This week’s resignations from the head of Ofqual, Sally Collier, and the department of education’s permanent secretary, Jonathan Slater, are only the latest in a series of senior departures from Whitehall. By contrast, no ministers have been sacked for any of the government’s high-profile crises or scandals. The civil servants frozen out Sir Mark Sedwill The cabinet secretary and the UK’s most senior civil servant announced in June that he will step down in the autumn. Colleagues say he was unfairly blamed by Number 10 aides for ministerial failings over Brexit and coronavirus. Sir Philip Rutnam The home office’s top civil servant resigned in February, alleging he had become the “target of a vicious and orchestrated campaign” coordinated by the home secretary, Priti Patel. He is taking Patel and the department to an employment tribunal under whistleblowing legislation, claiming he was forced out because he tried to stop her bullying staff. She denies any wrongdoing. Sir Simon McDonald The permanent secretary at the foreign office will step down early next year after anonymous briefings claimed he had clashed with Boris Johnson when he was foreign secretary. Along with Rutnam, McDonald’s name was on a “hitlist” of three permanent secretaries Downing Street wanted to replace which was reported by the Sunday Telegraph in February. Tom Scholar, the treasury’s permanent secretary, survives. Richard Heaton The Ministry of Justice’s permanent secretary will step down this month, it was announced in July, following speculation that his contract would not be renewed as part of top No 10 aide Dominic Cummings’s overhaul of senior Whitehall jobs. The ministers who have clung on… Robert Jenrick The housing secretary shrugged off resignation calls after ensuring a controversial housing development was agreed before a new levy was introduced which would have cost millions for a Conservative donor. Priti Patel The home secretary refused to go despite allegations from senior staff including Rutnam that she had bullied civil servants in three separate government departments. Johnson authorised a cabinet office inquiry into her alleged behaviour but it is still to be released to the public, months after it was handed to the prime minister’s office. Gavin Williamson The education secretary, who was forced to resign as defence secretary last year after leaking information from the National Security Council, has faced a chorus of demands from senior Conservatives to do so again over the exams fiasco. The former chief whip said he was “incredibly sorry for the distress” caused, but former minister George Freeman said the “exam shambles” raised “worrying” questions about leadership in the department. Matt Hancock The government’s much-criticised handling of the pandemic led critics of the health secretary to wonder whether he would be the Cabinet minister to face the chop. He hasn’t.