Golden goodbyes for civil servants cost a whopping £182million in a single year as former staff enjoyed bumper £100,000 exit packages
- 389 former staff enjoyed more than £100,000 in civil service exit packages
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More than £180million was lavished on ‘golden goodbyes’ for civil servants and officials at taxpayer-funded bodies in just a single year, new figures reveal.
An audit of Government accounts shows that 389 former staff enjoyed bumper exit packages worth more than £100,000.
A further 66 were worth more than £150,000, with one bureaucrat pocketing more than £250,000.
In total, £182.2million was paid to former staff of 15 government departments and publicly-funded bodies linked to them, such as quangos.
The Treasury last night said it had launched a consultation to look at making the process around severance payments more ‘rigorous’ amid calls to cap exit packages at £95,000.
An audit of Government accounts shows that 389 former staff enjoyed bumper exit packages worth more than £100,000 (File image of The Treasury)
The figures relate to 2021-22, the latest year official data is available for. The severance payments are collectively lower than those of a decade or so ago, when more than £250million a year was often spent on redundancy packages.
But it comes at a time when the tax burden is at its highest for 70 years, with families crying out for tax cuts amid the soaring cost of living.
Senior Conservative and former minister Sir John Redwood said taxpayers will feel ‘robbed’.
He added: ‘The civil service has got to get better at choosing the right people. It can’t afford to make so many expensive mistakes by hiring them and then having to sack so many and give them generous payouts. It’s symptomatic of really bad management.’
The audit by the TaxPayers’ Alliance pressure group found the then Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport accounted for more than 25 per cent of the total paid out, largely as its figures include former BBC executives.
Senior Conservative and former minister Sir John Redwood said taxpayers will feel ‘robbed’ (Pictured on May 16)
DCMS’s accounts showed £55million was paid out, mostly to BBC employees or officials at arms-length bodies such as quangos. A source stressed the BBC payments would be funded by the licence fee. More than half of packages (201) were worth over £100,000.
Bureaucrats working for the Department for Health and Social Care got the most packages worth more than £150,000 (36) as the department splurged £42.4million in total.
The Department for Transport had the second largest bill of all government departments with £50million. The Ministry of Justice’s £17.2million included one bureaucrat who got more than £250,000.
Elliot Keck at the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: ‘These golden goodbyes will be a kick in the teeth for taxpayers. While households scrimp and save, Whitehall fat cats are trousering massive exit payments.’
A Treasury spokesman said they ‘are consulting on proposals to make sure there is a rigorous process in place’.
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