Lord Wormald, the former cabinet secretary and head of the Civil Service, received a severance package totaling nearly £860,000 after his dismissal by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. The payout came just 14 months after Wormald was appointed to the role, making him the shortest-serving cabinet secretary in the position’s history.
According to the Cabinet Office’s annual accounts for 2025 to 2026, the compensation included £332,897 in contractual payments and an additional £526,598 in severance. The disclosure has drawn scrutiny over the cost of exiting one of the UK’s most senior public offices.
The BBC understands that a significant portion of the payment was designated to preserve the full value of Wormald’s pension, which would otherwise have been reduced due to early withdrawal. His departure effectively cut short his civil service career. Additionally, the package compensated him for a mandatory waiting period following his exit, during which he would not have immediate access to sensitive information regarding national security, foreign policy, and the economy.
Cabinet Office records indicate that Sir Keir authorized the “special severance package” on February 16. Wormald’s salary from April 1, 2025, until his departure on February 13 fell between £210,000 and £215,000, bringing his total earnings for that fiscal year to over £1 million. A spokesperson for the Cabinet Office declined to discuss personnel matters, stating only that the permanent secretary received a ministerial direction from the then-prime minister to proceed with the payment, with the correspondence remaining a matter of public record.
Alex Burghart, the Conservative shadow Cabinet Office minister, criticized the payout as an “appalling waste of taxpayers’ money” and accused Labour of firing civil servants to protect the prime minister’s political standing.
Wormald left his post in February by “mutual agreement,” amid ongoing media reports suggesting dissatisfaction within Downing Street regarding his performance. Upon his appointment in December 2024, Sir Keir had stated that Wormald was chosen to oversee the “complete re-wiring of the British state” to deliver long-term reforms. However, his tenure was brief, and he was succeeded by Dame Antonia Romeo.
The FDA Union, representing senior civil servants, condemned the circumstances of Wormald’s departure, describing the anonymous briefings against him as “a new low” for the government’s relationship with the Civil Service.
Shortly before leaving office, Sir Keir appointed Wormald to the House of Lords as one of his final acts as prime minister. He will sit as an independent crossbench peer and is scheduled to take his seat on Thursday. The BBC has contacted both Lord Wormald and Sir Keir for comment.
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