Senior Information Access Officer

Grade C: £34,890 (National) or £40,746 (London – for London office based or homebased workers within the boundary of the M25). There is also an additional homeworking allowance of £600 per annum for those working from home. For part time roles – please note this will be pro rata.

Contracted Hours: Full Time 37 Hours Per Week, Part time Hours will be considered (22 hours minimum). Contract Type: Permanent. Closing date: 20th January 2025 at 11.59pm.

Make a difference. Every role at CQC contributes to our mission. If you’re looking for a new role in our Data and Insight Directorate that gives a true sense of meaning and purpose, then you’ve found it! As a Senior Information Access Officer, you’ll join our Information Rights and Access team, helping us uphold the highest standards in data protection and information access across health and social care.

Picture this: In the last 12 months, as a Senior Information Access Officer, you could have:

• Led the development and rollout of improved processes ensuring compliance with the Freedom of Information Act and Data Protection Act.
• Managed complex statutory information requests, and managed and supported the team of Information Access Officers making key decisions on disclosure and giving advice on compliance to senior leaders.
• Delivered tailored training sessions to staff across CQC, helping them understand their responsibilities under information governance legislation.

You’ll play a key role in the organisation by:

• Maintaining and updating CQC's processes, guidance, training and tools to improve our effectiveness and efficiency in handling information requests.
• Providing expert advice and guidance on information governance to colleagues at all levels.
• Overseeing training programmes to ensure staff understand legal and policy requirements.
• Managing responses to statutory information requests and acting as the escalation point for complex cases.
• Supporting the wider team in providing a range of information governance advice across the organisation, including assistance to the Information Rights Manager and Confidentiality, Privacy and Security Advisors in undertaking Data Protection Impact Assessments.

Show us what we’re looking for in your application:

• Proven understanding of CQC's responsibilities under information and data legislation including insight into how these will apply to CQC as the National regulator of health and social care provision.
• Experience interpreting and applying information legislation such as FOIA and Data Protection Act to real-world scenarios.
• Proven ability to analyse complex problems and develop practical solutions, ideally in an information governance or compliance setting.
• Track record of managing statutory information requests and producing clear, accurate reports for internal and external stakeholders.

Join us and help CQC shape the future of health and care. Apply today to make a real impact!

Compliance: To progress your application, you’ll need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK. Without valid right to work you won’t be eligible for the role. We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role. Some roles may also be subject to a satisfactory DBS check.

Next steps: If you apply, you’ll need to create a profile and complete an online application form. Your application will be completely anonymous. We contact every applicant to let them know the outcome of their application, so you will hear from us whether or not you are shortlisted.

The Benefits: We offer a wide range of benefits, including:

• Annual leave starting at 27 days per year, rising to 32.5 days with service, plus bank holidays (usually 8 days per year).
• Training and development opportunities.
• Wellbeing initiatives, such as gym discounts and meditation.
• NHS pension scheme, with around 14% employer contribution.
• Discount schemes (including eligibility for a Blue Light card, at a cost of £4.99 and valid for 2 years), reward vouchers, car leasing and more!

Please see our benefits page for the full list.

Equity for all: We know job descriptions can feel intimidating. Research shows they can cause some people to doubt whether they’re a good fit. This happens more often to people from underrepresented groups (e.g. ethnic minority backgrounds). If this role interests you, we encourage you to apply. Your unique perspective, skills, and experience could be exactly what we need.

We want every candidate to feel supported and able to do their best. If you need adjustments to our process, we’ll work with you to remove any barriers. Visit our accessibility page for more on this. If you’d like to chat, please contact recruitment@cqc.org.uk.

We promote a workplace where fairness, respect and inclusion are a priority. Diverse teams make our work better, help us deliver our mission and make our culture stronger. We welcome applications from everyone, and colleagues can find support and community among our many employee networks.

Values and vision: We are guided by our core values, which shape our work and our culture.

• Excellence – being a high-performing organisation.
• Caring – treating everyone with dignity and respect.
• Integrity – doing the right thing.
• Teamwork – learning from each other to be the best we can.

We are a disability confident employer and a carer confident employer.

A Note on AI: AI tools can be great for research and refining ideas, but we want to learn about you. If you use AI or Chatbots to help you with your application, keep these points in mind: AI can support research, structuring and refining your writing, but your application must reflect your real skills and experience. Spell-checking and condensing word counts are great ways to use AI effectively. Do not copy and paste AI generated answers. These will not help you stand out; remember we want to hear about your skills and experience. Providing false and insincere examples goes against our core values of honesty and integrity and may lead to your application being withdrawn or termination of your employment.