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. Our team is working to examine the UK’s response to and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and learn lessons for the future. The Inquiry’s work is guided by its Terms of Reference. We are a values driven organisation, and we aim to put our values of fairness, openness, compassion and inclusion at the heart of everything we do.
This is an exciting role, offering the opportunity to be part of an innovative team, and to help deliver a public inquiry that is unprecedented in terms of scope and depth.
About the team
The Finance & Commercial team is a small, dedicated group with two commercial and three finance professionals. As finance professionals, our core responsibilities include overseeing all financial information, ensuring the integrity of the Inquiry's budget, monitoring expenditure, and providing assurance to the accounting officer.
The Head of Finance & Commercial leads the professional team as part of the Programme, Operations & People Services (POPS) Directorate within the Inquiry. We are based across various UK sites, meeting at a central point for team days throughout the year.
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 learn and support each other as we look to undertake one of the broadest, most publicly anticipated inquiries in UK history.
Role overview
We are looking for a proactive and organised Finance Officer to support the financial processes within the UK Covid-19 Public Inquiry. As the first point of contact, you will play a key role in ensuring financial processes run smoothly, providing high-quality support to colleagues, and helping maintain compliance with departmental policies and procedures.
Key responsibilities include:
- Ensure the finance group mailbox is monitored and queries responded to promptly, escalating if required.
- Create and maintain supplier records, support invoice processing, and help resolve issues relating to purchase orders, payments and receipting
- Monitor and manage local trackers, invoice-on-hold reports and shared inbox activity to support effective financial administration and business continuity.
- Act as a central point of contact for finance activity across the Inquiry, providing advice and support to colleagues on processes
- Build capability across the Directorate by promoting best practice, supporting colleagues and helping to improve understanding of finance processes.
- Maintain and update finance resources, including trackers, templates and the finance team intranet page
- Collaborate with Inquiry teams and other stakeholders to ensure processes are observed accurately.
- Ensure effective audit trails to support transactions, reconciliations and approvals.
- Maintain the integrity and accuracy of financial data within systems to support management reporting through checks and analysis.
- Support the timely approval and posting of all material journal adjustments and accruals.
- Produce financial reports to required timescales, ensuring accurate, relevant, and timely management information is provided to support the team.
Skills and Experience required:
- Highly organised, flexible and resilient; able to prioritise effectively, delivering to short deadlines.
- Excellent attention to detail with high accuracy when managing data.
- A confident communicator - you will need to engage effectively with a range of stakeholders to ensure deadlines are met and everyone is kept informed of successes/risks.
- Innovative and interested in identifying ways to improve the processes you are working on.
This position is advertised at 37 hours per week though reduced hours will be considered if there is flexibility on days to ensure priority processes at month end are completed.
Person specification
Essential criteria
- Proven experience as a Finance Officer or supporting a team with financial management.
- Good knowledge of invoicing, accounts payable, accruals and journals.
- Intermediate knowledge of Excel or Google Sheets
- Excellent attention to detail with high accuracy when managing data.
- Good organisational and time-management abilities
- Excellent communication skills.
- Approval from your line manager to be released on loan if applying as a current Civil Servant.
Desirable skills
- Experience of working in an Inquiry, investigation or legal context
- Experience of using financial systems Qlik and SOP
- Advanced knowledge of Excel or Google sheets with the ability to analyse data.
Additional information
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:
- Changing and Improving
- Delivering at Pace
- Working Together
- Managing a Quality Service
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £29,727, Cabinet Office contributes £8,611 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 which provides an attractive pension, benefits for dependants and employer contributions of 28.97%.
- A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by one day per year up to a maximum of 30.
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
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Strengths and Experience.
Application process
To apply for this role, please submit the following documents no later than 23:55 on Sunday 05th July 2026 via the Civil Service 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 500 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 select applicants demonstrating the best fit for the role by considering the evidence provided in your application.
Selection process
Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted based on the essential criteria of:
- Proven experience as a Finance Officer or supporting a team with financial management.
- Good knowledge of invoicing, accounts payable, accruals and journals.
Interview
The interview process will assess behaviours and strengths. The behaviours tested at interview will be:
- Changing and Improving
- Delivering at Pace
- Working Together
- Managing a Quality Service
You will not be made aware of the strengths being assessed prior to your interview.
Please note that candidates invited to interview will be invited to declare any actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interests which could affect the independence of the Inquiry, in confidence, to the senior recruiting manager. This may include current or prior work undertaken on the COVID-19 pandemic response. Decisions on any potential conflict of interest will be made before an appointment to the role is confirmed.
Expected timeline (subject to change - please check you Civil Service Jobs account)
- Expected sift date – w/c 06 July 2026
- Expected interview date/s – w/c 20 July 2026
- Interview location - Your interview will either be conducted face to face or by video. You will be notified of the location if you are selected for interview.
Reasonable adjustments
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 Services via [email protected] 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 a wheelchair access at interview, or if you are deaf, a language service professional.
Further information
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 in the past 3 years.
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.
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.
For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.
In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service / Disclosure Scotland/ 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected].
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 [email protected] Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.
A reserve list may 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; for further information visit the Childcare Choices website.
New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.
Existing Civil Servants and applicants from accredited NDPBs are eligible to apply, but will only be considered on loan basis (Civil Servants) or secondment (accredited NDPBs). Prior agreement to be released on a loan basis must be obtained before commencing the application process.
In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return.
Feedback
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
Recruitment team
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 : [email protected].
If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, then you can contact the Civil Service Commission at [email protected]. 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/.
Attachments
1. Candidate Information Pack.pptx - Opens in new window (pdf, 889kB)
Finance Officer F&O - Opens in new window (pdf, 91kB)
Cabinet Office Employee Offer - Opens in new window (pdf, 302kB)
Cabinet Office Terms and Conditions - External 2025-02-20 - Opens in new window (docx, 83kB)
