Sir Jonathan Michael Thompson, (born 29 December 1964) is a British civil servant who served as the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) from September 2012 until April 2016, when he succeeded Dame Lin Homer as Permanent Secretary and Chief Executive of

HM Revenue and Customs His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (commonly HM Revenue and Customs, or HMRC, and formerly Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) is a department of the UK government responsible for the collection of taxes, the payment of some forms of stat ...

. He became Chief Executive of the Financial Reporting Council after leaving HMRC in Autumn 2019.

Background

Thompson was born in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

, and educated at Earlham High School, Norwich City College and Anglia Polytechnic, which later became

Anglia Ruskin University Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is a public research university in the region of East Anglia, United Kingdom. Its origins date back to the Cambridge School of Art (CSA), founded by William John Beamont, a Fellow of Trinity College at the Unive ...

. He became CIPFA qualified in 1989.

Career

Thompson was in local government as Finance Director for North Somerset Council. Thompson joined the

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

in 2004, as

OFSTED The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

’s first finance director. He moved to Department for Education and Skills as their Director-General for Corporate Services in 2006, leaving the then

Department for Children, Schools and Families Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) was a department of the UK government, between 2007 and 2010, responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including child protection and education. DCSF was repl ...

to join the Ministry of Defence (MOD) as Director General of Finance in 2009. Thompson became

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are ...

of the MOD in 2012 succeeding Ursula Brennan who moved to the

Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

. In 2015, he was paid a salary of between £165,000 and £169,999 by the MOD, making him one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time. He then became Chief Executive and First Permanent Secretary of HM Revenue and Customs. Thompson is currently the Chief Executive of the Financial Reporting Council. Thompson is also a non-executive director on the board of HS2 Ltd. In February 2023 he became chair of HS2 Ltd until, upon the resignation of CEO Mark Thurston in September 2023, Thompson took over the running of the company as executive chairman for an interim period. Thompson was appointed a

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

(KCB) in the 2019 New Year Honours, "for public service."

Personal life

Thompson married his wife Dawn in 1987 and has three sons and one grandson and one granddaughter. He is a supporter of

Norwich City Football Club Norwich City Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football ...

, and lives in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

Offices held

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Jonathan Local government officers in England 1964 births Living people Alumni of Anglia Ruskin University Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Defence People from Norwich Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath People educated at City College Norwich Chief executives of HM Revenue and Customs