Labour’s special advisers: a growing cohort is learning on the job

The public image of the special adviser focuses on the high-profile holders of such roles. Alastair Campbell, Dominic Cummings and now Morgan McSweeney all became as well-known as many ministers and sometimes became the story of the government they served.  

But the majority of the 130 Labour spads appointed since the election ¹⁰ Cabinet Office, ‘Special adviser data releases: numbers and costs, July 2025’, GOV.UK, 17 July 2025, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/special-adviser-data-releases-numbers-and-costs-july-2025  are not so familiar, with most having no recent experience of being in government. For spads, there has been a steep learning curve about how best to support ministers, how to get things to happen in government, how to work with the civil service, and how to be efficient in the use of their time – and all in a period where the government has faced its fair share of difficulties. 

The government has now released its latest data on special advisers, their pay and seniority – so what do we know about this new cohort of advisers and how Starmer’s government is using them?

The prime minister’s political team has changed and grown within his first year in government

While the number of special advisers appointed by the prime minister is close that of his recent predecessors, No.10 has seen the greatest level of flux in terms of special adviser recruitment. 

A steady flow of spads have made their way into No.10 with the number growing from 36 between October and December 2024 to 42 by March 2025. But this growth disguises the churn amongst Keir Starmer’s spads. In the early months of his government Starmer chose to reconfigure his top team by switching out Sue Gray for his campaign strategist Morgan McSweeney as chief of staff and then removing Matthew Doyle as head of communications in the spring.

Between high level churn and reports of tensions amongst No.10 spads, there have been accusations of dysfunction at the centre.  ¹² George Eaton, ‘Inside No 10’s new dysfunction’, New Statesman, 4 June 2025, https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/labour/2025/06/inside-no-10s-new-dysfunction  A strong Downing Street operation is essential if Starmer wants to achieve his goals in government, and the PM, while showing he is willing to reconfigure his personnel, needs to find a team that works. Constant churn will only bring further dysfunction.  

There has been an uptick across spad pay grades

The pay of those working in government has long caused political headaches for governments – something that has incentivised failed attempts to reduce spad numbers and to suppress pay. The overall cost of special advisers salaries (not including severance, pensions and national insurance contributions) has fallen in 2024/25 (£9.5 million) compared to 2023/24 (£10 million): this may reflect the fact that advisers were on higher salaries across bands towards the end of Rishi Sunak’s term and the elongated process of bringing more spads into government under Starmer. 

Overall spad pay grades have remained relatively static since 2010, which translates into a real terms reduction across the board. While spad pay is still below 2010 standards in real terms, there has been an uptick compared to recent years, although this has been less dramatic at the lowest pay bands.

Despite this cohort of special advisers being new to the role, the distribution of spads across grades is strikingly similar to recent years. The only notable change has been a near complete collapse in the lowest pay band (‘junior special adviser’), with only two current spads being paid between £42,252 - £55,650. As we have observed before, some spads may have been appointed to more senior pay bands to counteract lower real-terms salaries. As has been the case in recent years, the vast majority of those on pay bands 3 (‘senior special adviser’) and 4 (‘special adviser leadership’) can be found working for the prime minister or the chancellor at the centre of government.  

A major grievance amongst the current spads has been around pay and conditions – with reports in the autumn that some spads joined a union over such work-related disputes.  ¹⁵ Aletha Adu, ‘Labour special advisers join union over concerns about pay’, The Guardian, 10 September 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/sep/10/labour-special-advisers-join-union-over-concerns-about-pay

But whatever the pay grade, spads have little opportunity for promotion – as former Home Office spad Salma Shah put it at a recent IfG event on special advisers, “there is no progression in this job – you go in a spad and you leave a spad”. So it may cause some consternation that for 60% of the current cohort who are on the lower pay bands there has been relatively little movement.

However, while the most notable uptick has been in the maximum possible spad salary, which has jumped from £145,000 to £180,000, few of the current crop are seeing the benefits. Given the negative media briefings about Sue Gray being paid more than the prime minister as chief of staff, it is perhaps unsurprising that no current spad appears to be paid more than £160,000.  ¹⁶ Chris Mason, ‘Why finding out about Sue Gray’s salary really matters’, BBC News, 19 September 2024, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czxgdgkew81o

A review of spad pay has been commissioned, so although the annual report makes no mention of this review there could be further changes in this space .

What challenges will the future hold for the Labour spads?

The relationship between political teams and the civil service is at the heart of the spad role, and many of this crop have struggled to define what their role should be and how to establish a constructive relationship with the civil service. But this frustration goes both ways – civil servants want more direction from ministers and from their spads. Special advisers need to find the right balance in what can be a difficult diplomatic relationship with civil servants – all the more crucial as this government moves into the ‘delivery phase’ of its plans.

As Sam White, the former chief of staff to Starmer in opposition, told the IfG – ministers need someone who can approach problems from a political perspective , rather than act as  “another competent private secretary in the room”. As journalist Gabriel Pogrund put it at our recent event, spads are at their best when they are like commandoes who can “abseil into a situation and be very effective without being part of a much bigger wider bureaucracy”.  

The first year of a Labour government has been tough for its spads. They will be crucial for whether or not the government succeeds in achieving its ambitions, but it is a demanding role which requires support and guidance. The IfG is ready with specialised resources for new spads and opportunities for professional development.