Customs Officer
What is the work like?
Officers working for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) collect a range of taxes and duties, control imported and exported goods, and prevent banned items from entering or leaving the country.
As a detection officer or customs officer with HMRC's border protection division, you would work in airports and ports to collect customs duty and prevent smuggling and illegal trade. You might:
- search luggage, vehicles and travellers
- check customs documents
- question people who have been found with illegal items or excess goods
- arrest and charge people
- prepare reports and witness statements
- take on specialist roles such as dog handling or undercover and surveillance work.
When necessary, you would attend court as a witness, and work closely with other agencies like the police and the Home Office.
What qualifications and experience will employers look for?
Detection officers and customs officers are jobs at HMRC’s Officer grade. You would normally join as an administrative assistant or assistant officer and earn promotion to officer, although HMRC sometimes recruits directly into officer grade.
To join at Officer grade you are likely to need five GCSEs (A-C) including English and maths, plus two A levels or equivalent qualifications. You will normally need two GCSEs (A-C) to join HMRC as an administrative assistant, and five GCSEs (A-C) including maths and English for assistant officer jobs.
However, if you do not have these qualifications, you may be able to instead take a selection test to prove your skills and abilities in areas like teamwork and communication. Please check entry requirements for each vacancy.
You must also meet the Civil Service nationality requirement. All jobs are open to British nationals and many are also open to Commonwealth citizens or European Union nationals.
See the HMRC website for more information about recruitment.
What further training and development can I do?
You would be trained on the job through a mixture of structured in-house training courses and learning from experienced staff. Training usually lasts around nine months, and may include some residential training courses.
You are encouraged to identify your own training needs throughout your career, as part of an appraisal and staff development programme.
Where can I go for more information?
Related profiles...
Civil Service Administrative Officer
What salary and other benefits can I expect?
- Salaries at assistant officer grade start at £15,262 a year.
- Officers earn between £19,587 and £25,206 a year.
- Salaries after promotion to higher officer grades are between £24,513 and £38,099 a year.
There are also extra allowances for working unsocial hours, and people working in London will receive a higher rate of pay.
Figures are intended as a guideline only.What are the hours and working conditions?
As a full-time officer you would work 36 hours a week over five days. In a border protection role you would work shifts to cover 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Flexitime, job sharing or part-time work may be available.
You would be based at airports and seaports. In all cases, you would also attend court when necessary.
What skills and knowledge will I need?
- good judgement and decision making ability
- accuracy and attention to detail
- the ability to work alone and also as part of a team
- good listening and questioning skills
- a tactful but assertive manner
- honesty and fairness in applying rules.
What opportunities are there?
Jobs are advertised on the HMRC and Civil Service Recruitment Gateway websites, in the local and national press and in Jobcentre Plus.
There is a clear promotion and grade structure within HMRC, although you may need to relocate to progress to higher grades.
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