Ex-cabinet secretary Gus O’Donnell has said the UK’s most senior civil servant is “massively underpaid” at £200,000 per year.
O’Donnell, who held the position under three prime ministers between 2005 and 2011, argued it is an “incredibly demanding job” and should have a higher salary.
He is involved in the process for recruiting a successor to current holder Simon Case, who announced last week that he would step down by the end of the year on health grounds.
The cabinet secretary advises the prime minister and their most senior ministers, as well as managing other top civil servants to implement the government’s policies.
O’Donnell, who was awarded a life peerage in 2012, told BBC Radio 4 that being cabinet secretary is a “huge job”.
“It’s massively underpaid in my view – given I’ve been paid a lot more since, to do a lot less,” he added.
The government sets pay for senior civil servants after receiving recommendations from the independent Senior Salaries Review Body.
O’Donnell added that whoever replaces Case would have to maintain a “good relationship” with the prime minister’s chief of staff.
His comments came shortly before Sue Gray resigned from that position after a controversial three-month tenure. She has been replaced by Labour’s election guru Morgan McSweeney.
Gray, a former civil servant, said “intense commentary” around her position “risked becoming a distraction to the government’s vital work of change”.
She has faced criticism among Labour advisers over concerns that she wielded too much power in Downing Street and had alienated some colleagues.
Her role sparked further controversy last month when it emerged that Gray’s taxpayer-funded salary of £170,000 was £3,000 more than the prime minister’s.
Gray will take up a new role as Starmer’s envoy for nations and regions.
