Former Department for Work and Pensions digital chief Richard Corbridge has apologised for breaching the government's revolving-doors rules.
The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments has refused to provide advice on a role taken up by Corbridge with Segro, a British property investment and development firm, after his appointment was announced before the regulator could assess the potential risks of the move and what conditions should be imposed.
Corbridge was appointed as the department's chief digital and information officer in April 2023, where he headed up DWP’s workforce of about 4,500 digital, data and technology professionals. He had previously spent four years in senior roles at high-street pharmacy chain Boots. His role at Segro will be chief information officer.
Eric Pickles, chair of the Acoba watchdog, wrote to Pat McFadden on Monday to report the breach. Acoba released a chain of letters this week which detail the breach.
Pickles’ letter to Pat McFadden says: “Before Acoba provided advice on the application, the appointment was announced by the company with coverage in several media outlets.” Pickles adds that “Mr Corbridge’s LinkedIn profile also was subsequently updated”.
Detailing Corbridge’s explanation for the breach, Pickles’ letter says that “Mr Corbridge confirmed he told Segro that he was subject to the rules, and that any announcement had to wait until the full process had been completed. Segro decided not to comply with the process and announced the appointment without awaiting advice”.
Pickles’ letter continues: “Employing organisations putting their needs before those of the government’s rules puts applicants in a difficult position.” Pickles also refers to the breach as an indication of “a lack of clarity on the various standards of behaviour, rules and legislation” on the part of organisations outside of government.
Failure to allow Acoba to provide its advice has left the government, Mr Corbridge and Segro “open to concerns that he may offer Segro an unfair advantage”, Pickles concludes.
Segro has not responded to Acoba’s letter, dated January 2025, which alerted them to the breach.
Communication breakdown
Corbridge, who left his position as DWP director general in December, has apologised unreservedly. Corbridge says it was “caused by a misunderstanding in the process and the stage of the process that this resignation was at within Acoba as well as some external factors that were being mitigated by my new employer”.
Corbridge’s statement also says there was “a breakdown in communications between my new firm and DWP” which meant that “process wasn’t followed correctly”.
According to Corbridge, his new employer, which is a FTSE 30 company, “was seeking to limit any rumour or leak that could occur and manage media interest in this appointment in a positive manner”.
Corbridge explains that Segro believed there was “risk of financial impact if the message was not carefully managed”.
A DWP statement in response to the reported breach asks the Acoba committee “to note that Mr Corbridge has not yet taken up post”. It also says that “DWP has now taken steps to ensure that correct internal approvals are in place which are in line with the standards that ACOBA rightly expects”. DWP added its apologies to those already submitted by Mr Corbridge.
Dougie Thornton, Acoba committee secretariat, in a letter to DWP, said: “The committee will not provide advice on this appointment.”
Thornton said that due to the failure to wait for Acoba’s advice, “the opportunity to manage the risks appropriately has been lost”.