Paymaster General

Her Majesty's Paymaster General
Royal Arms as used by Her Majesty's Government
Incumbent Ben Gummer since 14 July 2016
Office of HM Paymaster General
Style	The Right Honourable
Appointer	Elizabeth II
Inaugural holder	Henry Parnell
Formation	27 April 1836
Website	HM Paymaster General [archived version]

Her Majesty's Paymaster General or HM Paymaster General is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom. When the post is held by a minister in HM Treasury it ranks third in the Treasury, after the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

The post was created in 1836 by the merger of the positions of the offices of the Paymaster of the Forces, (1661-1836), the Treasurer of the Navy, (1546-1835), the Paymaster and Treasurer of Chelsea Hospital and the Treasurer of the Ordnance, (1670-1835). From 1848 to 1868, the post was held concurrently with that of Vice-President of the Board of Trade.

The longest-serving holder of the post was Dawn Primarolo, whose portfolio covered HM Revenue and Customs (formerly the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise). The incumbent Paymaster General is Ben Gummer, who is also the Minister for the Cabinet Office.

The Paymaster General was formerly in charge of the Office of HM Paymaster General (OPG), which held accounts at the Bank of England on behalf of Government departments and selected other public bodies. Funds which were made available from the Consolidated 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 and CHAPS services for its customers via an electronic banking system. Integration of OPG accounts held with commercial banks was provided by the private company Xafinity Paymaster. However, in 2008, the government announced that the Office of the Paymaster General would be incorporated into a new body, the Government Banking Service, which also provides banking operations for HM Revenue & Customs and National Savings and Investments. Following the Bank of England's decision to withdraw from providing retail banking services, retail banking services for the GBS are provided exclusively by the Royal Bank of Scotland and Citibank, although the Bank of England still plays a role in managing the government's higher level accounts. The post is now therefore usually combined with another role.