Case Officer

Requirements of the role

Case Officers in Freedom of Information are responsible for the front-end case handling process. This includes creating new cases and handling cases in their early stages. This involves communicating with the case parties to ensure we have all the required documents and identifying and working on cases that can be resolved at an early stage, including cases where the requester has not received a response.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is the independent regulator of information rights. In a data-driven world, we provide advice, guidance, and support to organisations enabling compliance with their obligations, as well as protecting individuals and their personal data.

As an employer, we are passionate about making a positive difference to the lives and careers of our people, and we empower you to be curious, impactful, collaborative and respectful.

Key responsibilities:

• Providing accurate and helpful advice about information rights legislation across a variety of channels, including phone and live chat.

• Providing appropriate outcomes for data protection complaints received from members of the public

• Handling written work in line with established policies and procedures, managing a workload autonomously and making broadly independent decisions about priorities and opportunities to improve compliance.

• Providing excellent customer service, developing a clear understanding of the customer’s needs, including identifying other ICO services that could help, and keeping them up to date about ongoing activities.

• Negotiating to improve information rights practices, either in a current case or in the future as appropriate.

• Identifying and communicating matters that are suitable for further action by the ICO.

• Proactively developing legislative expertise, keeping abreast of developments in information rights legislation.

• Proactively developing expertise in relevant areas of the UK economy and making recommendations for action accordingly.

• Working collaboratively to develop strong working relationships with internal and external stakeholders.

• Contributing to the growth of the public register and raising awareness of the requirement to pay a fee through working towards the wider aims of Business Services.

• Processing and handling payments made to the ICO and contacting organisations whose data protection fee is outstanding, where necessary.

• Assisting in managing work queues and other administrative tasks to support the smooth running of our services.

• Providing briefing or guidance material for more senior members of staff where necessary.

• Very occasionally, accompanying colleagues to external meetings and events, giving or supporting presentations where necessary. This may involve travel outside office hours.

• Comply with ICO policy and procedures

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