New Whitehall head honcho to be charged with ‘harnessing new technology’


After the current cabinet secretary Simon Case announced his impending departure from government, the advert to recruit his replacement stresses the importance of the new leader supporting digital transformation efforts

The Cabinet Office has launched a call for applicants to succeed Simon Case as the nation’s top civil servant, hours after the current cabinet secretary confirmed he will step down at the end of this year.

The advert for the £200,000-a-year role as head of the civil service cites the importance of helping government to use tech and digital platforms.

“The cabinet secretary is responsible for leading reform and improvement in the civil service to ensure it has the capability and capacity to implement the new government’s mission-led approach to governing the United Kingdom; making it more joined up, pushing power to communities and harnessing new technology to enable delivery of the government’s five key missions,” the ad says.

Among the key responsibilities of the successful candidate will be “ensuring that the civil service is a modern, professional and digitally enabled organisation that leads the way in world class administration of government and delivery of modern public services”. 

It also stresses the need to “command credibility with senior politicians and colleagues across Whitehall” and the importance of “exceptional leadership skills”.

The job description says that a “significant proportion” of the cab sec’s role involves “leading through permanent secretaries of departments”.


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“Commanding the confidence and respect of this group is critical to ensure they are working across boundaries and delivering the mission-led approach to government,” it adds.

The person specification for the role, at the helm of the 500,000-strong civil service, also underscores the need to unite the government’s 40 departments and hundreds of arm’s-length bodies.

It says the “essential” attributes for the successful candidate must include “a track record of working with others to deliver common goals and objectives, coupled with an ability to build deep collaborative partnerships across Whitehall, with arm’s-length bodies and third-party organisations”.

Applications for the role are open until 11.55pm on 20 October. The successful applicant will ultimately be appointed by the prime minister.

The expected annual pay packet of £200,000 is broadly in line with the departing cabinet secretary most recently published salary details of £200,000-£205,000 for the 2022-23 year.

Case’s announcement this that he was stepping down had been long expected after he took a period of sick leave last year. In recent weeks, reports of clashes with Keir Starmer’s chief of staff Sue Gray fuelled fresh anticipation about the cabinet secretary’s departure.

In a statement, Case insisted that his decision to quit was “solely to do” with his health, following his diagnosis with a neurological condition 18 months ago.

A missive sent to colleagues to announced his imminent departure identified “the global context, the relentless evolution of technology, increasing public expectations of the services they consume and many more factors [that] require us to keep adapting”.

Case has held the Whitehall top job for a little over four years. Prior to his appointment, he served as permanent secretary of 10 Downing Street. He has also previously held various senior posts in government, as well a spell as private secretary to Prince William.

CSW and PublicTechnology stafff

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