The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has appointed Tom Riordan as its permanent secretary, the Cabinet Office confirmed on 8 September 2026. He takes up the post on 21 September 2026.
The appointment was made by the Cabinet Secretary with the approval of the Prime Minister, and follows an internal recruitment exercise chaired by the independent First Civil Service Commissioner. It is a permanent secretary level appointment, offered on a fixed term basis for five years.
Riordan moves from the role of Northern Growth Envoy, a post based in HM Treasury. Before that he was Second Permanent Secretary and Chief Operating Officer at the Department of Health and Social Care. He spent fourteen years as chief executive of Leeds City Council, from 2010 to 2024, an unusually long run of continuity at the head of one of the largest local authorities in England.
That local government grounding is the thread running through the appointment. The department carries the government devolution agenda, its housing supply targets and its programme of local authority reform, and it has been led on an interim basis by Will Garton in recent months.
Angela Rayner, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, said: "Few people have done more than Tom Riordan to champion devolution, good growth and strong local leadership, which makes him the perfect appointment at a critical time." She said she looked forward to working with him "as we get on with building the homes we need, improving local places and giving communities more control over their future", and thanked Will Garton for his support during the interim period.
Cabinet Secretary Antonia Romeo said his "wealth of experience in central and local government, combined with his time as the Northern Growth Envoy and CEO of Leeds City Council, makes him ideally suited to lead the crucial policy agenda delivering devolution and growth in every postcode".
Riordan said it was "a privilege to be taking up such an important job to help ensure the whole country benefits from more affordable and safe homes, well run public services and strong regional growth". He described it as "the right job at the right time as the Government devolves power", pointing to the value he had drawn from working in local and regional government and applying that learning to national policy.
The move places a career local government operator at the top of the department that sets the framework local government works within. For the sector, the signal is that the department intends to run its devolution and housing programmes under someone who has delivered against them from the receiving end, rather than only designed them from Whitehall.
