National Crime Agency Employee Reviews

“The National Crime Agency (NCA) may tout its achievements, but from an insider’s perspective, it leaves much to be desired. The lack of pay progression makes it difficult to stay motivated in the long run. It’s as though dedication and years of service aren’t valued. Moreover, poor management is rife within the agency, often leading to miscommunications, missed opportunities, and overall inefficiencies. But perhaps the most glaring flaw is the bureaucracy. It seems there are endless hoops to jump through and paperwork to file for the simplest of tasks. And when it comes to making actual decisions? There seems to be a shortage of real decision-makers, leading to prolonged wait times and often, missed opportunities. All in all, the NCA needs a serious revamp.”

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A stepping stone. This isn’t a long term employment opportunity

Quality Assistant (Former Employee) - Tamworth, Staffordshire - 19 September 2023

What is the best part of working at the company?Free parking. Flexibile working What is the most stressful part about working at the company?Job security and the IT system was very basic and in desperate need of updating What is the work environment and culture like at the company?Toxic. Immature management and no recognition for hard work

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Insights into National Crime Agency

Based on 14 survey responses

What people like

Overall satisfaction
Feeling of personal appreciation
Clear sense of purpose

Areas for improvement

Time and location flexibility
Ability to learn new things
Sense of belonging

Nca

Officer (Current Employee) - London - 6 October 2022

goodflexi timegood work life balancenice peoplethe work you do has impact and you aren't treated like a cog in the machine badno pay progression or bonusesno promotion or little job progression opportunity

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No complaints

Intelligence Analyst (Former Employee) - London, Greater London - 16 July 2022

Good place to work in London with good career development opportunities with friendly and supportive management around you which isn’t common now a days

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Poor management and department

Investigator (Former Employee) - Birmingham, West Midlands - 23 May 2022

NCA is no doubt a good organisation when you hear of all the things they do, but I get the impression that is all they care about, getting criminals off the street and do not care about their staff in the process or how this is done. The management is extremely poor and there is a continued lack of support from management and other experienced members of staff. I was new to the organisation and joined during Covid, which may have affected my experience. There was a lack of team dynamics and support, felt very alone, was expected to turn up to jobs that I had 0 experience in as no policing background-this is how they recruited at the time as you did not need any prior experience as they look for the behaviours and attributes you show and mould you to fit the role. Anyway, expected to turn up to jobs with 0 support, during training was shadowing what happened when you deploy and search/arrest, was my first time ever being exposed to this. I was assigned a member of the team that was ‘looking after me’, we turn up and obviously it is a high risk environment, the team member I am shadowing just leaves me stood on my own. Other members of the team who I do not know shouting at me telling me to do things when I do not have the training yet so I have to tell them I can’t assist and they ask why am I just standing there when I was only meant to be ‘shadowing’. Very poor transition for those with no experience even though this is something they really promote but I think serious thought needs to be taken to arrange support and mentoring for this which was not seen in my department. You -

Pros

Good salary

Cons

Long hours, overtime, bad work life balance

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Investigator - Enjoyable but generally full on role.

Investigator (Former Employee) - South East - 13 May 2022

Coming from a policing background I knew it would a job first commitment. Generally worked alongside committed colleague's. Reduced staffing, overtime, increased my travel and times away from home. Overall a good option that appears to have progression opportunities that I never persued as was happy with my role on the ground floor.

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A terrible department to work for

Business Support Officer (Former Employee) - Birmingham, West Midlands - 18 April 2022

The are not supportive at all, very black and white and do not look at individual circumstances. They are very narrow at what see is correct and do not even consider talking to people as individuals.

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Great place to work

Intelligence Officer (Former Employee) - Warrington, Cheshire and North East - 2 April 2022

Loved my time with the NCA. Everyday was a school day and there was a great team spirit. Felt like you were doing something important. Still keep in touch with some of my colleagues.

Pros

Great team spirit and opportunities

Cons

Not as diverse as it should be, Became unwell towards the end, felt a lack of support / bullying nature from line manager, sad to hear he got promoted after I left, he was one of the least supportive when it came to diversity.

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Poor management, Lack of any meaningful development, Good money.

Senior Officer (Former Employee) - Birmingham, West Midlands - 22 January 2022

This job really is pot luck. If you get a good team them you'll have a satisfying job, if you get a bad one then you'll spend most of your time doing boring admin type work. Unfortunately, you get little choice where you are put when you join and they really don't care what your background is. My experience was of a cliquey organisation with poor, amateurish management and no leadership. Some good staff trying their best though, but not appreciated. Pay is good.

Pros

Good money, Some departments doing good work.

Cons

Poor management and no leadership, Pot luck where you're put, Long recruitment time. HR communication is poor

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Many good people trying to do good things

Officer (Current Employee) - Warrington - 15 August 2021

Many good people trying to do good things, but are held back by poor management who fail to look at the whole picture.As a civil service department it is constantly being meddled with for political reasons which makes for a very changeable workplacePoorly paid compared to the police, well paid compared to general civil service

Pros

Job security

Cons

Some teams have a toxic culture

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Jobs at National Crime Agency

Advanced Undercover and Cover Officer

South East

2 days ago

Undercover Officer (Foundation), Specialist Operations - HUMINT

Deputy Director Investigations

London

18 days ago

This is a fantastic place to work

Pofessional Standards Unit Officer (Former Employee) - CItadel Place, Vauxhall, London - 30 March 2020

This is a fantastic place to work. Although the nature of the work is critical and highly confidential, the teams I worked with were really helpful and fun to work with. NOthing was too much trouble though, more training is needed for new staff in order to understand the agency

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It an ok place to work

Senior Investigator (Current Employee) - London - 3 March 2020

Slower paced than police. Pay pensions no where near as good as the police. Good work life balance Most jobs are behind desks only about 20% of work force are out on the ground

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Varied work structures across agency

N/A (Current Employee) - North West - 15 November 2019

Development opportunities vary depending on the area worked in, it is more grade focused than other civil service departments. Recruitment process is long due to background checks. Communication during the process is slow, as it is a central inbox that you have to send queries into, you don't always received a reply.

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Amazing

Head of Innovation (Former Employee) - London South East, Greater London - 10 November 2019

Amazing place to work, thoroughly enjoyable experience. Great people with a similar mindset to protect the public in UK and internationally. A great agena

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Varied and interesting work streams

Data Scientist (Current Employee) - London, Greater London - 23 May 2019

The NCA is a unique and diverse workforce. Various different departments, work streams and opportunities to collaborate with other law enforcement agencies and industry.

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Good

Financial Investigator (Former Employee) - London, Greater London - 12 December 2018

Good. I thought that working for this Company was a good experience and I thought my time there was very good and the people were very good. Working there was very good

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helpful

Investigation Officer (Current Employee) - Sheffield, South Yorkshire - 27 June 2018

Helpful and will lead to new opportuntities. There is a culture of all involved and the management system is one that invokes confidence in staff. The overall attitude is to succeed.

Pros

Good colleagues

Cons

Lack of bases to work from

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Good hard work

Head of the UK International Crime Bureau (Former Employee) - Warrington, Cheshire - 27 March 2018

Enjoyed working at the NCA, a good place for a good manager, if willing to work hard. Somewhat too fixated on process at a non essential level but getting there.

Pros

Good work

Cons

working away from home

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Great potential for the future

Deputy Director (Current Employee) - Greater London - 13 March 2018

Some excellent people but an organisation still growing and maturing. It has had a lot of change of processes and people and it has been unsettled for too long. This will change in the months ahead. Some investigations are exceptional and I’m sure the organisation will be better in 6-12 months.

Pros

Flexible working

Cons

Too much energy on change for too long now

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Hostile place to work

PA to Director (Former Employee) - Pimlico - 9 March 2018

Hostile working environment. Unreasonably high demand of work to turnover in an unrealistic time frame. Work culture was about 20 years behind - very behind on the equality agenda!

Pros

Engagement with other organisations

Cons

Culture

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Worst job i have ever

Office Administrator (Former Employee) - Warrington, Cheshire - 4 December 2017

Definately not what it says on the tin. Two ticks organisation??!! Do they even know what that means. Staff morale is low, poor training plans for new starters, jobs for the boys culture and inability to tackle bullying issues especially towards higher management. Even awarding such behaviour in some instances. Failing to see how this meets thier responsiblity of health and well being of staff. Better treatment working in McDonalds!! Offices are vey remote with no public transport, nearest station being a good half an hour walk along a very dark secluded path to the nearest major transport facility's, increased unavailibility of access to staff parking at the site.