Embodiments of the present invention disclose a control channel resource allocation method and apparatus, where the control channel resource allocation method includes: determining a VRB number corresponding to a first physical downlink control channel or a serial number of the first CCE for the first physical downlink control channel to transmit DCI, where the first physical downlink control channel includes an S-PDCCH or an R-PDCCH; and obtaining, according to the VRB number or the serial number of the first CCE, an offset, and a PUCCH parameter, a PUCCH format 1a or 1b resource number corresponding to the first physical downlink control channel. According to the control channel resource allocation method and apparatus, it is unnecessary to allocate a resource of a PUCCH format 1a or 1b to a first physical downlink control channel in advance, and it is unnecessary to configure a PUCCH format 1a or 1b resource number by using higher layer signaling, thereby saving higher layer signaling configuration and saving resources.