Permanent Secretary, Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet

Job summary

The Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet (OPMC) supports the Prime Minister and Cabinet to ensure the effective running of Government. The OPMC, which includes No.10 and No.10 North alongside our wider policy teams, in partnership with HM Treasury, sets direction for the rest of the Government to deliver.

The OPMC is responsible for:

• delivering the objectives of the Prime Minister, the First Secretary of State and the Cabinet through priority setting, translating political mandates into action, running ‘taskforces’ to address policy challenges, and managing critical stakeholder communications;
• supporting collective Government, to ensure the effective development, coordination, agreement and implementation of policy;
• delivering good growth in every part of the United Kingdom, via No10 North, working with local leaders to drive a place-based approach to policy;
• holding departments and organisations to account for delivery of the Government’s priorities and achieving outcomes for citizens;
• setting certain policies or providing advice on matters of state, including propriety and ethics, constitution and the Union;
• ‘rewiring the state’, and leading and reforming a high-performing, efficient and innovative Civil Service, including on people and AI to transform public services, and improving public procurement;
• coordinating our approach to cross-departmental alignment on national security, European and global affairs, supporting the National Security Council and the Joint Intelligence Organisation, and leading the Government’s response to crises; and
• sponsoring a number of delivery agencies that provide services to the rest of government and enable the delivery of an efficient and effective state.

Alongside OPMC (c.3000 staff), the Permanent Secretary is also principal Accounting Officer for the whole Cabinet Office group, which includes OneGov (c.2,000 staff), the National School for Government, Government Property and Commercial agencies, and other expert ALBs and NDPBs (a further c.5000 staff).

Our main offices are in London, with a second headquarters in Glasgow and staff based around the country, including Manchester (No10 North). The department is also supported by a number of advisory non-departmental bodies and agencies.

The role holder will be based in either Manchester or London, with regular travel required between the two locations. It is expected that the post holder will spend at least 2 days a week in Manchester.

Job description

The post holder reports to the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, Dame Antonia Romeo.

The role of the Permanent Secretary is to:

• Ministerial and strategic leadership: Be principal adviser to the First Secretary of State, providing support, counsel, and challenge in setting overall strategy and policy, ensuring solutions are evidence-based, cost-effective, achievable, and aligned with departmental needs.
• Oversee delivery of Ministerial priorities: Maintain a sharp focus on delivering Ministerial priorities across the OPMC, by setting clear strategic direction, aligning resources, and driving effective execution.
• OPMC leadership: The Permanent secretary will build and lead OPMC as a single department, working collectively to deliver the PM and the Cabinet’s strategic objectives, including good growth in every postcode. They will provide strong leadership to OPMC staff, role-modelling Civil Service values while fostering continuous improvement, capability building, and a culture of high performance and excellent delivery. While the DG heads of Secretariats and DGs of PCG and AI Taskforce and PPS/PM will continue to report directly to the Cabinet Secretary, the Permanent Secretary will lead and run OPMC across all groups and therefore be responsible for ensuring the new structures to work as a strong, cohesive and strategic centre, in support of the Cabinet Secretary, to deliver for the Prime Minister, First Secretary of State and Ministers.
• Cross-cutting policy: Provide senior leadership to our DG groups leading on some of the highest profile cross-Government policy challenges, such as the set up of the taskforces, or efficiency initiatives and public sector implementation of priorities such as the Duty of Candour. The Permanent Secretary will enable our high-performing teams to continue to deliver by supporting senior cross-government brokering; aligning and cohering work across the department; and providing counsel and challenge to our DG leaders.
• Network and convening power: Build and maintain senior stakeholder networks, and convening Permanent Secretaries to foster cross-departmental alignment and support.
• Complex casework & operations: Lead the response to sensitive operational, litigation, and human resources matters across Government, in support of the Head of the Civil Service.
• Financial governance and accountability: The Permanent Secretary will act as Principal Accounting Officer for the Cabinet Office group, including the OPMC, OneGov, and other arms-length bodies and agencies, answerable to Parliament and HM Treasury for financial management, and ensuring adherence to Managing Public Money principles. Clive Maxwell is the Accounting Officer for OneGov.

Person specification

The successful candidate must have a strong commitment to the Civil Service values of impartiality, honesty, integrity and objectivity, and you will be able demonstrate the essential criteria below:

• extremely well-developed political sensitivity, sharp intellect, and high personal impact to secure Ministerial confidence and deputise for the Cabinet Secretary, with a proven ability to handle sensitive, high-stakes cross-government issues and translate complex policy into sustainable delivery.
• confident and compassionate leadership skills to direct and inspire staff across the OPMC, and wider Civil Service, with experience leading people and organisations through periods of change, and through ambiguity. The role holder will be able to work with leadership (including the 2PS for OneGov and agency leaders) across the wider Cabinet Office group to collectively oversee a complex group of ALBs, agencies and non-departmental public bodies.
• credibility to convene and influence Permanent Secretary colleagues and wider public sector leaders, managing crucial relationships and working across boundaries to deliver successfully, including with HM Treasury to drive efficiency across government, and with Parliament to support effective scrutiny of government business through public select committee hearings and other means;
• Effective cross-departmental influence, with demonstrable experience of working across organisational boundaries to deliver priority projects, including working closely with HM Treasury and other departments to drive efficiency across Government; and,
• proven track record of driving performance and delivery, actively steering outcomes and fostering a high-performance culture while establishing robust governance frameworks.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £175,000, Cabinet Office contributes £50,697 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

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

To apply please submit the following documents to permsecappointments@cabinetoffice.gov.uk copying in joanne.whitehead1@cabinetoffice.gov.uk by no later than 23:55 on 29th October:

• Your CV, with educational and professional qualifications and full employment history, including an explanation of any gaps in your employment history, and details where possible of budgets and numbers of people.
• A short covering statement of no more than one A4 sized page (500 words) explaining why this appointment interests you and how you can evidence your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the criteria in the ‘experience required’ section.
• A Diversity Questionnaire. The Civil Service is committed to achieving a workforce that reflects the society it serves, at all levels including the most senior. Collecting this information enables us to identify whether we are recruiting from the widest possible pool of talent and check that all groups are being treated fairly throughout the process. This form will not be disclosed to anyone involved in assessing your application. Please complete the attached form at Annex A. Please note that applications will not be accepted unless the form is returned. If you do not wish to provide a response to a particular question, you should complete the ‘prefer not to say’ option.
• A completed Declaration of Interests form - please complete the attached form in Annex B.Please note that applications will not be accepted unless the form is returned.
• We operate a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS). We are committed to making reasonable adjustments in order to support disabled job applicants and ensure that you are not disadvantaged in the recruitment and assessment process. All monitoring data will be treated in the strictest confidence and will not affect your application in any way. If you wish to make an application under the DCS, please complete the form at Annex C.

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

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is developed vetting (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).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.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

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

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.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

Job contact :

• Name : Jo Whitehead
• Email : joanne.whitehead1@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : joanne.whitehead1@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information

The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles, which can be found here: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/recruitme….

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact Jo Whitehead in the first instance. joanne.whitehead1@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Attachments

2026-10-12 Candidate Pack CO PS v1 OFFSEN.docx Opens in new window (pdf, 574kB)Annex A - diversity monitoring form Opens in new window (docx, 15kB)Annex B - Declaration of Interest form Opens in new window (docx, 33kB)Annex C - Disability confident Opens in new window (docx, 2830kB)

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