Based in HMRC, our Surge and Rapid Response Team Officers get the opportunity to work across the entire Civil Service, when and where needed.
What does the role involve?
Our officers are part of a team carrying out duties in various government departments. Surge and Rapid Response Team (SRRT) work spans a range of Civil Service operations, from calling customers for the Department of Work and Pensions to passport control with Border Force, it can be varied and exciting.
Role responsibilities can include:
- answering inbound calls and making outbound calls to assist customers
- handling casework, mostly over the phone, but sometimes face to face
- using and maintaining multiple government databases
- collaborating with colleagues across government
- assisting high-profile ‘rapid response’ deployments.
Duties can vary and change depending on deployments. Sometimes there can be the occasional need to work away from home or abroad.
What makes a great Surge and Rapid Response Officer?
There are several key behaviours we look for in SRRT, such as helping to foster a ‘continuous improvement’ ethos throughout the team and maintaining a culture committed to equal opportunities.
We like our team members to be:
- Excellent communicators with high standards of customer service skills.
- Highly motivated and able to work with minimum supervision.
- Positive thinkers with the ability to problem solve and achieve outcomes in a timely manner.
- Able to work in a fast-paced environment, with the flexibility to move quickly between tasks and possibly locations.
Watch our videos to find out what its liking working within Surge and Rapid Response
Show video transcript
- [Brian, Operations Lead, Surge and Rapid Response Team, HMRC] Hi I'm Brian and I'm the Operations Lead for the Surge and Rapid Response Team here in Glasgow. It's both challenging and rewarding. It can be challenging when we're supporting crises whether those be National or International and working with some other government departments at short notice. But it's also very rewarding in the knowledge that we're helping customers who might be vulnerable or just in need of our support and help. A day in my life is generally around supporting my team of managers, and their teams. That can be from resolving HR matters or technical queries, to supporting them with personal development conversations or coaching conversations, whether that be to achieve business goals or their personal goals. People should join us because, apart from joining a fantastic team, it's a great opportunity to help people all over the country and sometimes even abroad. If you're looking to join Surge and Rapid Response Team don't tell us what you think we want to hear, showcase the best version of yourself and make it very difficult for us not to want to employ you. The best thing about working in Surge is the people. I work with some fantastic people. Every day they make me proud, they make me laugh, they support both me and each other and their teams. Not sure it's my favourite deployment, but the most interesting deployment was working with the Home Office, Single Competent Authority. I was a team leader at the time and I had a team on there and we were looking in to potential victims of modern day slavery. So you have some extremely vulnerable people in the direst situations and the knowledge that we were able to help free them from their captors, abusers and criminal activities was extremely rewarding, despite the difficult circumstances of the personal stories involved.
- [Text on screen: Find out more about joining the Surge and Rapid Response Team or to apply online visit civilservicejobs.gov.uk]
A day in the life of the Surge and Rapid Response Team – Brian’s Story
Show video transcript
- [Text on screen: What’s it like to work in the Surge and Rapid Response Team?]
- [Rachel, Surge and Rapid Response Team, HMRC] Oh it's amazing! It's so fast-paced, it's dynamic, it's challenging. You're very supported and you get opportunities to work within other government departments. Which means you can network with different people, you can build brilliant relationships, it's just a fantastic place to work.
- [Text on screen: What is a typical working day?]
- [Winnie, Surge and Response Team, HMRC] So a typical day of my life in Surge would be dealing with inquiries from the general public either on the phone or in writing. So sometimes we get the customer or taxpayer calling and they really need our help, so we need to make sure we are here to help them and to answer their queries. Making sure they have the best customer journey.
- [Text on screen: How do you feel you’re making a difference?]
- [Touhid, Surge and Rapid Response Team, HMRC] If the customers are happy, I find myself really energised and my contribution makes the difference so I feel myself proud and happy.
- [Text on screen: What deployments have you been on?]
- [Touhid] Within my around four years I have successfully completed around 25 deployments with various government departments. Which includes, Department for Health and Social Care, DWP, ONS, Home Office and of course some HMRC jobs. I also worked for Cabinet Office and currently I'm working for FCDO.
- [Text on screen: Why should people work for the Surge and Rapid Response Team?]
- [Touhid] They will get the opportunity to work for various government departments, meet different levels of stakeholders from beginning to end of the senior government civil servants, and they can find out themselves what attracts their interests so they can make their career decision.
- [Text on screen: To find out more about joining the Surge and Rapid Response Team or to apply online visit civilservicejobs.gov.uk]
A day in the life of the Surge and Rapid Response Team – Rachel, Winnie and Touhid’s Stories
In SRRT, we pride ourselves on delivering excellent customer service to everyone we support. We are an adaptable, skilled and flexible team who can deploy our staff where and when they are needed the most, often at short notice. This means sometimes working away from your home location, across the UK and sometimes abroad.
When hiring for our roles we ask candidates to consider the following requirements:
Need for flexibility – you may need to change deployment at short notice, and this may involve working away from your home location anywhere in the UK and potentially abroad.
Travel – due to requirements for working away from your home location, you’ll need to be able to travel nationally or abroad, sometimes at short notice. We’ll pay for all travel and accommodation.
Types of deployments – work will be varied and will include face to face engagement with the public and phone work similar to a call centre environment. Computer skills are required but full training is provided.
Hybrid working/host requirements – HMRC operates a hybrid working policy which includes a minimum of 2 days working from home, should you wish. However, the government departments that SRRT support may have different working arrangements, so hybrid working may not always be available.
Travel and expenses – HMRC have travel allowances and expenses allowances if you are deployed away from your home location.
Our officers work up to 37 hours per week, covering various shifts between 7.45am and 8pm from Monday to Saturday and between 8.45am and 5pm on Sundays.
Occasionally they may be required to work more than these standard hours. This may include overtime, shifts, weekends and public holidays.
“This role offers the opportunity to experience the diverse work we carry out across departments in the Civil Service. The skills and knowledge garnered, and relationships forged gives you a huge advantage in identifying and securing those progression opportunities within SRRT or other departments.”
Brian – Operations Lead – Surge and Rapid Response Team (SRRT)
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