Education
University of Sussex. University of Warwick.
University of Sussex. University of Warwick.
Having originally trained and worked as a social worker for East Sussex County Council, Edwards worked for the Save the Children Fund in the London Borough of Lambeth from 1980-1983. She then spent 18 years working at Nacro, the national crime reduction charity, where she undertook a variety of roles, ending up as Chief Executive. Edwards joined the Home Office in 2002 as Director of the Active Communities Directorate.
From January 2004, she was promoted to the post of Director-General of the Communities Group where she was responsible for the Home Office"s work on volunteering, the voluntary and community sector, race equality, faith, community cohesion and civil renewal.
She took over as Chief Executive of National Offender Management Service (NOMS) on 10 November 2005, following the resignation of Martin Narey. During this period, NOMS transferred from the Home Office to the Ministry of Justice, as part of a government reorganisation.
On 1 April 2008, she became Director-General, Criminal Justice, with Philosophy Wheatley taking on the role of Director-General of NOMS. She left this rôle in 2013, and was replaced by Antonia Romero. Helen Edwards took up her role as Director General, Localism for DCLG on 7 May 2013.
As of 2015, Edwards was paid a salary of between £165,000 and £169,999 by DCLG, making her one of the 328 most highly paid people in the British public sector at that time.
