FOI Disclosure Officer

Prospective officers and staff must be held to a higher standard of behaviour and accountability than members of the public, and that therefore their right to privacy can be fettered in certain circumstances. This is to ensure that members of the police are fully aware and accountable for the unique powers entrusted to them and the standards of professional behaviour they swear to uphold.

Job Title: FOI Disclosure Officer

Type: Police Staff

Closing Date:15 June 2025

Employee Type: Permanent Full Time

Location: Agile/Lloyd House

About the role:

The FOI disclosure officer is part of a small team of experts, processing Freedom of Information requests for West Midlands Police within the Information Management department.

The successful candidate will be responsible for FOI requests at each stage of request's life cycle, from making assessments about whether requests are valid, requesting data from relevant areas in the force, making decisions about that data you provided and ultimately disclosing that information appropriately.

The successful candidate will work well as part of a team but is also someone who is able to manage their own workload; West Midlands Police is one of the largest police forces in the UK, and as such, receive a large volume of FOI requests. Therefore, the ideal candidate will be someone who is used to working in a target driven environment with strict service level agreements to ensure we comply with relevant legislation.

Essential:

The ability to understand, interpret, apply and advise on relevant legislation accordingly.
High standard of written and verbal English to enable effective communication internally and externally.
Be able to provide concise and accurate written reports, present data and make decisions based on the information found.
Must be able to work independently and as part of a team.
Strong interpersonal skills at all levels of seniority, including the ability to influence and negotiate.
Able to learn and use multiple computer systems.
Good organisational skills and ability to prioritise work.
Ability to work to tight deadlines and changing priorities.

Desirable:

Experience of working with Freedom of Information legislation
Experience of evaluating risk and impact
Experience of researching and analysing information in order to make decisions, and presenting findings.

Probationary Policy:

Under the Probation Policy, if you are currently in your probation period, “during your probationary period you will not be permitted to apply for alternative police staff roles within the Force unless there are exceptional circumstances. In such cases, you would require the support of your line manager prior to applying for alternative roles, and if successful, your probationary period will start over.”- Policies - Probation Period (Police Staff (wmpad.local)

Vetting

Successful applicants will be required to pass Management Vetting and Counter Terrorism Clearance scrutiny prior to commencing their role, this will include a full background & financial disclosure as part of the vetting process.

Medical

Appointment to this role will be dependent upon successfully medical checks, which may include a drugs test.

Hours:  Full time (36.5 hours per week)

Location:  Agile with the office location being Lloyd House.

Interviews:  w/c Monday 23 June 2025

Contact:  via email rachel.parsons@westmidlands.police.uk Rachel Parsons, Force Information Management Lead and Data Protection Officer

Benefit Statement

By choosing to join West Midlands Police you will receive an enhanced benefits package including:

Fair remuneration with progression opportunities and access to a very competitive pension scheme.
Enhanced annual leave in addition to public holiday entitlements.
Discounts across travel, parking, daily costs of living and leisure activities.
A comprehensive well being package including 24/7 support, free eye tests and flu jabs.

West Midlands Police is a Disability Confident Leader - the highest level an organisation can achieve under the scheme run by the Department of Work and Pensions.  As part of our commitment we operate a ‘Disability Confident Interview Scheme’ - all candidates who declare a disability and meet the essential criteria for the role will be offered an interview. 

It is important to note that there may be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all disabled people who meet the essential criteria for the job. For example: in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. In these circumstances, the employer could select the candidates who best meet the essential criteria for the job, as they would do for non-disabled applicants.

"Diversity and Inclusion Vision:  Maximise the potential of people from all backgrounds through a culture of fairness and inclusion to deliver the best service for our communities"