Lawyer (Civil Litigation)

Care Quality Commission; United Kingdom; Hybrid; GBP 42,000 - 57,000; Full time

Job summary

A national health and social care regulator in the UK is seeking a Lawyer to provide legal advice and support regulatory enforcement in health and social care. This position offers a salary between £42,044-£56,941, dependent on location, with the opportunity for hybrid working. Candidates should be qualified solicitors or barristers with relevant experience in health and social care regulation.

Benefits

Annual leave starting at 27 days plus bank holidays

Training and development opportunities

Wellbeing initiatives, such as gym discounts

NHS pension scheme with employer contribution

Qualifications

• 2 years post‑qualification experience or substantial relevant experience in health and social care regulation.
• Experience managing legal caseloads and presenting complex legal information.
• Benefits from experience with First‑tier Tribunal appeals and Judicial Review claims.

Responsibilities

• Provide expert legal advice to support teams across CQC.
• Coach and supervise trainees and paralegals.
• Build relationships to embed legal thinking in decision‑making.

Skills

Legal qualification and experience

Casework and enforcement expertise

Collaborative working

Education

Qualified Solicitor, Barrister, or Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives

Job description

Grade B - £42,044-£51,085 (National) or £47,900-£56,941 (London – for London office based or homebased workers within the boundary of the M25). There is also a recruitment & retention allowance of £3,000 per annum.

Contracted Hours: Full time 37 hours per week

Contract Type: Permanent

Location: Office based at London or Leeds Office (Lawyers in the Civil Litigation Team are office‑based to support learning and development. Reasonable adjustments will be considered). We can also offer hybrid working (working 2 days a week from home).

Closing date: Monday 15 December 2025 at 11.59pm

Make a difference

Every role at CQC contributes to our mission. If you’re looking for a new role in Legal Services that gives a true sense of meaning and purpose, then you’ve found it! As a Lawyer, you’ll help ensure our decisions are legally sound and support our work to improve health and social care across England.

Picture this

Imagine being part of a team that helps shape how health and care services are held to account, offering legal advice that directly influences national policy and enforcement decisions. At CQC as a Lawyer in the civil litigation team within the Legal Services Directorate, you might get the chance to:

• Lead on complex legal casework that supports regulatory enforcement and protects public safety.
• Support Senior Lawyers on complex Judicial Review claims.
• Deliver training and legal awareness sessions that empower teams across CQC to make informed, lawful decisions.

The role

You’ll be key in helping us deliver our work. In this role, you’ll:

• Provide expert legal advice: Support teams across CQC with clear, solutions‑focused guidance that helps manage legal risks.
• Support and develop others: Coach and supervise trainees, and paralegals to build capability within the team.
• Collaborate and influence: Build strong relationships across CQC to embed legal thinking into everyday decision‑making.

Show us

We’ll be looking for the following skills, knowledge and experience in your application form:

• Legal qualification and experience: You’ll be a qualified Solicitor, Barrister, or Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, with either 2 years post‑qualification experience or substantial relevant experience in health and social care regulation.
• Casework and enforcement expertise: Experience managing legal caseloads, advising on enforcement activity, and presenting complex legal information in a clear, accessible way. Experience of First‑tier Tribunal appeals, Judicial Review claims and other relevant litigation experience will be beneficial.
• Collaborative working: Proven ability to build relationships, support colleagues, and contribute to shared goals in a fast‑paced environment.

The team

A part of the Legal Services Directorate, you will work with colleagues across the whole directorate. The team has a varied remit and predominantly deals with appeals to the First‑tier Tribunal (varying between 60 – 100 live appeals at any one time), Upper Tribunal appeals, private law claims, litigated public law challenges and employment.

Compliance

To progress your application, you’ll need to provide evidence of your right to work in the UK. Without a valid right to work you won’t be eligible for the role. We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role. Some roles may also be subject to a satisfactory DBS check.

Next steps

If you apply, you’ll need to create a profile and complete an online application form. Your application will be completely anonymous. Please see information for applicants for more details on the process. We contact every applicant to let them know the outcome of their application, so you will hear from us whether or not you are shortlisted.

You can read the full details of the role in the Job Description.

If you’d like an informal chat about the role contact – Sarah Potter, Legal Manager; [e-mail]. For general enquiries, please email [e-mail].

Benefits

We offer a wide range of benefits, including:

• Annual leave starting at 27 days per year, rising to 32.5 days with service, plus bank holidays (usually 8 days per year).
• Training and development opportunities.
• Wellbeing initiatives, such as gym discounts and meditation.
• NHS pension scheme, with around 14% employer contribution.
• Discount schemes (including eligibility for a Blue Light card, at a cost of £4.99 and valid for 2 years), reward vouchers, car leasing and more!

Please see our benefits page for the full list.

Equity for all

We know job descriptions can feel intimidating. Research shows they can cause some people to doubt whether they’re a good fit. This happens more often to people from underrepresented groups (e.g. ethnic minority backgrounds). If this role interests you, we encourage you to apply. Your unique perspective, skills, and experience could be exactly what we need.

We want every candidate to feel supported and able to do their best. If you need adjustments to our process, we’ll work with you to remove any barriers. Visit our accessibility page for more on this. If you’d like to chat, please contact [e-mail]. Please note, if you have previously informed us of adjustments you need for interview or within your role these are not carried over and must be discussed for each individual application you make.

We promote a workplace where fairness, respect and inclusion are a priority. Diverse teams make our work better, help us deliver our mission and make our culture stronger. See our EDI page for more about this.

We welcome applications from everyone, and colleagues can find support and community among our many employee networks. This includes people of any:

• Age
• Sex
• Gender identity or expression
• Sexual orientation
• Religion or belief
• Ethnicity
• Disability

Values and vision

Excellence – being a high‑performing organisation.

Caring – treating everyone with dignity and respect.

Integrity – doing the right thing.

Teamwork – learning from each other to be the best we can.

We are a disability confident employer and a carer confident employer.

A Note on AI

AI tools can be great for research and refining ideas, but we want to learn about you. If you use AI or Chatbots to help you with your application, keep these points in mind:

• AI can support research, structuring and refining your writing, but your application must reflect your real skills and experience.
• Spell‑checking and condensing word counts are great ways to use AI effectively.
• Do not copy and paste AI generated answers. These will not help you stand out; remember we want to hear about your skills and experience.
• Providing false and insincere examples goes against our core values of honesty and integrity and may lead to your application being withdrawn or termination of your employment.