| Honorific Prefix: | Sir |
| Chris Wormald | |
| Honorific-Suffix: | KCB |
| Office: |
|
| Primeminister: | Keir Starmer |
| Term Start: | 16 December 2024 |
| Status: | Designate |
| Predecessor: | Simon Case |
| 1Blankname1: | Minister |
| 1Namedata1: | Jeremy Hunt Matt Hancock Sajid Javid Thérèse Coffey Steve Barclay Victoria Atkins Wes Streeting |
| Office1: | Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Care |
| Predecessor1: | Una O'Brien |
| Term Start1: | 1 May 2016 |
| Term End1: | 16 December 2024 |
| 1Blankname2: | Minister |
| 1Namedata2: | Michael Gove Nicky Morgan |
| Office2: | Permanent Secretary of the Department for Education |
| Predecessor2: | David Bell |
| Successor2: | Jonathan Slater |
| Primeminister2: | David Cameron |
| Term Start2: | 26 March 2012 |
| Term End2: | 30 April 2016 |
| Birth Date: | 30 October 1968 |
| Nationality: | British |
Sir Christopher Stephen Wormald (born 30 October 1968), is a British civil servant serving as Permanent Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Care since 2016.
The son of Peter Wormald and Elizabeth née North, he was educated at Rutlish School in Merton before going up to St John's College, Oxford, graduating BA (1990). He then pursued postgraduate studies at Imperial College, London, taking an MBA (1999).
His father was Deputy Secretary to the DHSS from 1978,[1] then Registrar General for England and Wales 1990–96.
Wormald joined the Civil Service in 1991 into the Department for Education (later the Department for Education and Employment). Rising to Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Education and Skills from 2001 until 2004, he then worked on the Academies programme.[2]
Wormald transferred in 2006 to the newly-formed Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), promoted to be Director-General of Local Government and Regeneration. In 2009, he moved to the Cabinet Office as the Head of the Economic and Domestic Affairs Secretariat, succeeding Sir Paul Britton.[3] Following the general election in 2010 and the consequent change in the position of Deputy Prime Minister, Wormald additionally became Head of the Deputy Prime Minister's Office.[4]
In March 2012, Wormald left the Cabinet Office to return to the Department for Education as its Permanent Secretary, replacing Sir David Bell who had retired to be the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Reading.[5] As of 2015, Wormald was paid a salary of between £160,000 and £164,999 by DCLG, making him one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time.[6] In January 2016 it was announced that Wormald would transfer to the Department of Health and Social Care later in 2016, replacing Dame Una O'Brien after her retirement as its Permanent Secretary.[7]
Wormald was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2017 Birthday Honours.
In December 2024, it was announced that Wormald would take over from Simon Case as Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service.[8] The three other final round candidates were Sir Olly Robbins, Dame Antonia Romeo and Tamara Finkelstein.[9]
He was criticsed for his role during the Covid pandemic with the COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice stating, “Time and again, Christopher Wormald has refused in the UK Covid Inquiry to accept failures on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care, despite irrefutable evidence to the contrary, backed up by the experiences of everyone in the UK during the pandemic,”.[10]