My thanks to a loyal reader who sent me this job advert for a non job of DEI Consultant in HMRC, up to £72K.
Why the hell are taxpayers footing the bill for these absurd roles that add zero value to the organisation?
Senior Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Consultant
HM Revenue and Customs
Apply before 11:55 pm on Tuesday 18th August 2026
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About the job
Job summary
Discover a career in your hands at
HMRC. Whether you're seeking purpose, growth, or a workplace that gives
you a true sense of belonging, hear from some of our employees as they
share their story about what it’s really like to work at HMRC.
Visit our YouTube channel to watch the full series and come and discover your potential.
Join HMRC’s Equality, Diversity and
Inclusion (EDI) team and play a key role in shaping an inclusive and
respectful workplace that reflects the communities we serve. The EDI
team provides expert advice, insight and challenge across a wide range
of people, policy and organisational priorities, helping senior leaders
make informed decisions that support inclusion, improve colleague
experience and meet our legal obligations.
As an EDI Senior Consultant, you
will be a trusted adviser to senior leaders, providing expertise on
equality, diversity and inclusion issues and leading the delivery of
strategic EDI priorities. You will work across organisational
boundaries, engaging with HR colleagues, business areas, Staff Diversity
Networks and senior stakeholders to influence decision-making, manage
complex issues and drive improvement. This is an excellent opportunity
for someone who combines strong EDI knowledge with sound judgement,
political awareness and the ability to turn complex information into
clear, practical advice.
Job description
As an EDI Senior Consultant, you
will provide strategic leadership, expert advice and delivery support
across a broad portfolio of equality, diversity and inclusion activity.
Working in a fast-paced and often complex environment, you will help
senior leaders understand EDI risks, opportunities and impacts, ensuring
that inclusion considerations are effectively embedded into
decision-making and organisational priorities.
You will lead and oversee multiple
workstreams, balancing competing priorities while maintaining a focus on
delivering high-quality outcomes.
The role requires strong
collaboration across a diverse stakeholder landscape, including senior
leaders, HR colleagues, policy teams, operational business areas and
Staff Diversity Networks. You will build trusted relationships and use
your influencing skills to support positive and sustainable change.
A key aspect of the role is
providing high-quality written and verbal advice. You will prepare
briefings, reports, governance papers and recommendations for senior
audiences, translating complex information into clear, balanced and
actionable insights. You will also use data, evidence and stakeholder
feedback to identify emerging issues, assess risks and inform strategic
decision-making.
The successful candidate will
provide leadership and support to team members, helping to create an
inclusive and high-performing team environment while ensuring delivery
remains aligned to departmental priorities.
Person specification
Key Responsibilities
- Provide expert advice and
challenge on equality, diversity and inclusion matters, supporting
senior leaders to make informed and inclusive decisions.
- Lead the delivery of EDI
priorities, projects and improvement initiatives aligned to departmental
objectives and legal obligations.
- Build and maintain effective relationships with senior stakeholders, HR colleagues, business areas and Staff Diversity Networks.
- Produce high-quality briefings, reports and governance papers for Director and Deputy Director-level audiences.
- Use data, evidence and
insight to identify risks, opportunities and recommendations that
support inclusion and organisational performance.
- Manage and oversee multiple workstreams, ensuring quality delivery in a changing and sometimes ambiguous environment.
- Lead, support and develop team members, fostering an inclusive and collaborative team culture.
- Represent the EDI team at governance forums, working groups and stakeholder meetings as required.
Essential Criteria
- Knowledge of equality-
diversity and inclusion. EDI equality legislation and the protected
characteristics. Experience of working in an EDI role with a clear
understanding of the wider context.
- Strong organisational and
planning skills with ability to manage and progress multiple pieces of
work at once providing oversight to work being led by your team members
and prioritising in response to changing priorities.
- Strong stakeholder engagement skills able to work in partnership with experience of building productive relationships.
- Possess excellent
interpersonal written and oral communication skills with an ability to
communicate clearly and succinctly and with experience of writing for
formal governance.
- High levels of personal
resilience including the ability to adapt quickly to new demands and
work flexibly to deliver quality outcomes at pace and in ambiguous
contexts.
- Excellent judgement-
awareness and appropriate handling of sensitive and often contentious
topics maintaining impartiality and balance.
- Line management experience.
Desirable Criteria
- Experience of working within government, HR, people strategy or policy environments.
- Experience of developing or reviewing Equality Impact Assessments (EQIAs).
- Experience of analysing workforce data and translating findings into strategic recommendations.
- Experience of working with trade unions, staff networks or employee representative groups.
- Experience of briefing or advising Executive Committee, Director or Deputy Director-level stakeholders.
- Professional qualification or accreditation relevant to EDI, HR, organisational development or leadership.
Further Location Information
Please ensure that you only apply
for a location that you are willing and able to work from, as we will
only make one offer of employment. Any additional notes included in a
‘Further Location Preferences (optional)’ field within the application
form, will not be considered. Please be aware that you cannot change
your location preference after submitting your application.
Office closures
For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations.
If
your location preference is for the following site, it’s important to
note that this is not a long-term site for HMRC and we will require you
to move to a new building in the future, subject to our location
strategy and the applicable employee policies at that time.
The site is:
- Benton Park View, Newcastle - moving to Pilgrims Quarter, Newcastle
You will be given more information about what this means at job offer stage.
Leeds Locations
Moves
Adjustment Payment will be available for this role, provided the
successful applicant is a current HMRC colleague in Bradford and meets
the eligibility requirements outlined in the HMRC’s Moves Adjustment
Payment guidance.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Making Effective Decisions
- Delivering at Pace
- Leadership
Benefits
HMRC operates both Flexible and
Hybrid Working policies, allowing you to balance your work and personal
commitments. We welcome applications from those who need to work a more
flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible,
considering our operational and customer service needs.
We
offer a generous leave allowance, starting at 25 days and increasing by
a day for every year of qualifying service up to a maximum of 30 days.
- Pension - We make contributions to our colleagues’ Alpha pension equal to at least 28.97% of their salary.
- Family friendly policies.
- Personal support.
- Coaching and development.
To find out more about HMRC benefits and find out what it’s really like to work for HMRC hear from our insiders or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service.
Things you need to know
Artificial intelligence
Selection process details
How to Apply
As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide the following:
- A name-blind CV including your job history and previous experiences.
- A 750-word Personal
Statement evidencing your suitability for the role, focussing on the
Person Specification and how you meet the Essential Criteria.
- Separate 250-word statements on the Behaviours listed - Making Effective Decisions, Delivering at Pace and Leadership.
Please complete a separate
statement (Max 250 words) for the Desirable Criteria where applicable.
This is not essential for the role but may be considered by the
vacancy-holder where candidates have the same scores at interview.
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form
Sift
In the event of a large number of applications being received, an initial sift may be held on the CV and Personal Statement.
At full sift your CV, Personal
Statement and all Behaviour statements will be assessed, with the
successful candidates being invited to interview.
We may also raise the score required at any stage of the process if we receive a high number of applications.
Interview
During the panel interview, you
will be assessed on the Behaviours listed and Experience, where you will
be required to complete a written exercise.
The exercise assesses whether
candidates can turn complex, incomplete and politically sensitive
information into clear advice for senior decision-makers. Candidates
will have 1hr 45mins to review a briefing pack and produce a Director
briefing pack of no more than 2 A4 pages. Exercise materials will be
provided at start of exercise.
It is intended to test practical Grade 7 EDI consultancy capability rather than recall of EDI theory alone.
The exercise will be invigilated
via Teams where you will be expected to have your camera on and share
your screen. Once completed there will be a 15 minute interval before
commencing the panel led interview which will be approximately 45
minutes.
Interviews will also take place via Teams. Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.
Eligibility
Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. Mistakes
sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working
days (Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we may not be able to
reopen your application for you.
If you do make a mistake with your eligibility form, or have withdrawn
yourself in error and need your application reinstated whilst the
campaign is still live, please contact us via: unitybusinessservicesrecruitmentresults@hmrc.gov.uk – Use the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example – ‘Please re-open my application – [insert vacancy ref] & vacancy closing date [insert date]’
To check that you are eligible to apply for this role, please review the eligibility information before submitting your application.
Exceptionally, candidates who are
not successful at this grade may be considered for appointment to
similar roles at a lower grade where the eligibility criteria are met.
If this applies, we will contact you directly.
Sponsorship
We have assessed this role against
both Home Office and HMRC criteria and we are unable to offer
sponsorship for a Skilled Worker Visa. This means the vacancy is not
open to applicants who require visa sponsorship.
The HMRC app can help you with your application
The HMRC app can
provide you with your past 5 years' employment history, making the
process of filling in your application quicker and easier.
If successful in your application, you will need your National Insurance number for the onboarding process.
Download the HMRC app now and save your National Insurance number to your digital phone wallet.
How to download the HMRC app and sign up for an account
Download the free HMRC app from the App Store or Google Play store.
If you have an HMRC online account
already, sign straight in using your ID and password. If not, you can
prove your identity by answering some questions or providing your photo
ID.
You’ll
then be able to access the app quickly and easily by signing in using a
6-digit PIN, your fingerprint, or facial recognition.
You can find guidance for technical issues on GOV.UK: Technical support with HMRC online services.
Reserve List
A reserve list may be held for up
to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or
similar roles – if this applies to you, we’ll let you know via your
Civil Service Jobs account.
Criminal Record Check
Applications received from
candidates with a criminal record are considered fairly in accordance
with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders
Policy.
Merit List
After
interview, a single merit list will be created, and you will only be
considered for posts in locations you have expressed a preference for.
Appointments will be made in strict merit order in line with the set
number of roles in each location.
Hybrid working at HMRC
HMRC is an office-based
organisation, and colleagues are expected to spend 60% of their working
time in the office. Our offices provide opportunity for interaction,
collaboration which aids learning and development and a sense of
community. Where the role allows it, and where the home environment is
suitable, colleagues can work from home for up to 2 days a week,
averaged over a calendar month (or a proportionate amount of time for
colleagues who work less than full time).
Reasonable Adjustments
We
want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our
recruitment process. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove
any barriers where possible and provide additional support where
appropriate.
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:
- Contact the UBS Recruitment Team via unitybusinessservicesrecruitmentresults@hmrc.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
Complete the “Assistance required”
section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form
to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the
recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at
interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.
Technical Support
If you are experiencing problems that cannot be resolved by our ‘help’ section, then technical support is available. You will receive a reply in 2 working days.
Important information for existing HMRC Contractual Homeworkers
This role may be suitable for
existing HMRC employees who are contractual homeworkers. Occasional
attendance to the office will be required where there is a business
need. Please consider the advertised office locations for this role when
applying and only select locations from the ‘location preferences’
section that you can travel to.
Terms and Conditions
Current Civil Servants (all
contract types) will need to ensure that they are still employed as a
Civil Servant on or beyond the start date for the post. If their
contract ends (for example due to the end of Fixed Term Appointment
contract or resignation) at any point during the application process for
the advertised role, they will no longer be eligible and may be
withdrawn.
Customer facing roles in HMRC
require the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and
provide advice in accurate spoken English and/or Welsh where required.
Where this is an essential requirement, this will be tested as part of
the selection process.
HMRC has a presence in every region of the UK. For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations.
The
Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates
to abide by these principles. The evidence you provide in your
application must relate to your own experiences.
Any
instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will be investigated
and, if proven, the relevant application(s) will be withdrawn from the
process.
Recording of interviews is
prohibited unless explicit agreement is sought in line with the UK
General Data Protection Regulations.
Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.
Applicants who are successful at
interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a
check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide
information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or
dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or
otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their
employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be
refused employment.
A candidate is not eligible to
apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made
within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal
fraud against government.
Please note that, if you are
applying for roles on a part-time basis, the salary agreed will be
pro-rata, reflective of the working hours agreed within your contract.
If you experience accessibility
problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email
address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.
For more Information for people applying for, or thinking of applying for, roles at HM Revenue and Customs, please see link: Working for HMRC: information for applicants - GOV.UK.
Security
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the EU,
Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of
those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- nationals of the EU,
Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of
those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or
pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- individuals with limited
leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply
for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
- Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Eligibility
Working for the Civil Service
Diversity and Inclusion
Apply and further information
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
- Name : Julie Campbell
- Email : julie.campbell2@hmrc.gov.uk
- Telephone : 03000519318
Recruitment team
Further information
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