Starmer payout to ousted civil service chief hit record £500,000

A staggering £500,000 payout has been revealed

The Starmer payout was agreed after just 14 months in the job, and signed off only once the then prime minister had been asked to overrule his own officials.

The settlement had been the subject of speculation since the Financial Times first reported it. Cat Little, permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, requested a ministerial direction from Starmer in February to override value-for-money concerns before she could approve it, the Guardian’s Whitehall editor reported.

The previous record was the £457,000 in severance and pay in lieu of notice given to Tom Scholar after Liz Truss forced him out as Treasury permanent secretary.

Why the Starmer payout needed a ministerial direction

In her letter seeking the direction, Little told Starmer the money went beyond what Wormald was owed.

"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."

- Cat Little, permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office

Little added that the legal position was too complex for her to judge whether the settlement was value for money, but noted Starmer could weigh “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”.

Wormald, replaced as cabinet secretary by Antonia Romeo, is to become a crossbench peer, nominated by Starmer. The figure emerges with Starmer himself now out of Downing Street and Andy Burnham prime minister, having won the argument that he could do what Starmer could not.