Lead Case Officer

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 required 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 summary

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.

Job description

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

Closing Date 

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.

Clearance Required for this role:

Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS)