Appointment details

National Crime Agency Non-Executive Director

Summary

• Organisation: National Crime Agency
• Sponsor department: Home Office
• Location: London
• Sectors: Judicial, Prisons & Policing
• Skills: Judicial
• Number of vacancies: 1
• Time commitment: 24 day(s) per annum
• Remuneration: £15000 per annum
• Length of term: 3 years
• Application deadline: 11:55pm on 13 January 2025

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Timeline for this appointment

1. Opening date

   6 December 2024

2. Application deadline

   11:55pm on 13 January 2025

3. Sifting date

   31 January 2025

4. Interviews expected to end on

   7 February 2025

Timeline dates are only an estimate and can change

About the appointment

Additional introductions

Opening message from Graeme Biggar 

CBE, Director General, National Crime Agency

Thank you for considering the role of Non-Executive Director at the National Crime Agency. If you are seeking a unique, exciting and rewarding place to work where you can make a difference, 

then you have come to the right place.

The NCA comprises a range of roles, requiring a host of different skills. We need people with 

different backgrounds, skills and perspectives to perform these roles, and then we need 

everyone to work together seamlessly to deliver the mission of protecting the public from 

serious and organised crime. So, diversity and inclusion are not an add on for us; they are 

fundamental to who we are and what we do. It also makes us vibrant, flexible and resilient. It is 

one of our greatest strengths.

We are actively seeking experience and insights through our Non- Executive Directors, who 

bring independent advice, support and challenge to the NCA. Using their extensive external 

experience, their contribution to the NCA Board and its supporting committees is vital in 

helping us succeed in our demanding mission. They helped us formulate our current five-year 

strategy and support us and hold us to account in our delivery of it.

To complete our team of four Non-Executive Directors, we are in particular looking for an 

individual who can offer experience or knowledge of the operational work of law enforcement, 

intelligence or related fields. This might come from a career in these fields, or working in 

close partnership with them, or knowledge gained from a close stakeholder relationship.

I am excited to offer an opportunity to join our team in this capacity to help us to achieve our 

mission. If you have the relevant skills and experience then I look forward to receiving your 

application. 

Context

The Civil Service delivers public services and supports the government of the day to develop 

and implement its policies. Much of this work happens in our individual Departments (of which 

there are over 40), but we also have 12 cross-Government functions - along with numerous 

arms’ length bodies who work across the public sector.

Appointment description

This role is a Non-Executive Director role. The role of the Non-Executive Board Member is a key post contributing to the NCA Board the Audit and Risk Committee and potentially other 

committees which are essential to the success of the NCA. 

As a NED you will use your skills and experience to bring an independent perspective, and to offer constructive advice and challenge, to help to develop the strategy and performance of 

the Agency. You will do this in line with the DG’s direction for the Agency and within the scope of the Home Secretary’s strategic priorities.

Time Commitment: Approximately 20-24 days per annum.

Duration: 3 years with an option of extending for a further 3 years.

Location: Regular travel to London* and other NCA sites around the UK will be required to 

attend meetings.

*Under the NCA Estates Strategy, the London office is part of a planned relocation to a new NCA HQ in 

Stratford, London. Relocation is expected to take place in 2025. 

Remuneration: £15,000 - we will reimburse all reasonable expenses including T&S and further expenses in line with NCA policies.

Among other things, Non-Executive Board Members will attend up to six NCA Board meetings per year which is chaired by the DG NCA in addition to Audit and Risk Assurance Committee 

which is chaired by a NED, and potentially other committee meetings.

In line with Government best practice, the responsibility of the Board includes the following 

areas:

a. Strategic Clarity: setting the vision and ensuring all activities contribute towards it;

b. Commercial Sense: ensuring sound financial management; scrutinising the allocation of 

financial and human resources; ensuring organisational design supports strategic objectives; setting the NCA’s risk appetite and ensuring controls are in place to manage risk 

and to ensure value for money;

c. Talent Management: ensuring the NCA has people to deliver current and future needs;

d. Performance Monitoring: agreeing the NCA business plan; monitoring and steering performance against the plan; scrutinising performance and setting values and standards; 

ensuring clear, consistent, comparable performance information is used to drive improvements.

Our Non-Executive Directors are expected to contribute to the work of the Agency in the following areas:

Independence: provide an independent and diverse perspective and assurance, including advice to Director General NCA, on the capability of the agency. Provide independent support, guidance and challenge on the progress and implementation of the business plan; 

People: develop the Agency’s people strategy, including ethical and directional issues such as diversity and senior jobholder moves as well as community outreach strategies; 

Strategy: within the scope of the Home Secretary’s strategic priorities for the Agency, constructively challenge and contribute to the development of strategy and business planning, including the setting and development of key objectives and targets;

Support: aid the Board to develop the skills and tools needed for it to engage with strategic issues in ways that have practical resonance; 

Performance: scrutinise the performance of the Agency in meeting agreed goals and objectives, and monitor the reporting of performance, including financial targets: 

Governance: satisfy themselves that governance, internal control and risk management systems are effective and capable of delivering relevant, accurate and timely management and financial information to the Board. 

Connect: link the Board to people and organisations who can provide different perspectives, opinions and expertise which will assist in furthering the business of the agency. 

Specifically, this role will focus on the intelligence and investigative arms of the business, providing advice, support and challenge and scrutinise their performance against the NCA’s strategy and priorities

Organisation description

This role is based in the National Crime Agency which is a non-ministerial department, responsible for leading the UK’s fight to cut serious and organised crime. We are an

intelligence-led law enforcement agency. You can find out more about the organisation at www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk or by looking at the NCA Annual Plan 2022-23 and Annual

Report and Accounts 2022 -2023 all available on the NCA website.

Person specification

Essential criteria

The Civil Service is open to talented people from any career background: we will always seek 

to identify transferable skills from the individual’s experience. To help you succeed in this role, 

you will likely have:

• Excellent leadership and change management skills, with the breadth of vision, innovation 

  and experience to take a long-term view on what the Agency might achieve and to advise 

•   on how to make that happen.

• Ability to provide objective and rigorous challenge and scrutinise performance, as well as 

  effective advice, to develop and enhance executive thinking.

• Ability to engage and develop relationships with senior stakeholders within government, 

  law enforcement and private sector, acting with integrity and transparency at all times.

• Ability to deploy experience of working with a range of diverse organisations to both 

develop and assure process and operational delivery in the NCA.

• We are seeking someone with senior experience in intelligence, investigations and/or 

   security matters. This might come from a career in these fields, or working in close 

   partnership with them, or knowledge gained from a close stakeholder relationship

• We are seeking someone who can share their experience of leading and managing large 

   and complex organisations at a senior level – preferably at Board-level or equivalent.

• We are seeking someone who will support and influence the strategic direction of the 

  agency, ensuring alignment with our agency values at each stage of delivery of the NCA 

  Strategy 2023-28

Desirable criteria

• Experience of working in a multi-agency environment and in organisations undergoing 

  significant change would be beneficial

• Experience of holding a Trustee and/or Board level role.

Application and selection process

How to apply

To apply, please submit your application to SCS.appointments@nca.gov.uk

You will need to submit the following information by no later than 23:55 13th January 2025.

• Your CV, with educational and professional qualifications and full employment history, 

including an explanation of any gaps in your employment history, and details where 

possible of budgets and numbers of people

• A short covering statement of no more than two A4 sized pages (1000 words) explaining

why this appointment interests you and how you can evidence your suitability for the role, 

with particular reference to the criteria in the ‘relevant experience’ section on page 6 of this 

advert.

• Notification of any dates you are unable to accommodate within the indicative timetable set 

out above.

You will also be asked to complete a diversity monitoring form.

Please note that references and open-source due diligence checks (including into social media accounts) will be undertaken for all short-listed candidates.

Advisory Assessment Panel (AAP)

Other panel members at the interview will include but may not be limited to:

Claire Smith, NCA Director General Capabilities

Sir Jonathan Stephens, NCA Lead Non-Executive Director

Chris Jones, Home Office Director Strategy and Engagement

Full details will be provided to shortlisted candidates and we will do our best to arrange the sessions in a way that works for you. We hope that this process will be conducted in face-to?face sessions, but if you need any adjustments do let us know

Advisory Assessment Panels (AAP) are chosen by ministers to assist them in their decision-making. These include a departmental official and an independent member. For competitions recruiting non-executive members of a board (apart from the Chair), the panel will usually include a representative from the public body concerned.

AAP’s perform a number of functions, including agreeing an assessment strategy with ministers, undertaking sifting, carrying out interviews in line with the advertised criteria and deciding objectively who meets the published selection criteria for the role before recommending to ministers which candidates they find appointable. It is then for the minister to decide who to appoint to the role.

Security clearance

If successful you must hold, or be willing to obtain, security clearance Developed Vetting. More information about the vetting process can be found here: NCA Vetting and PESC Guide

Additional information for candidates

Equality and diversity

We encourage applications from talented individuals from all backgrounds and across the whole of the United Kingdom. Boards of public bodies are most effective when they reflect the diversity of views of the society they serve.

We collect data about applicants’ characteristics and backgrounds, including information about people’s educational and professional backgrounds, so that we can make sure we are attracting a broad range of people to these roles and that our selection processes are fair for everyone. Without this information, it makes it difficult to see if our outreach is working, if the application process is having an unfair impact on certain groups and whether changes are making a positive difference.

When you submit your application, your responses are collected by the Cabinet Office and the government department(s) managing your application. The data is used to produce management information about the diversity of applicants. You can select “prefer not to say” to any question you do not wish to answer. The information you provide will not be seen by the Advisory Assessment Panel who review applications against the advertised criteria and conduct interviews.

Disability confident

We are a member of the Government’s Disability Confident scheme. We use the Disability Confident scheme symbol, along with other like-minded employers, to show our commitment to good practice in employing people with a disability. The scheme helps recruit and retain disabled people. As part of implementing the scheme, we guarantee an interview for anyone with a disability whose application meets the essential criteria for the role, set out in the advert, and who has asked that their application is considered under the scheme. Indicating that you wish your application to be considered under the scheme will in no way prejudice your application. By ‘essential criteria', we mean that you must provide evidence which demonstrates that you meet the level of competence required under each of the essential criteria, as set out in the job-advert. When you apply you will have the opportunity to select if you would like your application considered under this scheme.

Reasonable adjustments

We are committed to making reasonable adjustments to make sure applicants with disabilities, physical or mental health conditions, or other needs are not substantially disadvantaged when applying for public appointments. This can include changing the recruitment process to enable people who wish to apply to do so.

Some examples of common changes are:

• ensuring that application forms are available in different or accessible formats;
• making adaptations to interview locations;
• allowing candidates to present their skills and experience in a different way;
• giving additional detailed information on the selection / interview process in advance to allow candidates time to prepare themselves;
• allowing support workers, for example sign language interpreters;
• making provision for support animals to attend.

When you apply you will have the opportunity to request reasonable adjustments to the application process.

Principles of public life

The Seven Principles of Public Life (also known as the Nolan Principles) apply to anyone who works as a public office-holder.

1. Selflessness

Holders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest.

2. Integrity

Holders of public office must avoid placing themselves under any obligation to people or organisations that might try inappropriately to influence them in their work. They should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends. They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.

3. Objectivity

Holders of public office must act and take decisions impartially, fairly and on merit, using the best evidence and without discrimination or bias.

4. Accountability

Holders of public office are accountable to the public for their decisions and actions and must submit themselves to the scrutiny necessary to ensure this.

5. Openness

Holders of public office should act and take decisions in an open and transparent manner. Information should not be withheld from the public unless there are clear and lawful reasons for so doing.

6. Honesty

Holders of public office should be truthful.

7. Leadership

Holders of public office should exhibit these principles in their own behaviour and treat others with respect. They should actively promote and robustly support the principles and challenge poor behaviour wherever it occurs.

Code of conduct for board members

The Government expects all holders of public office to work to the highest personal and professional standards. In support of this, all non-executive board members of UK public bodies must abide by the principles set out in the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies. The Code sets out the standards expected from those who serve on the boards of UK public bodies and will form part of your terms and conditions of appointment.

Management of outside interests and consideration of reputational issues

Holders of public office are expected to adhere and uphold the Seven Principles of Public Life and the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies. Before you apply you should consider carefully: 

• any outside interests that you may have, such as shares you may hold in a company providing services to government; 
• any possible reputational issues arising from your past actions or public statements that you have made; 
• and/or - any political roles you hold or political campaigns you have supported; 

which may call into question your ability to do the role you are applying for.

You will need to answer relevant questions in relation to these points when making an application. Many conflicts of interest can be satisfactorily resolved and declaring a potential conflict does not prevent you from being interviewed. If you are shortlisted for an interview, the panel will discuss any potential conflicts with you during that interview, including any proposals you may have to mitigate them and record that in their advice to ministers. Alongside your own declaration, we will conduct appropriate checks, as part of which we will consider anything in the public domain related to your conduct or professional capacity. This may include searches of previous public statements and social media, blogs or any other publicly available information. The successful candidate(s) may be required to give up any conflicting interests and their other business and financial interests may be published in line with organisational policies. 

Details of declared political activity will be published when the appointment is announced, as required by the Governance Code (political activity is not a bar to appointment, but must be declared).

Application feedback

We will notify you of the status of your application. We regret that we are only able to offer detailed feedback to candidates who have been unsuccessful at the interview stage.

How to complain

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the recruitment principles or you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, please raise it with Naomi 

Amor, Deputy Director Human Resources, by emailing naomi.amor@nca.gov.uk

Contact details

N/A

Attachments

• Candidate Pack

• Diversity Form