Public Duty Costs Allowance

The Public Duty Costs Allowance (PDCA) was introduced in 1991 to assist former Prime Ministers still active in public life.

The allowance is not a salary or pension for the former Prime Minister themselves. Payments are made as reimbursements of expenses already incurred for office, staffing and administrative costs, and can only be used to meet the actual cost of continuing to fulfil public duties.

What costs does the allowance cover?

When establishing the PDCA, Prime Minister John Major made the following announcement:

I propose to establish, with effect from 1 April 1991, a financial allowance to help former Prime Ministers to meet the continuing additional office costs which they are liable to incur because of their special position in public life.

According to Cabinet Office guidance, the PDCA can be used to claim costs arising from:

• managing an office
• handling correspondence as a former Prime Minister
• support with visits and similar activities

The allowance cannot be used to claim support for private or parliamentary duties, and it appears that it cannot be used to pay for security costs.

Cabinet Office minister Julia Lopez stated in 2021 that the allowance could be used to cover Met Police protection:

These costs can include diary support, Met Police protection on public visits, correspondence, staffing at public visits, support to charitable work, social media platforms and managing and maintaining ex-PMs office (staff, payroll, admin).

However, current Cabinet Office guidance stipulates that the allowance cannot be used to cover security costs. The Cabinet Office told the fact-checking organisation FullFact in 2022 that security protection “is a separate issue from the PCDA, and is provided by the Metropolitan Police according to the level of risk.”

What is the maximum allowance?

Since 2011, the maximum that can be claimed under the PDCA has been frozen at £115,000 per year, plus an additional 10% for staff pension costs.

The allowance is not paid in advance of need and will not generally be backdated to previous years, although exceptionally the Cabinet Office agreed in 2023/24 to reimburse Boris Johnson for costs incurred in the previous year when setting up his office after he stood down as Prime Minister in 2022.

According to Cabinet Office guidance, all claims should be settled by 30 June in the financial year following the year being claimed for.

History of the maximum allowance

When it was introduced, the allowance was set at a level “equivalent in amount to the parliamentary office costs allowance”.  In addition to the main allowance, up to an additional 10% could be claimed for pension costs of staff.

Following the changes to Office Costs Allowance made on 5 July 2001, Prime Minister Tony Blair announced that the maximum allowance under the PDCA would be set at the level of the maximum Staffing Allowance (later known as Staffing Expenditure) available to Members of Parliament with London constituencies.

Following the creation of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) in 2009, the maximum allowance under the PDCA was set as the maximum that can be claimed from Staffing Expenditure under the IPSA Members’ Expenses Scheme.

Since 2011, the maximum allowance under the PDCA has been frozen at £115,000 – the maximum that could be claimed as Staffing Expenditure in the 2011/12 year. According to Cabinet Office guidance, the by the Prime Minister at the start of a Parliament and annually.

Details of the maximum amount that a former Prime Minister could claim in each year since 1997/98 are set out in Table 1. Details of the annual claims made by former Prime Ministers (and the former Deputy Prime Minister) since 2009/10 are set out in Table 2. A breakdown of the claims made by each Prime Minister is not available before this date.

Who is eligible to claim the allowance?

Any former Prime Minister can claim the PDCA. As of 2025/26, all former Prime Ministers claimed the allowance, with the exception of Rishi Sunak, who has confirmed to the Cabinet Office that the Public Duty Costs Allowance. Exceptionally, from 2015/16 to 2018/19, former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg also received the allowance.

Former Prime Ministers may not claim the allowance while they are serving as Leader of the Opposition. This is because, as Leader of the Opposition, they instead receive Short Money, a type of funding allocated to opposition parties to support them in their parliamentary duties. However, former Prime Ministers who continue to serve as Members of Parliament can claim the PCDA on top of the allowances they can claim as an MP through the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA).

If a former Prime Minister accepts a public appointment, Cabinet Office guidance states that the level of the allowance will be reviewed and may be adjusted based on the amount of remuneration they will receive from public funds for that appointment. For example, David Cameron ceased receiving the allowance when he was appointed Foreign Secretary on 13 November 2023. After the general election and change of government in July 2024, when he ceased to be Foreign Secretary, he re-applied to claim the allowance.

Cabinet Office guidance does not mention any restriction on claiming the PDCA while holding a paid role in the private sector, though Nick Clegg did cease to claim the allowance after being hired by Facebook in 2018.

Exception for the former Deputy Prime Minister

After he ceased to be Deputy Prime Minister at the 2015 general election, the PDCA was extended to the former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg for five years, to be reviewed annually.

According to reporting from The Times, a Cabinet Office spokesman had said that:

It was agreed Mr Clegg should be paid [the allowance] for a short period after leaving office to help with some of the necessary costs and secretariat support associated with being in such a senior position in public life.

In total, Nick Clegg claimed against the PDCA for four years.

Nick Clegg starting work at Facebook as Vice Present of Global Affairs and Communications in October 2018. In the same month, he informed the Cabinet Office that 2018-19 would be the last year in which he would be claiming the allowance.

What is the process for making a claim?

The PDCA is paid by the Cabinet Office and administered by the Cabinet Office Finance Team.

Offices of former Prime Ministers submit reimbursement claims to the Cabinet Office Finance Team and must provide supporting documentation, such as salary details or receipts, on request. Where staff time is split between the former Prime Minister’s public duties and other activities (such as commercial activities or party-political campaigning), the office must record the proportion of staff salary being claimed for under the PDCA.

According to Cabinet Office minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe in 2023:

The offices of the former Prime Ministers receive guidance which stipulates what type of expenses can be reimbursed by the Allowance. Claims, including those for office staff time, are then received by Cabinet Office Finance and include supporting evidence showing how much is related to the Allowance and how much is not.

What information is published about claims?

Since 2013/14, the allowance paid to each former Prime Minister has been published in the Cabinet Office annual report and accounts.

In 2018 the Information Commissioner held that the Cabinet Office had to respond to a Freedom of Information request by releasing documents it held on the PDCA claims submitted by former Prime Ministers, with the exception of a small amount of confidential information. However, as of 2026, Cabinet Office guidance states that it does not retain documents that former Prime Ministers’ offices provide with supporting evidence.

The operation of the PDCA is reviewed by the National Audit Office as part of its annual audit of the Cabinet Office.

What other payments are available to former Prime Ministers?

Departing Prime Ministers are entitled to severance payments and pensions on the same terms as other departing ministers.

Ministerial severance payments

Under section 4 of the Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991, a Prime Minister is entitled to a severance payment of 25% of their annual salary when they cease to hold office. A departing Prime Minister will not qualify for a payment if they are , or if they are reappointed to ministerial office within three weeks.

Since July 2025, departing Prime Ministers have been expected to waive a severance payment if they have served for less than six months or if they have committed a serious breach of the Ministerial Code that led to their departure. A Prime Minister can also choose to waive their entitlement to severance pay.

More information can be found in the Commons Library research briefing on Ministerial severance pay.

Pensions

Former Prime Ministers receive a pension for their time in the role through the Ministers’ Pension Scheme. They will also receive a separate pension for their time as Members of Parliament through the MPs’ Pension Scheme. Both schemes form part of the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund.

Until the passage of the Public Service Pensions Act 2013, separate arrangements were made for the pensions of the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Lord Chancellor. These entitled the office holders to an annual pension of half of their final salary on leaving office, regardless of the length of their service in the role. These pensions are paid through the Consolidated Fund.

More information can be found in the Commons Library research briefing on Pensions of ministers and senior office holders.

Maximum allowance and claims under the Public Duty Costs Allowance