About the Inquiry

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, organised and collaborative Private Secretary to join the Private Office team, providing direct support to the Inquiry Secretary who oversees the administration of the Inquiry.

This is an exciting role, offering the opportunity to support some of the Inquirys senior leaders, in fast moving circumstances, and be at the heart of an Inquiry that aims 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.   

Conflicts of Interest

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 conflicts of interest 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.

The team

The Private Office team is responsible for supporting the Inquirys senior leadership to deliver their responsibilities to fulfil the Inquiry terms of reference. Within that broad objective, the Private Office exists to facilitate smooth, timely and effective decision-making by the senior leadership team; to maximise their efficiency in their respective roles, ensuring that they can pursue strategic objectives while managing daily business; and to support colleagues across the Inquiry in engaging effectively with the senior leadership team. 

This means that the Private Office team is proactive, creative and flexible in its approach, readily adapting to changing work patterns and any shifts in structures, focus or priorities while working closely together to share workload and opportunities. This is an exciting opportunity to join an inclusive, innovative team where you will be supported to challenge yourself in often ambiguous circumstances, and where success will depend on good judgement, effective communication, mutual support and strong working relationships with teams across the Inquiry. 

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.  

The role

As Private Secretary, you will be principally supporting the Inquiry Secretary, Ben Connah, working closely with his Diary Secretary and with the Private Secretary to the Inquiry Chair. Reporting into the Head of Private Office, you will be working within a high-pressure environment and will need to be comfortable briefing senior leaders both orally and in writing. You should be confident to use sound judgement when triaging incoming issues, knowing when to escalate or manage appropriately. You will need to build strong working relationships with colleagues across the Secretariat and legal teams, including Directors and the Counsel and Solicitor to the Inquiry, and leverage these relationships effectively in your work. 

The role would suit a self-starter who can manage conflicting priorities, remain calm under pressure and understands the support needed for senior decision makers. The successful candidate will have the experience, skills and judgement required to navigate complex but very rewarding work.

Some of the key responsibilities include (but are not limited to):

• Providing Private Secretary support principally for the Inquiry Secretary. This will involve accompanying him to meetings and hearings, providing timely official readouts of what was discussed, disseminating information across the organisation and following up on actions and decisions.
• Managing the preparation of day packs, meeting papers and other advice for the Secretary, working with senior colleagues to ensure that the Secretarys decisions are made in a timely way on the basis of high quality advice, and that once made they are communicated clearly and actioned promptly.   
• Ensuring that the Secretary, other office holders and the broader SLT are engaging with each other effectively, and working to ensure that the Directors (who do not have dedicated private secretary support) are always appropriately looped into relevant processes and decisions. This will include working closely with Private Office colleagues to ensure that support for all SLT and office holders is joined up and the team can successfully manage competing pressures on their time.
• Acting as Private Office lead on specific Modules, liaising with teams across the Inquiry (including Legal, Planning, Policy and Comms teams). 
• Support the leadership of Private Office to create and maintain robust systems and processes to support work streams across the team.
• Develop ways of working that recognise the importance of strong governance to the success of the Inquiry, ensuring the Secretarys decisions are logged and disseminated appropriately and in a timely manner.

Essential requirements

• Thrives in a fast-paced environment with the ability to balance a large number of competing priorities 
• Outstanding written and oral communication skills with the ability to succinctly summarise complex information effectively. 
• A high level of judgement in order to triage issues effectively, solve or prevent problems arising and manage relationships on behalf of senior leaders 
• Exceptional attention to detail 
• A self-starter who, once up and running, can deliver without significant oversight. 
• The ability to engage professionally with senior leaders in challenging, fast paced situations
• A team player with a willingness to work flexibly and collaboratively 
• Ability to remain professional and act with integrity in a pressurised environment and in handling confidential information
• Excellent IT skills.

Desirable skills

• Experience of working in an Inquiry, investigation or legal context
• Experience working in a private office environment or as a private secretary 

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.

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

• Communicating and Influencing
• Working Together
• Making Effective Decisions
• Seeing the Big Picture

• 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.

Job contact :

• Name : Will Bartlett
• Email : [email protected]

Recruitment team

• Email : [email protected]