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On 20 July 2026, the UK got a new Prime Minister who appointed a new UK Government surrounding and supporting him. ICB details the changed and unchanged names.

Note that not all the below UK Government departments will impact the work of payroll professionals but we detail them below for a complete picture: 

Job Title

Incumbent

Predecessor

Prime Minister

Andy Burnham

Sir Kier Starmer

Chancellor of the Exchequer

John Healey

Rachel Reeves

Work and Pensions Secretary

Pat McFadden

Unchanged

Pensions Minister

Torsten Bell

Unchanged

Business Secretary

Jonathan Reynolds

Peter Kyle

Defence Secretary

Wes Streeting

Dan Jarvis

Home Secretary

Shabana Mahmood

Unchanged

Foreign Secretary

Ed Miliband

Yvette Cooper

Health Secretary

Yvette Cooper

James Murray

Energy Secretary and Net Zero

Miatta Fahnbulleh

Ed Miliband

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

Sir Chris Bryant

Hilary Benn

Secretary of State for Wales

Stephen Kinnock

Jo Stevens

Secretary of State for Scotland

Douglas Alexander

Unchanged

Justice Secretary

Alex Norris

David Lammy

Housing Secretary

Angela Rayner

Steve Reed

Education Secretary

Lucy Powell

Bridget Phillipson

Minister for Women and Equalities

Bridget Phillipson

Unchanged, though she is no longer Education Secretary in England

Transport Secretary

Heidi Alexander

Unchanged

Minister for Artificial Intelligence

Kanishka Narayan

New

Leader of the Lords

Baroness Smith of Basildon

Unchanged

Incoming Prime Minister Burnham has scrapped the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Business is renamed the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.

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