Lead Case Officer - Freedom of Information

Information Commissioner's Office

Wilmslow SK9 5AF, UK

Hybrid

Expires: Expiring in less than 2 weeks

Legal

Full time

£34,604 - £39,200 per year

Job summary

Lead Case Officer - Freedom of Information

Full time / Part time

Salary: £34,604 - £39,200, with potential for further progression to £44,137 with our pay progression scheme.

Location: Hybrid

Contracted to our Wilmslow office, we will be relocating to Manchester city centre from 28 September 2026. Once the move takes place your contracted office will be Circle Square, Manchester. Through hybrid working we offer flexible home and office-based working opportunities and there will be times when you will be expected to attend the office to collaborate with colleagues or travel due to business need.

Why work for the ICO?

Pay progression scheme.
Hybrid and flexible working options.
25 days paid holiday per year, plus privilege and public holidays.
Flexi leave (up to 26 additional days leave per year).
Pension (employer contribution around 28.9%).
Online discount scheme to save money at major supermarkets, retailers, gyms, restaurants, insurance providers and many more.
Health Cash Plan.
Fantastic development opportunities to learn and progress.

Further details can be found on the benefits section of our website .

Job description

Step into a role where your decisions genuinely shape transparency. As a Lead Case Officer, you’ll investigate how public authorities handle FOIA and EIR requests, steer complex complaints from first contact to outcome, and issue decisions that can influence national practice. You’ll dig into evidence, challenge public authorities, guide complainants, and help drive better compliance across the public sector. Alongside your casework, you’ll mentor new colleagues and contribute to wider departmental projects. If you want varied, meaningful work at the heart of information rights, this is it.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the independent regulator of information rights. In a data-driven world, we provide advice, guidance, and support to organisations enabling compliance with their obligations, as well as protecting individuals and their personal data.

As an employer, we are passionate about making a positive difference to the lives and careers of our people, and we empower you to be curious, impactful, collaborative and respectful.

Lead Case Officers take a leading role in the day to day handling of the ICO’s regulatory advice, performance improvement, complaints or enforcement activities.

As well as carrying a personal caseload, you will support other team and directorate members in providing a complaints handling service.

You will work in a multi-disciplinary team and co-ordinate activities and provide technical support to Case Officers in each area of ICO activity.

Key responsibilities:

Manage your workload autonomously, making independent decisions about cases, priorities and opportunities to improve the practices of those the ICO regulates.
Using judgement, intellectual ability and initiative, handle cases and undertake wider regulatory activity under the legislation overseen by the ICO in line with established strategies, policies and procedures.
Coaching, training and advising Case Officers.
Support Managers with the achievement of an effective case handling service, helping with the identification of aspects of the service which could be improved.
Provide a primary point of contact and liaison inside and outside the department for specific work areas.
Develop and maintain a detailed technical understanding of a specific area or sector of regulatory activity.
Negotiate with organisations to achieve compliance with the relevant legislation.
Provide good customer service to all parties, managing expectations sensitively and communicating clearly, regularly and at an appropriate level, in writing and over the telephone.
Proactively develop legislative expertise, keeping abreast of developments in EIR and FoI legislation and regulations.
Develop and maintain relationships with any relevant internal/external stakeholders as appropriate.
Attend internal meetings and external meetings and events, giving presentations where necessary.
Provide briefing or guidance material for more senior members of staff and present case overviews to colleagues where necessary.

Person specification

Essential criteria assessed at application stage:

Relevant work experience.

Good intellectual and analytical ability in order to apply complex legislation to a variety of circumstances, and develop detailed technical knowledge in a given area of ICO activity (also measured at interview).

Ability to deal with a demanding workload which may include considerable correspondence and to prioritise accordingly (also measured at interview).
Excellent interpersonal skills with people at all levels (also measured at interview).
An ability to help others to develop their knowledge/ experience (also measured at interview).

Essential criteria assessed during interview:

Excellent standard of literacy and effective written communication skills for writing letters, reports and meeting notes.
Effective verbal communication skills in particular the ability to provide clear advice over the telephone.
Ability to work on own initiative and as a member of a team.
Ability to make presentations to small groups.
Effective negotiation skills.
Ability to use standard office IT packages.

Equality, diversity, and inclusion

The ICO is committed to promoting and enhancing equality, diversity, and inclusion. We are focused on developing a workforce that is representative of the communities we serve and together we are building an inclusive workplace where all of our colleagues have the opportunity to make a real difference. We are championing this through our Equality Diversity and Inclusion Board together with a number of staff networks. Read more about our commitment on our website.

Candidates with a disability who meet the minimum criteria for this vacancy will be invited to interview as part of the ICO’s commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme.

As part of the ICO’s commitment to our EDI objectives and creating a workplace that represents the communities and societies we serve, we guarantee an interview to candidates who declare they identify as belonging from an ethnic minority background and who meet the minimum criteria for this vacancy

If you are disabled or have an impairment and require an alternative application method, please email the HR team at recruitment@ico.org.uk

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £34,604, Information Commissioner's Office contributes £10,024 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.Please visit ico.jobs for full details, including salary and benefits.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

Please submit your CV by 23:59, 5 May

We may close this vacancy early if we receive a high volume of applications. To ensure your application is considered, we encourage you to apply as soon as possible. If you require any reasonable adjustments to support your application, please contact us at recruitment@ico.org.uk.

In the event of a high volume of applications, we may not be able to invite all candidates who meet the minimum criteria to interview. However, we encourage you stay in touch and apply for future roles that match your interests.

All candidates who meet the minimum criteria and apply in-line with our guaranteed interview scheme for disabled and ethnic minority applicants will be interviewed.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Medical

Successful candidates will be expected to have a medical.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

UK nationals
nationals of the Republic of Ireland
nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

Please note this Post is NOT regulated by the Civil Service Commission.The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Salary range

£34,604 - £39,200 per year