Her Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), sometimes referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is the
department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for developing and executing the government's
public finance
Public finance is the study of the role of the government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''Sta ...
policy and
economic policy
The economic policy of government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly ...
. The Treasury maintains the Online System for Central Accounting and Reporting (OSCAR), the replacement for the
Combined Online Information System
The Combined Online Information System (COINS) is a database containing HM Treasury
Her Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), sometimes referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is the Departments of the Government of the United ...
(COINS), which itemises departmental spending under thousands of category headings, and from which the
Whole of Government AccountsWhole of Government Accounts (WGA) is the annual publication by the United Kingdom UK Government, Government of the consolidated financial statements of over 5,500 organisations across the public sector. It aims to provide more complete data for fisc ...
(WGA) annual financial statements are produced.
The possessive adjective in the department's name varies depending upon the
gender
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to, and differentiating between femininity
Femininity (also called womanliness or girlishness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with women
A woman is ...

of the reigning
monarch
A monarch is a head of state
A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona
A persona (plural personae or personas), depending on the context, can refer to either the public image of one's personality, or the social role tha ...
.
History
The beginnings of the Treasury of England have been traced by some to an individual known as Henry the Treasurer, a servant to King
William the Conqueror
William I (c. 1028Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33 – 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs, monarch of Engl ...

. This claim is based on an entry in the
Domesday Book
Domesday Book () – the Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) was a form of the English language spoken after the Norman conquest of England, Norman conquest (1066) until the late 15th century. The English language underwent ...
showing the individual Henry "the treasurer" as a landowner in Winchester, where the royal treasure was stored.
The Treasury of the United Kingdom thus traces its origins to the Treasury of the
Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England (Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language
A classical language is a language
A language is a structured system of communication
Communication (from Latin ''communicare'', meaning "to share" or ...

, which had come into existence by 1126, in the reign of
Henry IHenry I may refer to:
876–1366
* Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936)
* Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955)
* Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018)
* Henry I of France (1008–1060)
* Henry I the Long, Margrave of the Nord ...

. The Treasury emerged from the
Royal Household. It was where the king kept his treasures. The head of the Treasury was called the
Lord Treasurer
The post of Lord High Treasurer or Lord Treasurer was an English government position and has been a British government position since the Acts of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third-highest-ranked Great Officer of State
...
.
Starting in
Tudor
Tudor most commonly refers to:
* House of Tudor, English royal house of Welsh origins
** Tudor period, a historical era in England coinciding with the rule of the Tudor dynasty
Tudor may also refer to:
Architecture
* Tudor architecture, the fi ...
times, the Lord Treasurer became one of the chief officers of state, and competed with the
Lord Chancellor
The Lord Chancellor, formally the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking among the Great Officers of State
In the United Kingdom, the Great Officers of State are traditional ministers of The Crown who either inheri ...
for the principal place. In 1667,
Charles II of England
Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland
The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional monarchy, constitutional form of government by which a hereditary m ...

was responsible for appointing
George Downing, the builder of
Downing Street
Downing Street is a long street in the City of Westminster
The City of Westminster is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and London boroughs, borough in Inner London which forms a core part of Central London. It is the site of the ...

, to radically reform the Treasury and the collection of taxes.
The Treasury was first put in commission (placed under the control of several people instead of only one) in May or June 1660. The first commissioners were the Duke of Albermarle, Lord Ashley, (Sir) W. Coventry, (Sir) J. Duncomb, and (Sir) T. Clifford. After 1714, the Treasury was always in commission. The commissioners were referred to as the Lords of the Treasury and were given a number based on their seniority. Eventually the
First Lord of the Treasury
The First Lord of the Treasury is the head of the commission
Commission or commissioning may refer to:
Business and contracting
* Commission (remuneration), a form of payment to an agent for services rendered
** Commission (art), the purchase o ...
came to be seen as the natural head of government, and from
Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the Unit ...

on, the holder of the office began to be known, unofficially, as the
Prime Minister
A prime minister or a premier is the head of the cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transpa ...
. Until 1827, the First Lord of the Treasury, when a commoner, also held the office of
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to the chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the chief executive officer of HM Treasury, Her Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Grea ...
, while if the First Lord was a peer, the Second Lord usually served as Chancellor. Since 1827, however, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has always been Second Lord of the Treasury.
During the time when the Treasury was under commission, the junior Lords were each paid £1,600 a year.
Ministers
As of September 2021, the Treasury Ministers are as follows:
Whips
Some of the government
whips
A whip is a tool designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance
Pain compliance is the use of painful stimulus to control or direct an organism. The stimulus can be manual (brute force, placing pressure on ...
are also associated in name with the Treasury: the
Chief Whip
The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to ensure the Whip (politics), whipping system that tries to ensure that members of the Political party, party attend and vote as the party leadership desires.
United Kingdom
In Politics of ...
is nominally
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury is a senior ministerial position in the British Government
The Government of the United Kingdom, domestically referred to as Her Majesty's Government, is the central government of the United Kingdo ...
and traditionally had an office in
12 Downing Street. Some of the other whips are nominally
Lords Commissioners of the TreasuryIn the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain,Usage is mixed. The Guardian' and Telegraph' use Britain as a synonym for the United Kingdom. Some prefer to u ...
, though they are all members of the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house
A lower house is one of two chambers
Chambers may refer to: Places
Canada:
*Chambers Township, Ontario
United States:
*Chambers County, Alabama
*Chambers, Arizona, an unincorpor ...

. Being a whip is a party, rather than a government, position; the appointments to the Treasury are
sinecure
A sinecure ( or ; from Latin ''sine'' 'without' and ''cura'' 'care') is an office, carrying a salary or otherwise generating income, that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service. The term originated in the medi ...
positions which allow the whips to be paid ministerial salaries. This has led to the Government
front bench
In many parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislature, legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electora ...
in the Commons being known as the Treasury Bench. However, since the whips no longer have any effective ministerial roles in the Treasury, they are usually not listed as Treasury ministers.
Permanent secretaries
The position of
of HM Treasury is generally regarded as the second most influential in the
British Civil Service
Her Majesty's Home Civil Service, also known as Her Majesty's Civil Service or the Home Civil Service, is the permanent bureaucracy
The term bureaucracy () may refer both to a body of non-elected governing officials and to an administrative ...
; two recent incumbents have gone on to be
Cabinet Secretary#REDIRECT Cabinet secretary#REDIRECT Cabinet secretary
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, the only post outranking it.
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