Everyone at the ASA is very sad to hear the news about Sir Hayden Phillips, who died peacefully on 10 April 2026, aged 83.

Sir Hayden served as the ASA Independent Reviewer from January 2010 until his retirement in September 2025. He was held in the very highest regard by everyone at the ASA.

Sir Hayden had a long and highly distinguished career, principally in public service where, from 1967, he worked in the Home Office, the Cabinet Office, the Treasury and the European Commission. From 1992 until 2004, he was Permanent Secretary of two departments: first as the founding Permanent Secretary of the Department of National Heritage (now Department of Culture, Media and Sport) and then of the Lord Chancellor’s Department (now the Ministry of Justice). 

His passion for the creative arts – from 2004 to 2010 he was Chair of the National Theatre – extended to his personal life with cameos in two films: Jane Eyre in 2011 and the James Bond film No Time to Die in 2022. A former Chair of the Appointments Panel of the Independent Press Standards Organisation and of Marlborough College, he was also an adviser to King Charles III, then Prince of Wales, and a non-executive director of various companies in the City and elsewhere. 

During his 15 years as the ASA Independent Reviewer, Sir Hayden carried out his role assessing challenges to Council decisions, from advertisers or complainants, with unfailing thoughtfulness, diligence and care. Where he found evidence that we did not get our decisions right or there was a flaw in our processes, he re-presented cases back to Council with elegantly crafted rationale for why a decision might be amended or overturned. He brought the same eloquence to explaining to those involved in a case why there were no grounds to intervene. He was held in high regard by all those involved in the decisions he reviewed. 

Sir Hayden is survived by his wife and his five children. We send them our sincere condolences at this sad time.