Pioneering civil service job sharers Ruth Hannant and Polly Payne have been appointed as joint chief executive of the Office for Students.
Hannant and Payne, who have been job-sharing for 16 years and held the first DG-level job share partnership in the civil service, will take the helm of the higher education regulator from 15 June.
The Office for Students is responsible for ensuring students from all backgrounds receive high-quality education and value for money.
Hannant and Payne have been directors general at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport since 2021. For a few months in 2023 they also served as the department's joint interim permanent secretary.
Before joining DCMS, they were joint DG for the Rail Group at the Department for Transport, the first-ever job-share at that grade.
They were also job-sharing directors at the Department for Education in the buildup to the creation of the Office for Students in 2018.
Hannant and Payne said it is “a great privilege to be appointed as chief executive of the Office for Students having been part of its journey at the outset”.
“The Office for Students and its independent regulation plays a crucial role in ensuring those from all backgrounds can benefit from high-quality higher education,” they said.
“We look forward to working collaboratively with colleagues across the higher education and skills system to deliver for students.”
Their appointment to co-lead the regulator follows an open recruitment process.
To ensure continuity, Josh Fleming – the current director of strategy and delivery at the OfS – will serve as interim chief exec from 1 April, following the departure of chief exec Susan Lapworth.
Speaking to CSW last year about job-sharing, Hannant said: "You learn from each other. When you see someone else tackle a set of issues in a different way to you, it helps you develop professionally. You might worry that your line manager would judge you if you went to them and said, ‘I’m really struggling.’ But your job-share partner would never do that.”
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “This is a crucial moment for higher education, with universities facing real financial pressures and students needing confidence that their courses will have the quality to equip them for the future.
“Ruth and Polly bring the experience needed to lead a strong, effective regulator that holds the sector to high standards and delivers for students.
“Their leadership will enable the Office for Students to continue its work to protect students’ interests and support a stable, world-leading sector.”
The pair will work closely with the OfS board and the higher education sector to deliver the regulator’s priorities over the next four years.
In recent years, the government has refocused the efforts of the OfS towards monitoring the financial sustainability of universities, to help create a secure future for our world-leading sector.
Office for Students chair Edward Peck said: “I am delighted that Polly and Ruth are bringing their extensive experience and expertise to the leadership of the OfS as we continue our journey towards becoming an exemplary regulator of higher education.
“The OfS board and I look forward to working with them as we pursue our strategy focused on being ambitious for students, collaborative with education providers and sector agencies, vigilant about the use of public money and vocal about both the strengths and weaknesses of English higher education.”