Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Public Facing Services Officer
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Milton Keynes
Job Summary
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office pursues our national interests and projects the UK’s role in the world. We promote the interests of British citizens, safeguard the UK’s security, defend our values, reduce poverty and tackle global challenges with our international partners. We employ more than 17,000 staff in 179 countries and territories, across our diplomatic and development offices worldwide, which consists of 282 officially designated Posts. Our UK-based staff work in King Charles Street, London, Abercrombie House in East Kilbride and Hanslope Park in Milton Keynes.
Job Description
We are looking to recruit talented and enthusiastic individuals to join the Public Facing Services (PFS) department in Hanslope Park, Milton Keynes.
PFS provides important Consular services to British nationals and other members of the public, handling hundreds of thousands of applications a year. The department is dynamic, innovative and fast moving, providing several streams of essential services to the public unavailable through any other means. Working within this department, you will have a unique opportunity to deliver Consular services in the UK on behalf of the FCDO as part of a friendly, professional, and hard-working team.
Roles And Responsibilities
The successful candidates will be responsible for:
Processing Applications At Pace Across The Five Service Streams Listed Below, Following Set FCDO Policy And Procedures To Ensure Users Receive Prompt And Professional Service. This Includes:
- Directly supporting British Nationals and others by quickly and accurately processing Legalisation applications and managing customer expectations.
- Processing Overseas Birth and Death Registration applications, registering births and deaths, and issuing certificates.
- Handling Taking of Evidence overseas cases, ensuring overseas authorities consent to the taking of evidence from their territory via video link.
- Processing Service of Process cases, ensuring court documents are served overseas via diplomatic channels.
- Assessing Academic Technology Approval Scheme applications for overseas students looking to study in the UK.
Customer Services: Providing guidance, answering queries, and resolving issues for customers across all streams, dealing with them professionally and within agreed timeframes to deliver excellent customer service
Person specification
You must be a British Citizen at the time of application and, if invited to interview, you will need to bring proof of identity (British Passport/Driving Licence etc.) with you.
This role requires you to attain Developed Vetting (DV) security clearance.
For more information about this process, click here. Attaining DV will require you to have been resident in the UK for five of the last ten years. At least one year of this must have been a consecutive twelve-month period. Serving overseas with HM Forces, in some other official capacity as a representative of His Majesty’s Government or having lived overseas as a result of your parents’ or partner’s Government employment counts as UK residency for the purposes of security clearances.
It is essential in your application that you provide evidence and proven examples in each of the following Minimum Criteria, the Behaviours and the Technical question as far as you are able to do so. These responses will be further developed and discussed with those candidates invited for interview.
Essential Criteria
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- Ability to work at pace and complete tasks to a high standard.
- Strong interpersonal, team-working and communication skills (oral and written).
- Good organisational, analytical and planning skills with the ability to work to tight deadlines.
- Competent in the use of Microsoft Office applications.
- Ability to make effective decisions, identify problems and propose solutions to maintain a quality service.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Delivering at Pace
- Managing a Quality Service
- Making Effective Decisions
We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:
- Delivering at Pace
- Managing a Quality Service
Alongside your salary of £29,500, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office contributes £8,546 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).
- A Civil Service Pension
- 25 days Annual Leave per annum
- 9 days Public and Privilege holidays per annum
- Learning and Development tailored to your role.
See the attached candidate pack
Artificial intelligence
Artificial 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, Ability and Experience.
Please see the ‘Hints and Tips’ that are provided for your information about how to prepare Behaviour examples at the Application and/or
Application Stage
You will be required to complete a short application form. You will then be invited to complete a Civil Service Verbal Test and a Civil Service Numerical Test.
If you successfully pass these tests, you will be invited to complete the final stage of the application which will comprise of your CV, 500-word Personal Statement and answering two Behaviour questions. Please ensure that you allow sufficient time to complete the whole application process before the closing deadline.
The Behaviours you will be assessed on at the application stage are as follows:
- Delivering at Pace
- Managing a Quality Service
IMPORTANT: If you are applying under the Disability Confident Scheme and require Reasonable Adjustments in order to complete your application/ online tests, please ensure Government Recruitment Service (GRS) are aware of this on the date of application and certainly by the closing date. In the event of a large number of applications, we may conduct an initial sift by a lead criterion. For this campaign we will be prioritising Managing a Quality Service. Only candidates who meet the minimum standard in this Behaviour will have the rest of their application fully assessed.
Interview Stage
At the start of your interview, you will be asked a non-assessed warm-up question about your motivation for applying for the role.
The Behaviours you will be assessed on during the interview are as follows:
- Delivering at Pace
- Managing a Quality Service
- Making Effective Decisions
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
Please note that the FCDO carries out name-blind (anonymised) recruitment to help build a more diverse and inclusive workforce. The personal information on your Application form and/or CV will be concealed during the sifting phase, and only the names of those who are being invited for Interviews will be made known to the Panel. The FCDO has appointed the Government Recruitment Service to manage the process.
Please See Below For Indicative Dates:
- Closing Date for Completed applications: 23:55 on Monday 28th September 2026
- Online Testing: Between Thursday 27th August and Monday 28th September 2026
- Panel Interview: Week Commencing Monday 2nd November 2026
If you are successful at the application stage, you will be invited to attend a panel interview at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. This will be held remotely on Microsoft Teams and details will be given to candidates who are successful at the sift stage.
Reasonable Adjustment
If a person with disabilities is put 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 fcdorecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
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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.
Further Information
- A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.
- Any move to FCDO 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
- 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.
- A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.
- If you are experiencing accessibility problems reading the Candidate Pack, such as through screen reader software, please contact our Team via fcdorecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk and we will share a Word version of this.
- If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.
- In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.
- However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you
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