Ministers’ severance payouts under Truss and Johnson nearly £1m, analysis shows

Ministers who lost their jobs during the chaos under Boris Johnson and Liz Truss received nearly £1 million in severance payments, according to a Labour analysis.

Sir Sajid Javid accepted £16,876 compensation after he quit as Mr Johnson’s health secretary with an attack on the then-prime minister, official accounts published on Thursday showed.

The figure, released by the Department of Health and Social Care, made him the 20th departing secretary of state to receive a sum after leaving their jobs in the turmoil of 2022.

Along with the dozens of ministers who also accepted the money under the “loss of office” rules, the Opposition’s final tally for the payments reached £933,086.

Labour said taxpayers are being forced to pay the “wages of chaos”, as Downing Street said the “long-established rules” on payouts were agreed by Parliament.

It has already been revealed that special advisers to ministers received total payouts of £2.9 million in 2022/23, taking the total cost including their bosses to £3.83 million.

Michael Gove, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Grant Shapps, Dame Priti Patel, Dominic Raab and Kwasi Kwarteng were among those to accept the payments, accounts show.

Mr Johnson and Ms Truss also accepted payments, having been entitled to £18,660 each.

Shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry said: “These are the wages of chaos, with Britain’s taxpayers forced to pick up the bill.

“Thousands of pounds of public money have gone directly into the pockets of Tory ministers, as a sick reward for the mess they made of our country and the damage they did to our economy.”

Ministers under the age of 65 are entitled to a loss-of-office payment amounting to a quarter of their ministerial salary if they leave their role and are not appointed to a new one within three weeks.

Downing Street suggested there are no plans to change the rules.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman said: “There are long-established rules around severance payments and ministers that lose their roles and are then reappointed in a certain timeframe, for example, are not eligible.

“That is something that is set out clearly and I think agreed through Parliament. I’m not aware of any plans to change that approach.”