Jonathan Freeman was a senior civil servant when he was offered a secondment into the voluntary sector which would change his life. In a civil service career that lasted 16 formative years, he went from the Lord Chancellor’s Department – now the Ministry of Justice – where he worked on the front line for the court service, to the Cabinet Office, and then to what’s now MHCLG.
He has since worked in senior positions in the third sector, most recently as a founder chief executive of the CareTech Foundation, the leading corporate foundation in the social care sector.
Freeman has been chief executive of Charity for Civil Servants since September 2024, and hopes to use his experience and expertise to establish its place at the heart of the civil service. Founded in 1886, the charity helps civil servants, past and present, deal with issues relating to money, stress and anxiety, relationships, mental health, dementia and more. All advice and support offered by CFCS is entirely confidential.
What made you decide to pursue a career in the voluntary sector?
It was more the case that the voluntary sector pursued me! I was very happy and fulfilled in the civil service, when I got a secondment offer from a charity called Mosaic. It’s a youth mentoring charity, which was the inspiration of the Prince of Wales – who’s now the King, of course. I eventually helped to merge that charity into the Prince’s Trust.
The idea was to spend a year on secondment, doing something a bit different. But I got asked to stay a bit longer, and I discovered I was pretty decent at fundraising, which meant they wanted to keep me on. And then the board encouraged me to apply for the top job.
My wife said, “Are you mad? Why on earth would you give up everything? You're a civil servant.” But I loved working in the charity. I felt that I could achieve a huge amount there. And I ended up running it.
Why did you want the chief executive job at Charity for Civil Servants?
I was approached for this job by a head-hunter, who said, “We think you were made for this role.” They told me a bit more about it and I had to agree. It brought together everything I’d done in the past and everything I believed in.
Do you think the charity needs a change of focus under your leadership?
I want to put the charity where it deserves to be, which is at the heart of the civil service community. When I joined the civil service back in 1992, it was expected on day one that you signed your contract, you signed the Official Secrets Act and you signed up to donate to the charity with a monthly contribution.
Life is more complicated these days. But the civil service is still a community where we're bound together, with so many shared values, and we've got to look after each other. We know that civil servants will fall on tough times, and life is sometimes hard for them.
It’s a particularly challenging time right now, with the cost of living crisis, because people are less able to donate. But it also means that people need us more than ever. It’s the perfect storm, really. We urgently need to get our message out there, so we can support individuals right across the organisation.
To do that, we’ll need to establish our relevance and increase engagement. My biggest job is to demonstrate that we really are as relevant today as we were in 1886 when civil servants set up the charity.
“I’m not going to shy away from it. We need more support from our community so that we’ll have the funds to provide the support people need”
Is there really an enquiry to the charity every 13 minutes?
Yes, that’s true. And I’m sure that in a year’s time we’ll see that number has risen. We know there’s more demand out there that we’re not tapping into yet. Which means we need to be really fleet of foot and say, “How do we manage that demand?” And I’m not going to shy away from it. We need more support from our community so that we’ll have the funds to provide the support people need.
What kind of support are people coming to you for?
As an example, we had a young fast streamer who was really struggling because he hadn't realised he had autism, and we were able to help him get a diagnosis and provide the support and the training to help deal with that.
We’ve also had some cases where people suddenly become carers and we've been able to help them to get the help they need to keep going. And an increasing number of people have really acute mental health issues. These are people who wouldn’t have been able to carry on – in work or with life more broadly – without the support we provided.
And of course we can provide financial support for individuals to help them when they're struggling. This is obviously way beyond the kind of intervention that an employer is capable of providing for their employees, especially in the civil service where people are paid with taxpayers’ money.
So we want people to know that if they donate to us, we will make very good use of their money.
Are you able to forecast what people might need from you?
Yes – we look really carefully at what the data's telling us about the things people are struggling with. We can see an increase in need around financial advice, menopause, and of course there’s a huge uptick in mental health problems. We’ve been able to see what’s coming around the corner with all of that, and we aim to make sure we’re ready to deal with it.
“Civil servants are up and down the country doing the most extraordinary jobs. And they are not very loved”
What do you wish people knew about the charity?
I don't think people realise that we have been around for 139 years. We're as old as Hovis, Coca-Cola and Arsenal Football Club!
But to make a serious point on that – we have been working away in the background for a very long time to make sure civil servants feel supported, and feel that there is a family around them if they fall on hard times. There are people doing difficult jobs who could earn more money in the private sector, and we need to hold on to them and look after them. That’s why I’m so proud of what we do.
Do you think civil servants see themselves as part of a larger community?
I genuinely think there's a pride in being a civil servant. I know it's a truism, but people join the civil service because they care about making a difference. They care about society and they want to shape it.
Maybe some of those bonds are weaker than perhaps they were when I joined the civil service. People might feel a stronger bond to their own department than to the entire organisation. And people might not feel recognised in the way they should. It's not often the general public or opinion-formers thank civil servants and recognise what they do. But we are here to help people feel part of that wider family and to feel proud and valued.
What do you do to unwind?
I recently went to the National Theatre with my daughter and we saw The Importance of Being Earnest. It was absolutely hilarious. And of course the National Theatre is supported massively by government. So is the British Library and the National Portrait Gallery.
The public tends to think very stereotypically about the civil service and about public servants. We don’t think about the person working in the National Archives or the bailiffs going out in Tottenham, to help people recover funds for their business. Civil servants are up and down the country doing the most extraordinary jobs. And they are not very loved. But I want to be there for them when they hit times where they need some help. And that's a real privilege.
If you need help or advice from the Charity for Civil Servants, you can find more information on their website.The site also has details of how you can support CfCS, including through a regular payroll donation, entering the community lottery, or helping to raise money for the charity through a range of events