This short Bill amends the statutory caps that limit how many ministerial salaries may be paid under the Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975. It modifies the Schedule that defines maximum numbers for categories of ministerial offices so the government can put more ministers on the payroll without separate primary legislation for each new post.
For practitioners, the measure matters because it is a straightforward legal lever the Prime Minister can use to expand the paid ministerial team quickly. That has operational implications for departmental staffing, political management inside parties, and modest direct effects on public spending and parliamentary accountability.
At a Glance
What It Does
The Bill edits the statutory Schedule that sets maximum numbers of paid ministerial offices, increasing the permitted headcount in the relevant categories so the government may create additional paid ministerial roles. The change is a numeric adjustment to how many salaries the law allows to be paid.
Who It Affects
The Prime Minister and Cabinet Office (responsible for ministerial appointments), HM Treasury (budgeting and payments), departments that may gain new ministerial posts, and MPs who might be appointed to salaried ministerial offices. It also affects parliamentary advisers and compliance officers who track ministerial allowances and payroll.
Why It Matters
By removing a statutory ceiling constraint, the Bill gives the executive more flexibility to reorganise ministerial teams and create paid positions quickly. That shifts where debates over staffing happen—from primary legislation to internal executive decisions—and creates downstream effects for oversight, costs, and departmental accountability.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975 sets statutory ceilings on how many ministerial salaries the government may pay in defined categories. This Bill targets that existing architecture and increases the permitted number of paid posts in those categories.
The change is purely about how many paid posts can exist at any one time; it does not itself create named offices, set salary levels, or authorize appointments. Appointments still require the usual instruments (Prime Ministerial selections and any relevant orders or instruments) and payments continue to be made through normal Treasury processes.
Because the Bill is a narrow amendment to the Schedule, its immediate practical effect is to remove a legal constraint that could otherwise prevent the government from offering pay to additional ministers. That means the executive can respond to policy or political needs—creating new junior minister posts, ministerial teams for cross-cutting priorities, or reshuffling responsibilities—without waiting for further primary legislation.
The change therefore reallocates discretion to the executive while leaving detailed decisions on roles, responsibilities, and pay to existing appointment and budgeting arrangements.The Bill also deals only with the maximum number of paid posts: it does not alter who qualifies for which category, nor does it change the oversight regime that applies once someone becomes a minister (ministerial code, parliamentary accountability, expenses rules). Practically, departments and the Treasury will need to record and budget for any additional salaried posts the government creates under the new ceiling, and Parliament’s usual scrutiny channels—questions, Select Committees, and supply processes—remain the principal checks on how that discretion is exercised.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The Bill amends paragraph 2 of Part 5 of Schedule 1 to the Ministerial and other Salaries Act 1975 (the statutory provision that caps paid ministerial posts).
It increases the maximum number of paid Secretaries of State from 21 to 22.
It raises the combined cap for Secretaries of State and Ministers of State from 50 to 54.
It raises the combined cap for Secretaries of State, Ministers of State and Parliamentary Secretaries from 83 to 94.
The Bill applies across England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and takes effect on the day it receives Royal Assent; its short title will be the Ministerial Salaries (Amendment) Act 2026.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Edits to the Schedule that cap paid ministerial offices
Section 1 makes targeted textual changes to paragraph 2 of Part 5 in Schedule 1 of the 1975 Act. Practically, it substitutes new numeric limits for the existing figures that determine how many ministerial salaries the Crown may pay in the specified categories. The provision is surgical: it changes only the permitted headcounts rather than any definitions, salary levels, appointment mechanisms, or oversight arrangements.
Geographical extent
Subsection (1) confirms the amendment has UK-wide extent—England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland—so the new numerical ceilings apply across the jurisdictions served by UK Government ministers. That means the change governs UK ministerial payroll irrespective of devolution arrangements; it does not alter devolved competency over the appointment or pay of regional ministers acting under devolved powers.
Commencement and short title
Subsection (2) provides immediate commencement on the day the Act is passed, enabling the government to act quickly to appoint additional paid ministers if it chooses. Subsection (3) supplies the statutory short title by which the amendment will be cited. Both clauses are standard but significant because they remove delay between enactment and the executive’s operational use of the new caps.
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Who Benefits
- Prime Minister — Gains legal room to expand or restructure ministerial teams quickly, using the new statutory headcount rather than seeking fresh primary legislation.
- MPs (especially backbenchers in the governing party) — More opportunities to receive paid ministerial office, which can be politically valuable and provide career advancement.
- Departments assigned new ministerial responsibilities — Can obtain additional ministerial-level resource and political oversight for cross-cutting portfolios or newly prioritized policy areas.
Who Bears the Cost
- HM Treasury and the public purse — More salaried ministers mean higher direct salary and associated employer costs; although the headline cost is likely modest, it grows with each appointment under the new ceiling.
- Parliamentary oversight bodies and staff — Increase in the number of ministers can raise administrative and scrutiny burdens on Select Committees, clerks and the ministerial code monitoring apparatus.
- Taxpayers and accountability advocates — The expansion transfers discretion to the executive and may dilute lines of responsibility, making it harder for external stakeholders to track who is accountable for policy areas.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is between executive flexibility and democratic accountability: the Bill makes it easier for the government to staff and respond to policy demands quickly, but that same ease can enlarge the ministerial payroll and fragment responsibility, shifting the balance away from parliamentary deliberation and toward internal executive discretion.
The Bill solves a clear technical constraint—a statutory headcount cap—but it leaves several practical and policy questions unsettled. First, it does not allocate funds: increased headcounts only permit appointments; the Treasury still needs to find room in departmental budgets or central contingencies for salaries and associated costs.
That separation can create ambiguity during budgeting rounds about whether and when posts will be filled. Second, the Bill is silent on categorisation disputes: it increases caps by category but gives no guidance on borderline cases (which jobs count as Ministers of State versus Parliamentary Secretaries), so classification disputes could arise and require administrative resolution.
There are also governance tensions. Expanding paid ministerial posts gives the executive operational flexibility, but it risks creating more junior ministerial roles with overlapping responsibilities, which can blur ministerial accountability in Parliament and to the public.
Finally, because the Act applies UK-wide while many responsibilities are devolved, there is potential for political friction if Westminster increases ministerial capacity in areas where devolved governments see overlap or intrusion, even though the Bill does not change devolved competencies.
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