Ian worked for the national Department for Education (DfE) for almost 40 years and in 1987 he constructed the first DfE child protection policy. In 1999 he was seconded to the Prince's Trust as its Director of Government Relations for the Volunteers programme. During his last five years at DfE he ran a unit that helped to create new academies.

From 1995 to 2011 he chaired, as a volunteer, the management board of a sports and social complex in Westminster with an annual turnover of £5m. He has recently chaired a secondary academy in Burgess Hill and has been a corporation member of Worthing College.