Why cooling-off periods apply to former officials
Launch library · evergreen read
A cooling-off period restricts a former official from taking up certain roles, such as working directly for a company they recently regulated or awarded a contract to, for a set time after leaving public office. The restriction exists to reduce the temptation to soften a decision in office in hope of a later job offer.
These periods vary in length and coverage depending on the seniority of the role and the sensitivity of the decisions the person was involved in, with more senior officials, and those closest to major procurement decisions, generally facing longer and more strictly enforced restrictions than more junior staff further removed from the actual decision.
Enforcement can be genuinely difficult, since a breach often only becomes visible once the former official has already taken up the new role, and proving that an earlier decision was actually influenced by the prospect of future employment is rarely straightforward. Even so, the mere existence of a clear rule shapes behaviour well before it is tested.