STORY
Sir Chris Wormald received a severance payment of £859,496 after leaving his position as Cabinet Secretary and head of the civil service, Cabinet Office accounts have disclosed. Wormald was removed by former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in February 2026 after serving in the post for 14 months.
The settlement consisted of £332,897 in contractual payments and an additional award of £526,598. Cabinet Office Permanent Secretary Cat Little sought a ministerial direction because the proposed total exceeded Wormald’s contractual entitlement and raised value for money concerns. Starmer approved the payment on the grounds that concluding the matter quickly would prevent further disruption to the operation of Government.
The payment exceeds the £457,000 settlement previously given to former Treasury Permanent Secretary Sir Tom Scholar. The Conservatives described Wormald’s settlement as a waste of public money, while the FDA civil service union argued that his departure had been handled poorly. Wormald was subsequently nominated by Starmer for a crossbench peerage and now sits in the House of Lords.