Job details - Border protection

Meet someone doing the job Andy Dawe

What does this involve?

Britain imports and exports £billions of goods every year, including machinery, alcohol and tobacco, all of it subject to customs duty and tax.

Millions of people travel through Britain's ports and airports every year, and some try to smuggle a huge range of goods into and out of the country, from foodstuffs, technology and drugs, to endangered species and explosives.

While our administration teams and other specialists help deal with the paperwork and processes, our detection staff play a crucial role in preventing and disrupting illegal trade and smuggling.

With an extensive coastline and millions of visitors entering the country through ports and airports, we need to be driven by intelligence and quick to respond to risks wherever they arise.

Our team includes:

Customs Officers.

Working at ports and airports, they act on intelligence to search vehicles and people's belongings, looking for illegal drugs and other prohibited items.

Dog-handling teams.

They undertake searches, with sniffer dogs, of cars and baggage. As well as drugs, our dogs are trained to detect money, tobacco and meat. The handlers are responsible for the training and care of their dog.

Border patrol.

HMRC manages its own fleet of boats to patrol British waters, where it works closely with the police authorities.

Policy.

Here we look at how we deal with complex issues, such as how to deal with storing and handling goods on which duty hasn't been paid.

One important factor to bear in mind is that many of these jobs will require you to work shifts (often at weekends or at night) as our ports and airports are open 24 hours a day.

We usually fill these posts from existing staff, but if we do recruit externally, the jobs will be advertised on our current vacancies page.

What are the career prospects?

Once you have passed your probation, you can apply for posts at higher grades as long as you meet the criteria of the post being advertised and your manager supports your application. Developmental moves within the department are also available.

Where are the jobs?

We have a large number of staff employed at key locations such as Dover, London Heathrow, Manchester, Hull/Immingham and Felixstowe.

However, as the UK has such an extensive coastline and a nationwide network of airports Detection staff are employed at numerous locations throughout the country.

What is the pay?

It depends on the role you’re applying for. As the roles vary, the salary will be advertised at the time we recruit.

What qualifications or qualities are needed to apply?

This depends on the vacancy, but if the job is at Assistant Officer level you would need five GCSE passes (or equivalent) at A-C. Two of these must be Mathematics and English Language. The qualifications needed will be stated in the job advertisement.

When filling these posts, we look for professional and helpful people who enjoy team working. As our ports and airports need to be covered 24 hours a day, we also look for people who are happy to work shifts, often at weekends or at night.