Liz Truss has decided to take her £125,000 a year pension for ex-prime ministers for life.
Former prime ministers do not receive their own special pensions, but are part of the ministerial scheme that provides a pension on retirement. They are entitled to claim up to £115,000 a year when they leave office, but this is for expenses associated with continuing public duties.
A number of posts on Facebook have claimed that former Prime Minister Liz Truss is entitled to a £125,000 a year “ex-PM pension for life”. We’ve seen similar posts on X (formerly Twitter).
These posts, which began circulating earlier this month, claim “Liz Truss has decided to take her full £125,000 a year ex-PM pension for life.”
This is incorrect. There is no specific pension for former prime ministers. Ms Truss, like all ex-PMs, is entitled to claim an allowance of up to £115,000 a year for expenses incurred through public duties undertaken due to her position as a former prime minister, but this is not a pension.
We’ve seen similar claims circulating before, misrepresenting this fund as a pension or a payment for life, including when Ms Truss resigned in 2022 and when Boris Johnson stepped down as prime minister.
We’ve written before about misleading claims about what payments ministers are entitled to after they leave their roles, as well as claims about MPs' pay and expenses. False or misleading claims about politicians have the potential to affect people’s opinions of individuals, parties or how they choose to vote.
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As a former prime minister, Ms Truss is eligible to receive the Public Duty Costs Allowance (PDCA), a fund only available to cover the costs of ex-prime ministers who are still active in public life.
It was introduced in 1991, following the resignation of Margaret Thatcher.
The allowance can only be used to reimburse expenses “for necessary administrative costs arising from their special position in public life”, such as managing an office, dealing with correspondence and covering the costs of appearing at events in their capacity as an ex-prime minister.
Former prime ministers can claim up to £115,000 to cover these expenses. The money is not paid automatically, and can only be claimed once expenses have been incurred. Ex-PMs are told to keep receipts and documents showing the cost of expenses in case either the National Audit Office or Cabinet Office wish to see them.
The Cabinet Office releases information about how much former prime ministers have claimed in their annual accounts. Their most recent release shows that in the 2022-23 financial year, both Sir John Major and Sir Tony Blair claimed the full amount of £115,000 in expenses. Gordon Brown claimed slightly less, at £114,627 and Theresa May claimed £113,422, while David Cameron (now Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton) claimed £108,312.
Ms Truss, who ran for leadership, became prime minister and stood down within the 2022-23 fiscal year, claimed £23,310 in expenses from the PDCA in that year.
The value of the allowance has been frozen at £115,000 since 2011.
Former prime ministers can also claim an additional amount to contribute towards their staff pension costs, limited to a maximum of 10% of the PDCA.
We’re not sure where the £125,000 figure that’s been circulating online comes from exactly, but it could be a rounding of the full amount that can be claimed by former prime ministers through the PDCA—£115,000 plus the maximum 10% staff pension costs would equate to £126,500.
The government specifically states that the allowance is “not paid to support private or parliamentary duties”, meaning the £115,000 can only be used to cover costs already incurred through business related to being a former PM, so it is not the same as a wage, a salary or a pension.
Before 2013, prime ministers had a separate pension arrangement to most other MPs and ministers, with the exception of the Lord Chancellor and the Speaker of the House of Commons. This scheme entitled people who had held these roles to a pension that was half the office holder’s final salary on leaving office.
Since the Public Service Pensions Act was passed in 2013 and took effect after the 2015 general election, prime ministers have been automatically enrolled in the Ministers’ Pension Scheme. MPs elected after 2015, or MPs re-elected in 2015 and under 55 years old on 1 April 2013, have been enrolled in a pension scheme for MPs called CARE.
Both schemes provide a pension when someone retires, not when they stop being a minister or stand down as an MP. MPs and ministers can opt out of the schemes if they wish.
While in office, prime ministers are entitled to their MP salary (currently £86,584) and an additional prime ministerial salary (currently £80,807), equivalent to a total annual salary of £167,391. The House of Commons Library notes that the Prime Minister currently receives £75,440 for their role as PM. Ministers don’t have to claim the full salary they are entitled to as part of their ministerial role, and these salaries are taxed as they would be in any other job.
Government ministers under the age of 65 are entitled to severance pay when they leave office, provided they don’t take up another ministerial job within three weeks. This payment is a quarter of the annual salary they were earning in their role.
This is a one-off payment. According to figures from the Treasury, Ms Truss received £18,660 as a severance payment for her time as prime minister.
Mr Johnson also received the same figure after he resigned as prime minister.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because former prime ministers are not entitled to a £125,000 a year pension for life on leaving office.
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