Clare Moriarty will join Citizens Advice for England and Wales as chief executive on 26 April.
She is taking over from Alistair Cromwell, who has been acting chief executive since Gillian Guy stepped down in October 2020.
Moriarty was permanent secretary of the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from 2015 to 2019, and of the Department for Exiting the EU from 2019 until its closure in early 2020.
Since leaving the civil service, she has been chairing the Health Foundation’s Covid-19 Impact Inquiry and working with a range of organisations including Transport for London and the Bank of England.
Moriarty has said she looks forward to bringing her “passion for diversity and inclusion”. Citizens Advice previously admitted that it has been too slow to address diversity and inclusion issues after racist content was published on its website.
Warren Buckley, chair at Citizens Advice, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Clare to the Citizens Advice family. Clare is a strong, authentic and inclusive leader with unrivalled experience running large, complex organisations.
“Her expertise in transformation will help us build on the incredible progress we’ve already made towards providing advice to people over the phone and online, as well as strengthening our face-to-face offer for those who need it.
“I’m looking forward to working with Clare to ensure that Citizens Advice continues to deliver for people at a time when they need our help more than ever - whoever they are, and whatever their problem.”
Moriarty said: “I’m very excited to be joining Citizens Advice at this important time. Citizens Advice has a proud history of helping people find their way and is also thoroughly forward-looking. The way that local Citizens Advice services around the country have moved even further towards phone and online advice during the pandemic is truly impressive.
“Through my work with the Health Foundation, I’m acutely aware of how unevenly the effects of the pandemic have been felt. Many people are struggling, and the help that Citizens Advice offers will be more valuable than ever as we move forward.
“It’s a privilege to take the helm as chief executive and I look forward to bringing my passion for diversity and inclusion, and my experience of making change happen, to support the work of Citizens Advice across England and Wales in the years ahead.”
Moriarty is a member of numerous advisory and governance boards including the Westminster Abbey Institute Council of Reference, the Advisory Council for the Cambridge Centre for Science and Policy and the Rail Connected Leaders Governance Board.
She was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 2020 Birthday Honours.
Over the past year, the Citizens Advice service has given one-to-one advice to two million people and its online advice was viewed 62.8 million times.
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