Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish an account of the total cost of the government reshuffle, listing totals for (a) redundancy payments, (b) severance payments, (c) relocation costs, and (d) administrative costs associated with ministerial changes.

Severance reform

This Government has reformed ministerial severance payments to ensure that payments are both proportionate and fair. Ministers are now expected to forgo their entitlement to a ministerial severance payment if they have served in office for less than six months or leave office following a serious breach of the Ministerial Code. Ministers who return to office within three months of leaving will be asked to forgo their salary until the end of that three-month period and ministers who have seriously breached the Business Appointment Rules will be expected to repay any severance payment received.

Severance payments

Details of severance payments received by ministers and special advisers are routinely published in the relevant department’s Annual Report and Accounts. Any severance costs associated with the September reshuffle will be included as part of the 2025-26 Annual Report and Accounts which will be published in late summer 2026.

Relocation costs

Relocation costs are not recorded by the Cabinet Office

Administrative costs

Any administrative costs associated with the reshuffle will be part of the costs of running the department and will not be published separately in the Annual Report and Accounts.