Britain’s former top civil servant walked away with nearly £860,000 after being ousted, and the payout reveals deep systemic flaws in how Whitehall handles executive dismissals.
When Sir Chris Wormald left his post as cabinet secretary, the final figures published in the Cabinet Office annual accounts showed a jaw-dropping total of £859,496. That amount easily smashes previous records, including the £457,000 given to Sir Tom Scholar when Liz Truss sacked him. Wormald served for just 14 months. That breaks down to roughly £2,000 for every single day he held the job.
If you are wondering how an exit package can balloon to nearly double the previous historical high, you need to look at the anatomy of the deal itself. Standard contractual entitlements would have capped his payout around £260,000. Instead, Wormald received £332,897 in contractual compensation alongside a staggering £526,598 in discretionary extras.
Those extra funds were specifically designed to offset the financial penalty of drawing his pension early. This was a forced departure, pure and simple.
Cat Little, then permanent secretary of the Cabinet Office, balked at the price tag. She refused to sign off on it independently because she couldn't prove it offered value for money. She took the unusual step of asking former Prime Minister Keir Starmer for a formal "ministerial direction" to override those concerns. Starmer gave the green light, claiming it was in the public interest to bring the matter to a swift conclusion and avoid further political distraction.
That decision didn't sit well with everyone. Critics slammed the move as an appalling waste of public funds used to sweep executive friction under the rug. Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union representing senior civil servants, pointed out that the chaotic briefing campaign against Wormald before his dismissal was no way to run a country.
National Audit Office head Gareth Davies has since stepped in. He urged the Cabinet Office to tighten the rules to reduce discretionary, extra-contractual payouts for senior mandarins. He noted that there is far too much variation in how top officials are paid off when things go south.
Despite the controversy, Wormald's exit wasn't the end of his public sector journey. He was nominated for a peerage and entered the House of Lords as Baron Wormald of Dulwich.
This episode shows that when high-ranking officials clash with political leadership, taxpayers foot an exorbitant bill to clear the desk. Until strict parameters replace ministerial overrides, golden handshakes for short-term chiefs will remain a glaring fixture of British governance.
