Decision

Advice Letter: Kay Swinburne, commission with Nationwide Building Society under Swinburne Ltd

Published 5 November 2025

The advice below was considered and provided by ACOBA before it closed on 12 October 2025, but taken up by the applicant on or after 13 October and therefore published after the ACOBA’s closure. The Independent Adviser has not had a role in this advice.

1. BUSINESS APPOINTMENT APPLICATION: The Baroness Dr Swinburne, former Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Minister for Housing and Communities at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Paid commission with Nationwide Building Society under the consultancy – Swinburne Ltd. 

You sought advice from the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (the Committee) under the government’s Business Appointment Rules for Former Ministers (the Rules) on taking up a commission with Nationwide Building Society under your independent consultancy, Swinburne Ltd. 

The purpose of the Rules is to protect the integrity of the government. Under the Rules, the Committee’s remit is to consider the risks associated with the actions and decisions you made during your time in office, alongside the information and influence you may offer Nationwide Building Society. The material information taken into consideration by the Committee is set out in the annex.

The Committee’s advice is not an endorsement of the appointment – it imposes a number of conditions to mitigate the potential risks to the government associated with the appointment under the Rules.

The Ministerial Code sets out that ministers must abide by the Committee’s advice. It is an applicant’s personal responsibility to manage the propriety of any appointment. Former ministers of the Crown, and Members of Parliament, are expected to uphold the highest standards of propriety and act in accordance with the 7 Principles of Public Life.

2. The Committee’s consideration of the risks presented 

The Committee^{[footnote 1]} considered this commission to be broadly consistent with the description of Swinburne Ltd – which was described as providing advisory services to companies operating in financial services. 

As the Minister for Housing and Communities, you had interactions with stakeholders in the housing and building sectors. You were not involved in mortgage policy during your time in office. Further, HM Treasury sets the overall framework for mortgage regulation, with the oversight of day-to-day regulation of mortgage lenders and mortgage intermediaries by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. In ministerial office you neither met with, nor made any decisions specific to Nationwide Building Society. Therefore, the Committee considered the risk that this commission can reasonably be perceived as a reward for decisions made in office is low. 

As a former minister, you would have had access to a range of sensitive information that could provide benefit to any organisation. The risks are limited as there is no direct overlap with your time in office and the work of the Nationwide Building Society. Further, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government^{[footnote 2]} does not consider you to possess sensitive information that may provide Nationwide Building Society an unfair advantage; and it has been over eight months since you left government – reducing the currency of any information you may possess.

As a former minister, there is a risk that you might be seen to offer unfair access to, and influence within, government. You confirmed your commission with Nationwide Building Society excludes any dealings with the UK government.

3. The Committee’s advice

The Committee determined the risks identified can be appropriately mitigated by the conditions below. These make it clear that you cannot make use of privileged information, contacts or influence gained from your time in ministerial office to the unfair advantage of Nationwide Building Society under Swinburne Ltd. 

Taking into account these factors, in accordance with the government’s Business Appointment Rules, the Committee advises this commission with Nationwide Building Society should be subject to the same conditions applied to your independent consultancy, Swinburne Ltd:

• you should not draw on (disclose for use for the benefit of yourself or the persons or organisations to which this advice refers) any privileged information available to you from your time in ministerial office;

• for two years from your last day in ministerial office, you should not become personally involved in lobbying the UK government or any of its arm’s length bodies on behalf of Nationwide Building Society (including parent companies, subsidiaries, partners and clients); nor should you make use, directly or indirectly, of your contacts in the government and/or Crown service to influence policy, secure business/funding or otherwise unfairly advantage Nationwide Building Society (including parent companies, subsidiaries, partners and clients); 

• for two years from your last day in ministerial office, you should not provide advice to or on behalf of Nationwide Building Society  (including parent companies, subsidiaries, partners and clients) 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 any of its arm’s length bodies; and

• for two years from your last day in ministerial office, before accepting any commissions for Swinburne Ltd and or/before extending or otherwise changing the nature of your commissions, you should seek advice from the Committee. The Committee will decide whether each commission is consistent with the terms of the consultancy and consider any relevant factors under the Business Appointment Rules.

The advice and the conditions under the government’s Business Appointment Rules relate to your previous role in government only; they are 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.^{[footnote 3]} You are reminded that, as a Member of the House of Lords, you are prevented from any paid lobbying under the House of Lords Code of Conduct. It is an applicant’s personal responsibility to understand any other rules and regulations they may be subject to in parallel with this Committee’s advice.

By ‘privileged information’ we mean official information to which a minister or Crown servant has had access as a consequence of his or her office or employment and which has not been made publicly available. Applicants are also reminded that they may be subject to other duties of confidentiality, whether under the Official Secrets Act, the Ministerial Code or otherwise.

The Business Appointment Rules explain that the restriction on lobbying means that you ‘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’. 

You must inform us as soon as you take up employment with this organisation, or if it is announced that you will do so. 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.

Once the appointment has been publicly announced or taken up, we will publish this letter on the Committee’s website, and where appropriate, refer to it in the relevant annual report. 

The Rt Hon Lord Pickles

4. Annex – Material Information 

4.1 The role

You stated that the consultancy firm Swinburne Ltd, previously existed to provide financial services regulatory advice and consultancy services to the global financial sector and it was put into voluntary administration when you were Vice Chair of KPMG, in your career prior to joining government. You stated the firm has since been reformed and registered at Companies House (from January 2025) awaiting the Committee’s approval for it to actively operate.

You stated Swinburne Ltd will provide advisory services to global clients operating in the financial services sector and as Director, you will deliver advice to C-suite (senior) executives and board members within financial services, with a particular focus on global financial regulation, environmental, social and governance matters and digital assets.

You confirmed the work of Swinburne Ltd with Nationwide Building Society will not involve contact with, or lobbying of government. 

In describing your experience in financial services, you stated: 

• From 2009-2019, you were a Member of the European Parliament and served on the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs as co-ordinator and therefore involved in amending EU financial services legislation. During this period, you had extensive contact with global financial services entities, including the banking sector. 
• Prior to 2019, your career was in financial services including as the founder of a hedge fund, as an advisor and as an investment banker.

Nationwide Building Society is a major provider of both mortgages and savings in the UK, as well as personal banking such as loans, credit cards, bank accounts and insurance products. It is the largest building society in the world, owned by its members – not shareholders. The company is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

You stated that the Chairman of Nationwide Building Society approached you in December 2024 to ask if you would be in a position to offer financial services regulatory expertise to the firm as a consultant. You stated that Nationwide Building Society were, and still are, a client for your former firm, KPMG LLP – a consultancy firm which you previously worked for performing this type of work in a similar capacity.

4.2 Dealings in office

You advised the Committee that you did not meet with, nor were you involved in decisions specific to Nationwide Building Society; nor do you consider you have access to sensitive information of relevance. 

In terms of potential contact with competitors, you stated that: 

• whilst you were a minister at the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, you did not have formal contact with the mortgage sector, although companies might have been present at parliamentary events at which you spoke on behalf of the department. 
• you recalled once attending an All-Party Parliamentary Group roundtable where the trade association representing mortgage lenders presented a report.

4.3 Departmental assessment 

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Cabinet Office confirmed you did not meet with, nor did you make any decisions or have access to sensitive information specific to Nationwide Building Society. 

The departments did not have concerns with the appointment.

1. This application for advice was considered by Andrew Cumpsty; Isabel Doverty; Sarah de Gay; Hedley Finn OBE; Dawid Konotey-Ahulu CBE DL; The Rt Hon Lord Pickles; Michael Prescott; Baroness Thornton and Mike Weir. ↩

2. Following the General Election in June 2024, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is now named as the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. ↩

3. All Peers and Members of Parliament are prevented from paid lobbying under the House of Commons Code of Conduct and the Code of Conduct for Members of the House of Lords. Advice on obligations under the Code can be sought from the Parliamentary Commissioners for Standards, in the case of MPs, or the Registrar of Lords’ Interests, in the case of peers. ↩