SACKED CABINET SECRETARY CHRIS WORMALD GOT £860,000 PAYOUT

The Cabinet Office's annual report and accounts have disclosed that Chris Wormald, the former Cabinet Secretary, received a severance payment of £859,496 after leaving the post. Wormald was removed from the role by Starmer, according to accounts of his departure. The taxpayer funded the payout, the accounts show. The sum is considerably higher than a figure previously put at just above £500,000. The disclosure appears in the Cabinet Office's newly published annual accounts.

The package required a Ministerial Direction, a formal written instruction from a minister authorising expenditure that falls outside normal departmental sign-off, and the accounts confirm one was sought and received. The comptroller who reviewed the accounts examined both the evidence supporting the exit package and the request for that direction. The comptroller concluded that appropriate approvals had been obtained, that the expenditure was "regular", and that the required disclosures had been made in the annual report and accounts. The Cabinet Secretary is the most senior civil service role in the UK government. The comptroller's review did not find fault with the process by which the payment was authorised.

The comptroller separately noted "considerable variation" in the size and nature of exit payments made when Permanent Secretaries and Cabinet Secretaries leave their posts. As a result, the comptroller recommended that the Cabinet Office lead a review of the employment terms and conditions, and the performance management arrangements, that apply to those roles. The stated aim of any review would be to reduce discretionary, extra-contractual elements in departure payments. No timetable for such a review has been set out in the accounts.