The Cabinet Office has launched simultaneous recruitment campaigns to find new permanent secretaries for three major departments, all of which are posts being vacated by female leaders.
Highest paying of the three is for the next Ministry of Justice perm sec, replacing Dame Antonia Romeo – who will leave post later this month to take the helm at the Home Office. The job advertisement suggests a salary of £185,000-£200,000 a year for the role, which is arguably one of the most challenging tasks in government because of the ongoing prisons-capacity crisis and the courts backlog.
According to the MoJ’s 2023-24 annual report and accounts, Romeo’s salary was bracketed at £195,000-£200,000 for the year. She also received a bonus detailed as £10,000-£15,000 and pension contributions of £91,000.
The Department for Transport is offering £170,000-£185,000 a year for its next perm sec. They will replace Dame Bernadette Kelly, who two weeks ago announced she will step down from her role and retire this summer after 39 years in the civil service.
DfT’s 2023-24 annual report and accounts bracketed Kelly’s salary for the year at £185,000-£190,000 and also recorded a bonus of £10,000-£15,000. It was unable to provide details of pension contributions.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is also offering a salary of £170,000-£185,000 a year for its next permanent secretary, who will succeed Sarah Munby later this year.
Munby announced plans to leave the civil service at the beginning of last month. She joined government from global consultancy firm McKinsey in 2019, and was appointed as permanent secretary of the then Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy the following year. BEIS was broken up in 2023's machinery of government changes, which saw Munby tasked with establishing DSIT.
DSIT’s annual report and accounts for 2023-24 bracketed Munby’s salary at £170,000-£175,000. No pension contribution or bonus payment was listed.
All of the permanent secretary roles are being recruited by the Cabinet Office at senior civil service pay band 4. They all come with civil service pension contributions of 28.97% of salary.
The MoJ, DfT and DSIT roles are open to applications until 23.55pm on 21 April, which is Easter Monday.