National Crime Agency: 35 Employee Reviews
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Poor management and department
Investigator (Former Employee) - Birmingham, West Midlands - 23 May 2022
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The most useful review selected by IndeedNCA 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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Insights into National Crime Agency
What people like
- Ability to meet personal goals
Areas for improvement
- Time and location flexibility
- Inclusive work environment
- General feeling of work happiness
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 workplace Poorly 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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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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Jobs at National Crime Agency
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.
Pros
None
Cons
Too long to list.
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Employee
Employee (Current Employee) - UK - 20 November 2017
This job is all you would expect. The pay is not great, although this is to be expected for vocational work of this type. There is a culture of ongoing change which is not always for the better. The management appear to do their best.
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Mixed feelings
Investigation Officer (Former Employee) - London, Greater London - 7 November 2017
As an investigator, the NCA has a great deal of potential for developing experience. However there is an overall sense that it doesn’t quite know what type of organisation it wants to be.
Pros
Plenty of opportunities for gaining experience
Cons
Not quite sure what it wants to be
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Good employer
Officer (Current Employee) - UK - 2 October 2017
As with most Government departmnets NCA offer good terms and conditions and flexible working when possible. Benefits include flexi time, excellent pension and good annual leave
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This is not the UK FBI
Intelligence Officer (Former Employee) - London, Manchester & Europe - 4 September 2017
As a law enforcement and intelligence professional, I am dismayed by the claims and promises made by the NCA. The organisation (although it is NOT organised) has been hemorrhaging experienced, skilled staff since its inception and expects replacements (with no law enforcement background) to step into some very big shoes overnight, relatively speaking.
So, what's missing? Maybe a short history lesson might help..
Not since the days of the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) working with the National Crime Squad (NCS) has the UK had a coordinated, focused, effective response to organised crime.
The two key words here are National and Crime.
Seasoned, experienced specialists from our police forces, who had learned their craft during years of service locally and regionally were selected to operate at a national and international level.
These men and women 'of a like mind' and experts at networking with each other, had a deep understanding of organised crime groups, knew how to use intelligence, gather evidence and arrest shrewd, cunning individuals. They even managed this without rendering their evidence inadmissible in a court, because they could interpret and comprehend legislation.
The non-police staff that were a part of the service had their own apprenticeship; intelligence researchers and analysts worked shoulder to shoulder with police specialists and they learned from each other. Well, the police service as it was has long gone.
Although this organisation has the DNA of a 'police service' it seems to be in denial whilst trying to create some -
Pros
Money for nothing
Cons
No prospect of making a difference.
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Ratings by category
3.2 out of 5 stars for Work/Life Balance
3.3 out of 5 stars for Salary/Benefits
3.1 out of 5 stars for Job security/advancement
2.6 out of 5 stars for Management
2.7 out of 5 stars for Culture
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