Head of Enforcement and Intelligence
Posted by: Immigration Advice Authority
Employed By: Immigration Advice Authority
Job Title: Head of Enforcement and Intelligence
Salary: The starting salary for the role is £68,331 per annum, increasing to £72,419 after successfully completing 6 months employment
Contract: Full-time
Location: Home working with occasional travel
Application deadline: 11:55 pm on Friday 17th July 2026
This is a high-impact leadership role at a critical point in the IAA’s development. The Head of Enforcement and Intelligence will lead the IAA’s enforcement agenda and intelligence capability, driving a step change in how the organisation tackles illegal immigration advice-giving and associated abuse of the immigration system.
The postholder will lead the move to a more proactive, intelligence-led and disruption-focused model, ensuring the IAA is better equipped to protect advice seekers, target the highest-risk activity, and increase its impact through stronger operational delivery, smarter use of intelligence, and more effective partnership working.
The role will be central to delivering major change over the next two years, including implementation of the IAA’s Enforcement Strategy, introduction of new enforcement powers, modernisation of enforcement and intelligence systems and processes, and implementation of the Intelligence Review.
As a senior leader, the postholder will set direction, drive improved efficiency and performance, build capability and ensure the IAA has the tools, governance and partnerships needed to become a more confident, modern and intelligence-led regulator.
Key responsibilities
Lead the IAA’s enforcement and intelligence agenda
•Provide strategic leadership for enforcement and intelligence across the IAA, setting a clear vision, direction and standards. In line with the IAA’s Enforcement Strategy, the role will lead the creation of a more proactive, intelligence-led and disruption-focused approach to tackling illegal advice-giving and advertising.
•Lead the next phase of the IAA’s enforcement transformation, ensuring the organisation is equipped to protect vulnerable advice seekers, strengthen deterrence, and respond effectively to the growing risks posed by unregulated advisers and professional enablers of immigration abuse.
•Ensure enforcement and intelligence activity is aligned to the IAA’s mission, business plan and wider strategic priorities, with resources focused on the areas of greatest threat, harm and opportunity for deterrence and disruption. This will include ensuring that the role of intelligence and enforcement in supporting the integrity of the wider immigration system and tackling abuse of the system is fully recognised.
•As the senior operational leader for these functions, bring together strategy, operational delivery, capability-building and business change to deliver measurable improvement in disruption outcomes, performance and impact.
•Oversee the embedding and effective use of a new digital case management system for management of intelligence and enforcement cases, utilising the opportunities for increased efficiency, standardisation and continuous improvement.
Oversee all criminal enforcement activity
•Oversee and manage the IAA’s enforcement function, including criminal investigations, disruption activity, operational decision-making, performance, policy, processes and capability. This will incorporate investigations against unregulated advisers and investigations into any criminal activity by the IAA’s regulated advisers, including oversight of all the IAA’s prosecution cases (including acting as Senior Investigation Officer / Senior Authorising Officer as required).
•Set and maintain professional standards for enforcement activity, ensuring investigations, disruptions and prosecution activities are lawful, proportionate, intelligence-led and focused on public protection and deterrence.
•Drive significant improvements in operational effectiveness and efficiency, including stronger case handling, clearer governance, improved workflows and better use of data, technology and management information.
•Provide leadership across the IAA, influencing and coordinating activity beyond the direct management chain to ensure a consistent and effective enforcement approach.
•Lead work to strengthen the IAA’s response to illegal advertising of immigration advice, including through collaboration with external partners and digital platforms where appropriate.
Implement new enforcement powers
The IAA will acquire major new enforcement powers against unregulated advice-giving via the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act (BSAI) 2025. Once secondary legislation has been implemented, the IAA will be able to impose financial penalties and require repayment of fees and payment of compensation to victims. The IAA will also shortly be granted Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) powers.
This role will:
•Lead the operational implementation of new enforcement powers against unrelated advice-giving introduced through the BSAI Act and related legislation;
•Ensure the IAA is operationally ready to use these powers effectively, lawfully and consistently, including development of internal guidance, processes, governance, training and assurance.
•Work closely with policy, legal, regulatory and operational colleagues to shape delivery models, contribute to policy thinking and ensure alignment across the organisation.
Lead intelligence capability and implementation of the Intelligence Review
The IAA is in the process of transforming it’s intelligence function, including implementing recommendations from a review undertaken in March 2025. This transformation will include significant changes to improve the organisation’s capability to process and utilise the intelligence it receives and become truly intelligence-led in its operational activity.
This role will:
•Provide strategic oversight of the intelligence team, building capability, resilience and credibility in a function that will be central to the IAA’s future success.
•Lead delivery of the Intelligence Review, implementing its recommendations across people, process, governance, information and technology, and building a stronger and more effective intelligence function for the IAA.
•Deliver both tactical and strategic intelligence capability, ensuring intelligence is used not only to support individual cases, but also to drive prioritisation, tasking, resource allocation and the organisation’s overall enforcement strategy.
•Lead the development of a strategic intelligence function, including the ability to produce strategic intelligence assessments, threat assessment, problem profiles, control strategies and intelligence requirements to ensure National Intelligence Model (NIM) compliance.
•Ensure intelligence processes are redesigned end to end, from intake and triage through to development, tasking, investigation and feedback, so that the IAA operates as a coherent intelligence-led organisation.
Build partnerships and external influence
•Act as the IAA’s national lead for enforcement and intelligence engagement, building strong operational and strategic relationships with the Home Office, law enforcement agencies, regulators and other key partners.
•Strengthen partnership working to improve intelligence flows, referrals, deconfliction, joint operational activity and multi-agency disruption.
Additional responsibilities
•As a senior leader, make a significant and visible contribution to promoting and upholding IAA values and behaviours.
•Play an active role in the senior leadership of the IAA, contributing beyond the immediate remit of the role where needed.
•Provide line management to the Intelligence Manager and, potentially in future, to enforcement staff conducting criminal investigations.
•Manage within delegated budgets and ensure robust financial control, risk management and effective use of public resources.
•Undertake any other work reasonably required by the Director of Service Delivery, Chief Executive or Commissioner.
How to apply
Application form to be sent along with CV to kelly.percival@immigrationadviceauthority.gov.uk