A permanent secretary is the most senior civil servant in a UK government department, responsible for its day-to-day operation and acting as the principal policy adviser to the secretary of state.
Unlike government ministers, who are political appointees and change with the government, permanent secretaries are career officials who remain in post to ensure continuity of administration.
They are bound by the civil service code to serve the government of the day. The civil service code describes the civil service as “an integral and key part of the government of the United Kingdom” which “supports the government of the day in developing and implementing its policies.”
The head of the entire civil service is the cabinet secretary. Sir Chris Wormald was appointed as cabinet secretary in December 2024. He was previously the permanent secretary of the Department of Health and Social Care from 2016 to 2024.
Permanent secretaries are typically appointed Knights or Dames Commander of the Order of the Bath after five or more years of service at that grade.
What does a permanent secretary do?
According to the cabinet manual, which sets out the main laws, rules and conventions affecting the conduct and operation of government, the permanent secretary “supports the government minister who heads the department and who is accountable to parliament for the department’s actions and performance.”
As such, the permanent secretary serves as both a policy adviser and department chief. A permanent secretary provides impartial advice on policy options, ensuring ministers are aware of the risks, benefits and possible implications of their decisions.
As heads of their department, a permanent secretary is responsible for its effective management. This includes managing the budget, overseeing thousands of staff and ensuring the department can successfully implement the government’s policies.
How is a permanent secretary accountable?
A permanent secretary is line-managed by the cabinet secretary.
They are also seen as accountable both to the secretary of state responsible for the department and parliament.
The permanent secretary, as the individual responsible for the running of the department, must pursue the government’s objectives. The Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (CRAG) outlines that the civil service code requires “civil servants who serve an administration… to carry out their duties for the assistance of the administration as it is duly constituted for the time being, whatever its political complexion.”
It is the secretary of state who is ultimately accountable to parliament for a department’s performance and actions, with regular appearances in the commons chamber and at select committees. However, permanent secretaries will also be requested to appear in front of the select committee, often alongside the relevant secretary of state, which oversees their department to answer questions from MPs.
Every permanent secretary is personally designated as their department’s accounting officer. In this capacity, they are personally accountable to the parliament for the use of all public money spent by their department. Accounting officers have a duty to “assure parliament and the public of high standards of probity in the management of public funds”.
Sound financial management is judged by four criteria: regularity, propriety, value for money and feasibility.
This accountability is most visibly demonstrated through appearances before the House of Commons public accounts committee (PAC), where they must answer directly for their department’s financial management.
If a permanent secretary believes a spending proposal from their minister would breach the principles of good financial management, they must seek a formal written instruction from the minister to proceed.
This “ministerial direction” absolves the permanent secretary of personal responsibility for the spending.
In April 2025, the permanent secretary of the Department for Business and Trade requested ministerial direction relating to the government’s bid to take control of British Steel. In a letter to the department’s secretary of state, Jonathan Reynolds, the permanent secretary stated that “the speed with which we need to act” did not allow for a full consideration of the principles of good financial management.
The letter added: “I agree with your proposed course of action, but given the need to act urgently we are not able to complete a full assessment. To be clear, I am not saying that the intervention is unfeasible or poor value for money. It is just at this point we do not have the necessary evidence.”
How is a permanent secretary appointed?
The prime minister has the final say in the recruitment process of permanent secretaries. Since 2014, permanent secretary appointments have been made on the basis of a five year fixed tenure.
The Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 put the principles underlying the appointment of permanent secretaries on a statutory footing. Section 3 of the act gives the minister for the civil service, a position held by the prime minister, the power to “manage the civil service” and the “power to make appointments.” CRAG stipulates that the Civil Service Commission, a longstanding body, must ensure that recruitment into the Civil Service takes place “on merit on the basis of fair and open competition.”
The Recruitment Principles, first issued in 2010, explain this legal requirement and exceptions. The principles set out the permitted level of ministerial involvement in the appointment of senior civil servants.
According to the document, competitions for permanent secretary posts must be chaired by the first civil service commissioner, or a nominated deputy. The chair is responsible for ensuring that ministers, including the prime minister, are “fully involved in competitions in which they have an interest” and that their views are communicated to, and considered by, the selection panel.
The document adds: “The prime minister must be kept informed about progress and have the opportunity to feed in views.”
However, responsibility for assessing candidates rests solely with the panel. The Recruitment Principles make clear that “the panel must decide which candidates are appointable, i.e. which candidates meet the published criteria for the role and would, in the panel’s judgement, do the job well. It is for the panel alone to make this judgement.”
The names of the candidates deemed “appointable” are then put forward to the prime minister in a report from the first civil service commissioner. The report summarises the selection process and the panel’s assessment of the candidates.
The final selection is made by the prime minister from among the appointable candidates, in consultation with the head of the civil service and the first civil service commissioner. As required by CRAG, this decision must be made on merit and assessed against the published criteria for the role.
The principles add: “Before making the final selection, the prime minister may meet the appointable candidates. If (s)he does so, (s)he must meet all the appointable candidates and must do so with the first civil service commissioner (or nominee) present.”
Controversies over dismissals
Ministers cannot dismiss civil servants that displease them or offer unwelcome advice. This is designed to protect civil servants from politically or ideologically motivated sackings.
A senior civil servant may vacate their post once their five-year fixed tenure comes to an end. But internal friction can also cost a permanent secretary their job.
The cabinet secretary, as the head of the civil service, is said to have a role in encouraging rapprochement between a secretary of state and permanent secretary. (On occasion, the roles of cabinet secretary and head of the civil service have been split).
The head of the civil service is then responsible for managing the individual’s transfer to another role or, where appropriate, their retirement.
In 2020, 12 permanent secretaries or civil servants of equivalent seniority left their posts, including the then cabinet secretary, Sir Mark Sedwill. Sedwill had been the subject of negative media briefings by individuals cited as government officials.
Dominic Cummings, the former chief adviser to Boris Johnson, made it overwhelmingly clear that he had no time for most senior civil servants.
Philip Rutnam, permanent secretary at the Home Office, is said to have fallen out so badly with the then-home secretary, Priti Patel. In his resignation statement, issued in February 2020, Rutnam claimed that there had been a “vicious and orchestrated” campaign against him.
He said: “I am making this statement now because I will be issuing a claim against the Home Office for constructive dismissal. In the last 10 days, I have been the target of a vicious and orchestrated briefing campaign. It has been alleged that I have briefed the media against the home secretary. This – along with many other claims – is completely false.”
Rutnam reportedly received a £340,000 settlement after he threatened to take Patel to an employment tribunal hearing.
Simon McDonald was eased out as permanent secretary of the Foreign Office in September 2020. It came after the great office of state’s merger with the Department for International Development. Johnson was reported to have suggested that the new government office “needs a new permanent secretary from its start”.
McDonald, who was made a peer upon leaving the Foreign Office, later said he had to warn Dominic Raab, the former foreign secretary, about his conduct.
In April 2023, McDonald told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Frankly, I witnessed somebody whose methods did not help him to achieve what he wanted to do, and that I raised with him more than once.”
In September 2022, on the day Liz Truss became prime minister, Sir Tom Scholar famously left his post as Treasury permanent secretary. Truss had repeatedly railed against what she called “Treasury orthodoxy” during the July-September Conservative leadership election. Sacking Scholar, the long-serving public servant, was a symbolic statement of intent.
The sacking was confirmed with a summary announcement from the Treasury. It read: “The chancellor has asked the cabinet secretary to begin the recruitment process for a new permanent secretary to the Treasury to succeed Tom Scholar.”
In a statement, Scholar said Kwarteng had decided it was time for “new leadership”.
He commented: “It has been the privilege of my career to lead this great institution since 2016. I wish the Treasury all the best for the times ahead, and I will be cheering on from the sidelines.”
In a statement issued at the time, Scholar said: “The chancellor decided it was time for new leadership at the Treasury.”
In August 2020, after the government performed a major U-turn on the grading of A-level and GCSE results in England, Jonathan Slater, the permanent secretary at the Department for Education (DfE), left his post.
Dave Penman, the general secretary of the FDA, the senior civil servants’ union, said Slater’s departure was proof that “ministerial accountability is dead and the message to civil servants is that they are expendable the moment life gets tough for a minister. This administration will throw civil service leaders under the bus without a moment’s hesitation.”
Williamson was ultimately dismissed as education secretary in the 2021 cabinet reshuffle.
Additional resources
- The Civil Service Code (GOV.UK): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-code
- House of Commons Library – Who is the Cabinet Secretary and how are they appointed? https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/who-is-the-cabinet-secretary-and-how-are-they-appointed/
- GOV.UK – Ministerial Directions: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministerial-directions
- Civil Service Commission – Recruiting Principles: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/02a_RECRUITMENT-PRINCIPLES-April-2018-FINAL-.pdf
