Evan Woods

Strategic workforce planning and HR leader with extensive senior experience across central government, operating at departmental and Group scale to align workforce, finance and organisational priorities.

Currently

Head of Workforce Planning at the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), leading a 15 FTE service responsible for workforce planning, FTE control and workforce affordability across 34,000 FTE and eight organisations. Experienced in advising the Permanent Secretary, Executive Committee, Directors General and senior leaders on workforce affordability, FTE requirements, organisational capacity, financial pressures and resource trade-offs. Proven record of developing workforce planning frameworks, affordability models and governance that translate strategic priorities and financial constraints into deliverable workforce plans.

Combines strategic workforce expertise with strong financial, analytical and organisational planning capability, working across HR, Finance, Strategy and operational leadership to improve the quality of workforce and resource decisions. Experienced in leading complex workforce interventions, organisational change, workforce recovery and resource allocation at pace.

Chartered

Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (FCIPD) and MBA graduate with Distinction, including the Vice Chancellor's Prize for highest academic achievement, specialising in Strategic HRM and People-Centric Workforce Planning.

Head of Workforce Planning - Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra)

(2025-02)

• Lead Defra's Workforce Planning Service, a 15 FTE team providing strategic workforce planning, FTE control and workforce financial planning across a 34,000 FTE workforce and eight organisations.
• Own departmental FTE planning and workforce affordability, ensuring workforce requirements are aligned to financial settlements, paybill, organisational budgets and departmental priorities.
• Lead the integration of workforce and financial business planning, providing senior leaders with a clear view of FTE, workforce costs, affordability and the delivery implications of resource decisions.
• Advise the Permanent Secretary, Executive Committee and Directors General on FTE ceilings, workforce affordability, financial pressures and workforce trade-offs, translating complex workforce and financial analysis into strategic decisions.
• Lead the development of departmental FTE controls and workforce affordability models, strengthening governance over staffing expenditure and ensuring workforce growth is supported by sustainable funding.
• Direct workforce planning across eight Arm's Length Bodies, bringing together workforce demand, supply, funding, capability and organisational priorities to support departmental business planning.
• Lead the annual workforce and business planning cycle, challenging Groups on FTE requirements, workforce costs and the alignment of resources to priority outcomes.
• Provide regular workforce and financial intelligence to ExCo, identifying emerging FTE pressures, affordability risks and opportunities to reprioritise resources.
• Lead and develop a 15 FTE professional team, setting strategic direction and strengthening the integration of workforce planning with Finance, Strategy and business planning.

Head of Resourcing Crisis - Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra)

(2025-12 - 2026-02)

• Led Defra's departmental response to a significant workforce capacity and affordability challenge, establishing stronger control of FTE demand, workforce supply and deployment across critical programmes.
• Led the department-wide FTE recovery programme in response to an estimated 1,000 FTE gap across critical delivery programmes following significant workforce reductions and attrition.
• Established a central workforce control process, bringing together FTE demand, available workforce supply, skills and financial constraints to support rapid allocation and prioritisation of resources.
• Provided weekly workforce intelligence and modelling to ExCo, enabling senior leaders to understand the workforce, affordability and delivery implications of resource decisions.
• Challenged Directors on workforce requirements, prioritising deployment of existing FTE and identifying opportunities to reduce pressure through internal moves, secondees and cross-government recruitment.
• Supported the rapid mobilisation of more than 222 FTE to EU Reset, while reducing the wider critical-programme workforce gap from approximately 1,000 to 500 FTE within months.
• Worked closely with Finance, HR and business leaders to ensure resourcing decisions were affordable, evidence-based and aligned to departmental delivery priorities.

Senior HR Business Partner - Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra)

(2025-09 - 2025-12)

• Provided strategic HR and workforce advice to senior leaders, with a particular focus on organisational change, workforce requirements and delivery against departmental priorities.
• Advised senior leaders on workforce requirements, organisational structures, FTE changes and resourcing priorities.
• Supported business planning discussions, translating delivery priorities into workforce requirements and identifying associated people, capability and affordability implications.
• Worked with Finance and business leaders to ensure workforce changes were appropriately planned, governed and reflected in organisational budgets.
• Provided evidence-based advice on workforce risks, capability requirements and resource allocation, supporting senior leaders to make informed workforce decisions.

Workforce Planning Lead - Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra)

(2024-01 - 2025-09)

• Led strategic workforce planning activity across Defra, strengthening the link between FTE, workforce demand, financial planning and organisational delivery.
• Led the development and implementation of workforce plans, aligning FTE requirements with organisational priorities, financial constraints and delivery plans.
• Managed the departmental Workforce Plan, challenging business areas on workforce demand, affordability, capability requirements and future FTE requirements.
• Led the transformation of the central workforce planning tool, improving visibility of FTE demand, workforce supply, workforce movements and emerging pressures.
• Developed workforce planning approaches for Arm's Length Bodies, improving consistency in how workforce requirements, capability needs and financial implications were assessed.

Deputy Head of Planning - HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)

(2021-07 - 2023-12)

• Led a multidisciplinary planning and HR team of 11 FTE across Resourcing, Finance and Workforce Planning, translating business priorities into workforce requirements, FTE plans and deliverable resource programmes.
• Led the people and workforce element of business planning, translating organisational priorities into workforce demand, recruitment requirements and capability plans.
• Oversaw workforce planning across three teams, ensuring FTE requirements, recruitment activity and capability investment were aligned to business priorities and available resources.
• Provided senior leaders with workforce analysis and planning insight to support decisions on resource allocation, recruitment volumes and organisational capability.
• Challenged business areas on workforce requirements, balancing operational demand against workforce supply, affordability and delivery capacity.
• Led the planning and delivery of targeted recruitment and apprenticeship programmes, ensuring investment in workforce growth was aligned to strategic workforce requirements.
• Developed stronger links between workforce planning, business planning and delivery, improving the quality of evidence used to make resource and FTE decisions.

Master of Business Administration (MBA) - Strategic HRM and People-Centric Workforce Planning - University of Greater Manchester (2022-09 - 2025-06)

Chartered Fellow (FCIPD) - Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)