV will not be formally assessed . click apply for full job details
