Decision

Advice letter: William James Timpson, Chief Executive Officer, Timpson Limited

Published 5 October 2026

1. BUSINESS APPOINTMENT APPLICATION: Lord Timpson, former Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending, the Ministry of Justice – Paid appointment as Chief Executive Officer, Timpson Limited

Thank you for your application, under the Government’s Business Appointment Rules for Former Ministers (the Rules), for my advice on re-joining Timpson Limited, as Chief Executive Officer, and a number of related companies, as director.

The purpose of the Rules, as you will be aware, is to protect the integrity of government and to avoid any suspicion that those who have served in government might profit improperly from that experience or that an employer might gain unfair advantage through privileged access to government. To achieve these aims, I designate conditions that former ministers must follow.

I should place on record your acknowledgement that you departed from the Rules by taking up the appointment before seeking advice. Applications for advice are not normally accepted retrospectively. However, you have provided written assurance that your work to date for Timpson Limited and its related companies does not contravene the conditions set out below. Accordingly, I am issuing this advice on the basis that, in this instance, there have been no significantly damaging consequences.

The material information and my consideration are set out in the annex. In light of this, I consider the following conditions to be appropriate, recognising that it is your responsibility to ensure that these are demonstrably applied in practice:

• Privileged information condition – You should not draw on (disclose or use for the benefit of Timpson Limited including its related parties and clients) any privileged information available to you from your time in ministerial office. This is an ongoing duty irrespective of the time elapsed since you left office.

• Lobbying condition – For two years from your last day in office, you should not become personally involved in lobbying the UK Government or its arm’s length bodies on behalf of Timpson Limited (including its related parties and clients). This is not intended to prevent you from having contact with the Government to discuss Timpson Limited’s work in line with your duties as Chief Executive Officer as described in the annex. This includes having contact with the Government, at its request or through existing, non-privileged networks, to discuss Timpson Limited’s activities concerning former and serving prisoners; otherwise engaging with the Government at its request; or sharing factual information transparently, and using existing and therefore implicitly agreed frameworks for contacts within Government. However, it does prevent you from making use, directly or indirectly, of your contacts in Government to initiate engagement to influence policy, secure business or funding, or otherwise unfairly advantage Timpson Limited (including its related parties and clients).

• Contracts and bids condition – For two years from your last day in office, you should not undertake any work with Timpson Limited (including its related parties and clients) that involves providing advice on the terms of, or with regard to the subject matter of a bid with, or contract relating directly to the work of, the UK Government or its arm’s length bodies.

• Business development restriction – For two years from your last day in office, you should not become personally involved in lobbying contacts you acquired during your time in office in other governments and organisations for the purpose of securing business for Timpson Limited (including its related parties and clients).

I would be grateful if you would note the following points:

• My advice is not an endorsement of the appointment.

• The advice relates solely to your previous role in government; it is separate from rules administered by other bodies such as the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and the Registrar of Lords’ Interests. It is your personal responsibility to understand any other rules and regulations you may be subject to in parallel with my advice.

• By ‘privileged information’, I mean official information to which you had access as a consequence of holding office and which is not publicly available. You are also reminded that you may be subject to other duties of confidentiality, whether under the Official Secrets Act, the Ministerial Code or otherwise.

• By ‘related parties’, I mean any parent companies, subsidiaries, clients and/or other partners as may be relevant.

• As set out in the Rules, the lobbying restriction means that former ministers ‘should not engage in communication with government (ministers, civil servants, including special advisers, and other relevant officials/public office holders) – wherever it takes place – with a view to influencing a government decision, policy or contract award/grant in relation to their own interests or the interests of the organisation by which they are employed, or to whom they are contracted or with which they hold office’.

As you have already taken up the appointment, my secretariat will publish this letter. I remind you that, for as long as you remain subject to the Rules, they oblige you to apply for my advice about any appointments or employment you wish to take up, including unpaid roles. If you are unsure whether advice is required under the Rules, you should consult my secretariat in the first instance. You must also inform us if you propose to extend or otherwise change the nature of your role as, depending on the circumstances, it may be necessary for you to make a fresh application. You must also inform us if you propose to extend or otherwise change the nature of your role as, depending on the circumstances, it may be necessary for you to make a fresh application.

Yours sincerely,

Sir Laurie Magnus CBE Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards

2. Annex – Material information and consideration of the risks

2.1 The role

You wish to take up a paid role as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Timpson Limited (Timpson) and as director of a number of related companies in the same family-owned British retail group. The group’s activities include running training academies within prisons, organising work shifts in Timpson retail outlets for serving prisoners on temporary release licences, and offering permanent employment opportunities to prison leavers.

You stated that, as CEO, you will be responsible for driving business growth, maintaining profitability and supporting team members. Your responsibilities will also include liaising with the Government regarding Timpson’s efforts to help reduce reoffending rates, supporting employers to offer employment opportunities to prison leavers and supporting prisons and the probation service with rehabilitation and resettlement goals.

I note that you are returning to a position you held before being appointed as Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending.

2.2 Dealings in office

You said that you were neither involved in any policy, regulatory or commercial decisions specific to Timpson, nor had access to any information that could grant Timpson an unfair advantage. You stated that Timpson maintains a working relationship with your former department, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), because Timpson actively recruits ex-offenders and provides training to serving prisoners across the country.

2.3 Departmental assessment

The MoJ confirmed the details you provided, noting that you were either recused from commercial decisions involving Timpson or that another minister held responsibility for them. The department also noted that you spoke with various employers to encourage them to hire former prisoners and flagged no conflict of interest in this respect. The department recommended the standard conditions.

2.4 My consideration of the risks

As confirmed by the MoJ, you made no policy, regulatory or commercial decisions specific to Timpson as Minister of State for Prisons, Probation and Reducing Reoffending. You are returning to a position which you previously held within your family’s business and from which you stood down – the risk of this appointment being perceived as a reward for decisions or actions in office is therefore very limited.

In your ministerial role, you will have had access to general privileged information that could be of interest to Timpson, insofar as these relate to its activities concerning former and serving prisoners. However, the MoJ expressed no concerns over your access to privileged information. It is also significant that you came into government following an established career gaining experience and skills relevant to your ministerial portfolio through your work at Timpson and at the Employers’ Forum for Reducing Re-offending, the Prison Reform Trust and the Employment Advisory Board. Further, the Rules do not prohibit you from utilising your general skills, knowledge, experience, and any publicly available information.

I therefore consider the risks associated with your access to information from your time as a minister to be appropriately mitigated by the standard conditions.

As a business that has operationally embedded its active commitment to prison reform, rehabilitation, and lowering reoffending rates, Timpson has a clear interest in government decisions and policy. In addition to standard commercial activities, your role, as described, involving contact with government, gives rise to a risk that you could provide unfair access to government and influence over government policy in these areas.

However, it is highly significant that:

• you are returning to a role you previously held in your family business

• you came into Government with an extensive background of relevant experience, including at Timpson

• there is an existing and ongoing relationship between Timpson and the Government

I therefore consider that it could not reasonably be perceived that you are being re-appointed to Timpson to gain unfair access to the Government.

Further, it is not contrary to the Rules to engage with the Government where the contact is through existing, non-privileged networks or when initiated by the Government itself, and where the risk of unfair influence, or the perception thereof, is appropriately managed. It would, however, be inappropriate to make use of privileged contacts from your time as minister to seek to influence the Government. There is, therefore, a risk you could be perceived as offering unfair access given your very recent time in ministerial office.

I consider it of significant relevance that Timpson has confirmed that the scope of your role is separate from its lobbying activities and that adhering to the advice in this letter is not inconsistent with the role. I therefore consider the risks involving some contact with government can be mitigated and it is not the case that any contact could be perceived as an act of lobbying. In particular, I have specified in the lobbying condition that engagement with government, so long as it is not initiated by you to influence policy, is permissible. This condition does not therefore prevent you from fulfilling your duties as described.

Your role involves developing Timpson’s business. You will likely have a wide network from before you entered government. However, you may also have contacts acquired as a result of your ministerial role and there is a risk that you could be seen to advantage Timpson were you to draw on such contacts to secure business on its behalf. I have therefore applied a condition preventing you from lobbying external contacts acquired only as a result of your time in office to secure business.