The prime minister has personally signed off on a special severance package for departing cabinet secretary Sir Chris Wormald.
Wormald’s departure was confirmed on 12 February after several days of briefings that Keir Starmer was considering removing him from the civil service’s top job.
The value of the payment has not been officially confirmed but is widely reported to be in the region of £260,000 – something Downing Street has not denied when questioned by members of the press. The figure is higher than Wormald’s yearly salary, which stood at £215,000-£220,000 last year, according to the Cabinet Office’s most recent annual accounts.
In a letter to Starmer yesterday, Cabinet Office permanent secretary and civil service chief operating officer Cat Little said the PM had asked her to approve “discretionary elements” of Wormald’s severance package.
But Little – who is one of three perm secs covering the cab sec’s responsibilities while Wormald’s successor is appointed – said she needed to seek a ministerial direction from the prime minister on the grounds of propriety and value for money.
Civil servants must seek ministerial sign-off if they are concerned that a payment or piece of work will breach any of the conditions in the Treasury’s Managing Public Money guidance.
Little said there could be a perceived conflict of interest were a permanent secretary to give the package the green light because the cab sec is responsible for line managing perm secs. There is a “precedent”, therefore, that the PM must consider and authorise any discretionary special severance payments to meet the propriety condition, she said.
Little said she had consulted Civil Service HR and legal advisers and considered the Treasury guidance and Wormald’s employment rights carefully when determining whether the payment meets the value-for-money condition.
“The proposed award is greater than what Sir Chris Wormald would be contractually entitled to. However, I am informed that a settlement of this level is necessary given that this is a departure from a high-profile, unique role that has been agreed at very short notice,” she said.
“Given the complexity of the legal position and the information to be considered at this time, it is not possible for me to conclude to the level required whether the proposed settlement amount represents value for money or not. However, you as prime minister can take into account wider considerations, in particular the public interest in bringing this matter to a conclusion and the prevention of distraction from the effective operation of government.”
Noting Little’s advice in his reply, Starmer said: “I am satisfied that the public interest is met in this regard and direct you to proceed.”
Wormald's reported £260,000 payout is close to the amount paid to Sir Mark Sedwill, who was removed as cab sec by then-PM Boris Johnson in 2020. Sedwill received a "compensation payment" of £248,189, which Johnson said he had authorised “in consideration of [Sedwill's] employment position” and “Sir Mark stepping down early”.
“You have advised me that this is regular and legal, and value for money to do so,” Johnson told Little's predecessor as Cabinet Office perm sec and civil service COO Sir Alex Chisholm.
Over the weekend, junior minister Emma Hardy declined to say whether the payment represented value for money or not.
Hardy, who is parliamentary under-secretary of state for water and flooding, told Times Radio: “I wouldn’t want to say whether something was good for value or not.
“I would just say, from my background as a trade unionist, if something is written into somebody’s terms and conditions of employment, then I would say you should honour someone’s terms and conditions of employment.”