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 Inquirys Communications and Engagement function at an exciting time - with the Inquirys 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. 

We are looking for a Publications and Accessibility Manager to join  the Inquirys 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 Inquirys 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 Inquirys accessible communications policy including supervising an agency to forecast demand and produce translations/accessible formats.
• Ensure that the Inquirys 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.

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.

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

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

• GCS technical skills - Implementation
• GCS technical skills - Insight

• 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.

Job contact :

• Name : Emma Wolski
• Email : [email protected]

Recruitment team

• Email : [email protected]