Publications and Accessibility Manager

In December 2021 Baroness Heather Hallett, a retired Appeal Court judge, was appointed by the Prime Minister as Chair of the independent public inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic.

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry was formally established with full powers under the Inquiries Act 2005 in June 2022. The Inquiry sits independently of the Government with the Cabinet Office acting as the sponsoring department.

Following an initial set up phase the Inquiry began hearing evidence in May 2023. We are now looking for an energetic and collaborative senior leader to join the excellent team that is delivering the Inquiry.

This is an exciting role, offering the opportunity to lead an innovative team, in fast moving circumstances, to ensure lessons are learned from the UK response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Further information about the Inquiry can be found on the UK Covid-19 Inquiry website.

The Team

We are looking for exceptional staff to join the UK public inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic, to learn lessons and better protect the people of the UK. From being announced in 2021 to full public hearings, the Inquiry continues to make national news. In order to hear from those who suffered hardship and loss, and scrutinise both the decision making and impact, there is a significant amount of work to be undertaken.

We are looking for a Publications and Accessibility Manager. This is an exciting opportunity to join an inclusive, innovative team where you will be supported to challenge yourself in often ambiguous circumstances. The team encourages working in a flexible, collaborative manner to undertake one of the broadest, most publicly anticipated inquiries in UK history. Working at pace and often with competing deadlines, Resilience is key, both in managing competing deadlines and working with emotionally challenging content, but for the right candidate(s) this is a once-in-a-career role where you will be supported to reach your potential while delivering for the public good.

You will be joining the Inquiry’s Communications and Engagement function at an exciting time - with the Inquiry’s hearings underway and high profile witnesses giving evidence in the Autumn and in early 2025 onwards.

We are sponsored by the Cabinet Office, however the Inquiry sits independently from the Government.
Job description

We are looking for a Publications and Accessibility Manager to join the Inquiry’s Creative and Integrated Communications team. This is a great role if you excel at multitasking and practical delivery, and you also want to develop your leadership skills.

The Inquiry publishes a report after each module, which is laid in parliament. Each report is also turned into various products to allow different audiences to understand what the Inquiry has learned and review the recommendations for the future, including both translated products and accessible formats.

The successful candidate will manage our publications process including: working with colleagues to forecast demand and agree timescales, formatting reports and documents (sometimes with an agency) and producing accessible formats (with an agency).

You will champion accessibility, diversity and inclusion across our communications and wider Inquiry work. You will help to evaluate our publications and accessible formats and share insights/learning across the organisation - helping to make the Inquiry’s work as impactful and inclusive as possible.

You will be line managed by the Deputy Head of Creative and Integrated Communications and your role will be varied. You will;

Manage our report publication process from start to finish
Manage multiple projects and priorities, working with others to meet tight timescales
Advise and produce translations and accessible formats

Some of the key responsibilities include and are not limited to:

Manage our publications process including: setting up schedules, working with teams to forecast demand and agreeing timescales.
Act as contract manager for the agency to produce reports in a professional and consistent style.
Ensure reports/documents have accessible features e.g. contents page, headings, high colour contrast etc.
Proof-read reports/documents for spelling/grammar, respond to copy-editing queries.
Implement the Inquiry’s accessible communications policy including supervising an agency to forecast demand and produce translations/accessible formats.
Ensure that the Inquiry’s accessible communications policy is kept up-to-date and is regularly reviewed.
Quality assure translations/accessible formats e.g. ensuring images support the text in Easy Read documents.
Collaborate with team members to publish publications, translations and accessible formats on time and to promote them to relevant audiences.
Lead on the evaluation of our publications, translations and accessible formats and share insights/learning across the organisation.
Champion accessibility, diversity and inclusion across the Inquiry and support colleagues to identify communications barriers/needs.
Contribute to planning and budgetary discussions, with the potential to develop your experience/skills e.g. managing agencies, financial forecasting etc.

Person specification

The ideal candidate for this role would have the following key skills and experience:

Essential Requirements

Understanding of digital accessibility standards and government accessibility regulations
Experience of;
Strong organisation skills, with the ability to project manage delivery of your work strands in alignment with other workstreams
Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to build relationships and collaborate internally and externally.
Resilient with the ability to work at pace and to respond flexibly to changing requirements.

Desirable Criteria

Engagement and empathy skills, with experience of working with sensitive subject matter and/or members of the public.
Taking a trauma informed approach or working with emotive or highly sensitive topics.

A minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace. Although requirements to attend other locations for official business will also count towards this level of attendance.
Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

Making Effective Decisions
Communicating and Influencing
Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

GCS technical skills - Implementation
GCS technical skills - Insight

Benefits
Alongside your salary of £40,850, Cabinet Office contributes £11,029 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Learning and development tailored to your role.
An environment with flexible working options.
A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
A Civil Service Pension which provides an attractive pension, benefits for dependants and average employer contributions of 27%.
A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by one day per year up to a maximum of 30.

Things you need to know
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Application process

To apply for this role, please submit the following documents via the CS Jobs portal:

A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you provide employment history that relates to the essential and desirable criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained. The CV should not exceed more than 2 x A4 pages.
A Statement of Suitability (max 750 words) explaining how you consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role in reference to the essential requirements highlighted. You may also choose to reference the desirable skills listed.

For the shortlist, we will assess your experience and statement of suitability, and will select applicants demonstrating the best fit for the role by considering the evidence provided in your application.

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be undertaken using the statement of suitability. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

Selection process

The interview process will assess experience, behaviours and GCS technical skills.

The behaviours tested at interview are:

Making Effective Decisions
Communicating and Influencing
Delivering at Pace

The GCS technical skills tested at interview are:

Implementation
Insight

You will receive further information about the technical skills assessment upon receiving an interview invitation.

Expected timeline (subject to change)

Expected sift date – w/c 24 June 2024
Expected interview date/s – w/c 15 July 2024
Interview location - remotely via GoogleMeets

Reasonable Adjustment

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

Contact Government Recruitment Service via cabinetofficerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section in the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Further information

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'contact point for applicants' section.

Please note that this role requires CTC clearance, which would normally need 3 years UK residency prior to submitting an application. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/demystifying-vetting

Please be aware the levels of national security clearance are changing which may impact on the level needed for this role by the time of appointment. All efforts will be made to keep candidates informed of any changes and what that will mean in terms of vetting criteria. For more information please See our vetting charter.

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.

Any move to Cabinet Office from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service, Disclosure Scotland, or Access NI on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email Info@disclosurescotland.co.uk

For further information on the Access NI confidential checking service telephone: the Access NI Helpline on 0300 200 7888 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email accessni@ani.x.gsi.gov.uk


Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (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

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
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 the Civil 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.
The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).
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 : Emma Wolski
Email : emma.wolski1@covid19.public-inquiry.uk

Recruitment team

Email : cabinetofficerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Further information
Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and wish to make a complaint, then in the first instance you should contact Government Recruitment Service by email at : cabinetofficerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission at info@csc.gov.uk. For further information on the Recruitment Principles. and bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission, please visit their website at: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk.