DWP business appointment rules advice, July to September 2025
Published 1 April 2026
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Matthew Russell
Full Name of Applicant: Matthew Russell
Title of Former Civil Service Role: Deputy Director for Localism Strategy
Date Left/ Retired from the Civil Service: 26 September 2025
New Employer: East Midlands Combined County Authority (EMCCA)
New Appointment/ Employment (including when taken up): Director of Strategy, Reform and Insight (29 September 2025)
Department’s Decision on Application (including details of any waiting period or other conditions or restrictions applied):
The department is content to approve this application on the conditions that for 2 years from your last day of paid service, you must not:
- draw on any privileged information that was available to you as a Crown Servant
- lobby the Department for Work and Pensions
- be personally involved in or advise on any bids, funding or contracts with the UK government in a way which would involve using his contacts or knowledge from his Civil Service work to provide his new employer with an unfair advantage
These restrictions are not intended to prevent Mr Russell from undertaking his role as Strategy Director at EMCCA as described above, but to provide assurance that he is operating within the principles of the government’s Business Appointment Rules.
If the role as you have described it in your application changes significantly in a way that might affect the conditions we have applied you should inform the Department.
If you wish to accept any other appointment within the next two years, the rules require you submit a fresh application for approval.