| United Kingdom His Majesty's Paymaster General | |
|---|---|
since 8 July 2024 | |
| Cabinet Office | |
| Style | Paymaster General (informal) The Right Honourable (formal; within the UK and Commonwealth) |
| Appointer | The King (on the advice of thePrime Minister) |
| Inaugural holder | Henry Parnell |
| Formation | 27 April 1836 |
| Website | Official website |
His Majesty's Paymaster General orHM Paymaster General is a ministerial position in theCabinet Office of theUnited Kingdom. The position is currently held byNick Thomas-Symonds of theLabour Party.

The post was created in 1836 by the merger of the positions of the offices of thePaymaster of the Forces (1661–1836), theTreasurer of the Navy (1546–1835), the Paymaster and Treasurer ofChelsea Hospital (responsible forArmy pensions) (1681–1835) and theTreasurer of the Ordnance (1670–1835).
Initially, the Paymaster General only had responsibilities in relation to thearmed services but in 1848 two more offices were merged into that of Paymaster General: the Paymaster of Exchequer Bills (1723–1848) and the Paymaster of the Civil Service (1834–1848), the latter followed by its Irish counterpart in 1861. They thus became 'the principal paying agent of the government and the banker for all government departments except therevenue departments and theNational Debt Office'.[2]
From 1848 to 1868, the post was held concurrently with that ofVice-President of the Board of Trade.
The longest-serving holder of the post wasDawn Primarolo, whose portfolio coveredHM Customs and Excise and theInland Revenue (which during her tenure became merged asHM Revenue and Customs) and who served from 1999 to 2007.
Today, the Paymaster General is usually aminister without portfolio available for any duties which the government of the day may designate. The post may be combined with another office, or may be left unfilled.
Though the Paymaster General was titular head of the Paymaster General's Office, their executive functions were delegated to the Assistant Paymaster General, a permanentcivil servant who (though acting in the name of the Paymaster General) was answerable to theChancellor of the Exchequer.[2]
The Paymaster General was formerly in nominal charge (and at one time in actual charge) of theOffice of HM Paymaster General[3] (OPG), which held accounts at theBank of England on behalf of government departments and selected other public bodies. Funds which were made available from theConsolidated Fund were then channelled into OPG accounts, from where they were used by the relevant body. OPG operated a full range of accounts and banking transaction services, including cheque and credit,BACS andCHAPS services for its customers via an electronic banking system. Integration of OPG accounts held with commercial banks was provided by the private companyXafinity Paymaster which is now part of theEquiniti group.
However, in 2008, the government announced that the Office of the Paymaster General would be incorporated into a new body, theGovernment Banking Service,[4] which also provides banking operations forHM Revenue & Customs andNational Savings and Investments. Following the Bank of England's decision to withdraw from providing retail banking services,[5] retail banking and payment services for the GBS are provided by a range of financial institutions includingBarclays,Citibank,NatWest, andWorldpay,[6] although the Bank of England still plays a role in managing the government's higher level accounts.[7]
| Shadow Paymaster general | Term of office | Party | Opposition Leader | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richard Ottaway | 1 June 2000 | 1 June 2001 | Conservative | Hague | ||
| Stephen O'Brien | 1 June 2002 | 1 June 2003 | Conservative | Duncan Smith | ||
| Andrew Tyrie | 1 June 2004 | 1 June 2005 | Conservative | Howard | ||
| Mark Francois | 10 May 2005 | 3 July 2007 | Conservative | |||
| Cameron | ||||||
| Jack Dromey | 14 May 2021 | 4 December 2021 | Labour | Starmer | ||
| Fleur Anderson | 4 December 2021 | 4 September 2023 | Labour | |||
| Jonathan Ashworth | 4 September 2023 | 5 July 2024 | Labour | |||
| John Glen | 8 July 2024 | 8 November 2024 | Conservative | Sunak | ||
| Richard Holden | 8 November 2024 | Incumbent | Conservative | Kemi Badenoch | ||