Dominic Cummings was handed a pay rise of at least £40,000 for his role as the prime minister’s top adviser, new figures suggest.
Cummings, whose trip to Durham during the height of the first national Covid-19 lockdown prompted an outcry, was paid between £95,000-£99,999 in 2019 but a new report reveals his pay packet was bumped up to £140,000-£144,999 this year.
The disclosure is included in the publication of a Cabinet Office report (pdf) which details the £9.6m total pay cost – including salary, national insurance and pension contributions – for 102 government special advisers, referred to in Westminster as Spads, from April 2019 to March 2020.
Last month, it emerged that Cummings was leaving his Number 10 post, as was his ally, communications chief, Lee Cain.
The Cabinet Office report states: “Lee Cain and Dominic Cummings are in the process of leaving their government posts and are not included in the above list. They are, however, included in the December FTE numbers. Both individuals were in PB4 and pay band £140,000-£144,999.”
Meanwhile, newly appointed press secretary Allegra Stratton, who will be fronting televised Downing Street briefings next year, earns between £125,000 and £129,999, according to the report.
Responding to Cummings’ pay rise, Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner, said: “Boris Johnson defended Dominic Cummings when he broke lockdown rules - then awarded him a £50,000 pay rise. Yet he’s freezing pay for key workers and refusing to give our care workers a pay rise to the living wage.
“Cummings’ bumper bonus is an insult to key workers denied the pay rise they deserve. It’s another example of how under this government it is one rule for the Tory Party and their friends and another for the rest of us.”
