Government announces preferred candidate for Charity Commission Chair

Martin Thomas has over 20 years’ experience in the insurance and financial services sectors including roles at the Bank of England, the European Commission and the European Central Bank.

Martin currently holds a number of charitable roles and is the Chair of NHS Resolution. He is Chair of the trustees of Downside Up a charity which provides support and advice for families raising children with Down syndrome in Russia.

Martin is Chair of the Trustees of Forward Arts Foundation, which is a charity committed to widening poetry’s audience, honouring achievement and supporting talent, through National Poetry Day, the Forward Prizes for Poetry and the Forward Book of Poetry, an indispensable annual anthology of the year’s best poems.

He was previously Chair of Trustees for Women for Women International UK which helps women survivors of war rebuild their lives. Martin will step down from all of the charitable board roles ahead of taking up the position of Chair of the Commission.

Martin Thomas will now appear before MPs on the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee for pre-appointment scrutiny on Thursday 9 December 2021. He is expected to take up the post at the end of the interim Chair’s current term which ends on Sunday 26 December 2021.

Under the terms of the legislation, the appointment is made by the Secretary of State.

Ministers were assisted in their decision-making by an Advisory Assessment Panel which included a departmental official and a senior independent panel member approved by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

• The appointment is for a term of three years. The role is for two and a half days per week, remunerated at £62,500 per annum.
• This appointment is made in accordance with the Cabinet Office Code of Governance for Public Appointments.
• The regulation of public appointments against the requirements of this code is carried out by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
• In accordance with the code, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity (if any declared) to be made public. Martin Thomas has not declared any political activity.