Transparency data
HMRC's business appointment rules advice, July to September 2025
Published 16 December 2025
© Crown copyright 2025
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-business-appointment-rules-advice-july-to-september-2025/hmrcs-business-appointment-rules-advice-july-to-september-2025
| Full name of applicant | Gillian Smith |
|---|---|
| Title of former civil service role | Deputy Director, Workforce Transformation and Partnering and Income Tax Service Transformation |
| Date left the civil service | 30 June 2025 |
| New employer | Gillian Smith Coaching |
| New appointment/employment (including when taken up) | Executive Coach, 1 July 2025 |
| Department’s decision on application (including details of any waiting period or other conditions or restrictions applied) | HMRC approved this application with the following conditions: not approach HMRC staff with an offer of employment without a robust recruitment/interview process taking place; not draw on any privileged information obtained as a Crown servant that is not available in the public domain; not become involved in, nor use your internal HMRC network to proactively lobby UK Government Ministers or Crown Servants, including Special Advisors; not advise on HMRC contracts or discuss commercially sensitive information that you may have had access to during your time in the department. |
| Full name of applicant | Isolde Murphy |
|---|---|
| Title of former civil service role | Deputy Director, Policy Co-ordination Unit |
| Date left the civil service | 13 July 2025 |
| New employer | World Customs Organisation |
| New appointment/employment (including when taken up) | Director for Implementation & Capacity Building, 14 July 2025 |
| Department’s decision on application (including details of any waiting period or other conditions or restrictions applied) | HMRC approved this application with the following conditions: not approach HMRC staff with an offer of employment without a robust recruitment/interview process taking place; not draw on any privileged information obtained as a Crown servant that is not available in the public domain; not discuss any of the commercially sensitive information that you have had access to during your time in HMRC. |
| Full name of applicant | Julie Etheridge |
|---|---|
| Title of former civil service role | Operations Director, Customer Services Group and Senior Responsible Owner, Trader Support Service programme |
| Date left the civil service | 30 June 2025 |
| New employer | Derbyshire County Council |
| New appointment/employment (including when taken up) | Director of People and Organisational Change, 1 July 2025 |
| Department’s decision on application (including details of any waiting period or other conditions or restrictions applied) | HMRC approved this application with the following conditions: For a period of 2 years from your last day in service, you must: not approach HMRC staff with an offer of employment without a robust recruitment/interview process taking place; not draw on any privileged information obtained as a Crown servant that is not available in the public domain. |
| Full name of applicant | Katherine Peters |
|---|---|
| Title of former civil service role | Deputy Director Indirect Taxes, Customs & Co-ordination and Chief Economist |
| Date left the civil service | 30 August 2025 |
| New employer | St Helena Government |
| New appointment/employment (including when taken up) | Chief Economist, 1 September 2025 |
| Department’s decision on application (including details of any waiting period or other conditions or restrictions applied) | HMRC approved this application with the following conditions: not approach HMRC staff with an offer of employment without a robust recruitment/interview process taking place; not draw on any privileged information obtained as a Crown servant that is not available in the public domain. |
| Full name of applicant | Nicola Smith |
|---|---|
| Title of former civil service role | AI and Innovation Lead |
| Date left the civil service | 1 August 2025 |
| New employer | International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) |
| New appointment/employment (including when taken up) | Associate Partner, 4 August 2025 |
| Department’s decision on application (including details of any waiting period or other conditions or restrictions applied) | HMRC approved this application with the following conditions: not approach HMRC staff with an offer of employment without a robust recruitment/interview process taking place; not become involved in, nor use your internal HMRC network to proactively lobby UK Government Ministers or Crown servants, including Special Advisers; not draw on any privileged information obtained as a Crown servant that is not available in the public domain; not be involved in bidding, either directly or via coaching of IBM staff, for any work with HMRC; not use your network within the department or government to gain information that could be seen as advantageous to IBM; not be involved with any aspect of IBM’s service delivery to HMRC; not discuss or share the details of HMRC’s AI Strategy or your knowledge of HMRC’s AI work that is not currently available in the public domain. |