In 2006 Wormald transferred 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.[2][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]
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,”.[11]
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