The raft of resignations and sackings during last year’s political upheaval saw ministers paid more than £400,000 in severance packages.
Figures released by Government departments show a total of £455,392 was paid out to former ministers, some of whom rejoined government just months later.
Former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss both received £18,660 after resigning, while Kwasi Kwarteng was given £16,876 when he quit as chancellor after less than six weeks in the job.
Among the other ministers to receive severance payments was Chris Pincher, who resigned as deputy chief whip over allegations he groped two men in the Carlton Club, precipitating the crisis that saw Mr Johnson leave office.
Mr Pincher received a £7,920 severance payment after stepping down at the end of June 2022.
The Commons Standards Committee recommended earlier in July that Mr Pincher be suspended from the House for eight weeks after upholding the allegations and finding he had damaged the reputation of the Commons.
Thursday is the last day for Mr Pincher, who remains MP for Tamworth, to lodge an appeal against the committee’s findings, but the summer recess means even if he does not appeal, MPs will not be able to approve his suspension until September.
Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have criticised the decision of numerous former ministers to accept the severance payments.
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said: “After the mess the Tories have left our country in, they should be hanging their heads in embarrassment, not walking away with an enormous payoff.
“At a time when people up and down the country are struggling to pay their mortgages and put food on the table, it shows a staggering lack of shame for them to accept this money, but is exactly what we’ve come to expect from a bunch of Tories who only care about themselves.”
Calls for payouts to be given back
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper called for the payouts to be given back.
She said: “This is a slap in the face for all those who have seen their mortgages soar because of Truss and Kwarteng’s disastrous mini-budget.
“It is frankly insulting that whilst people struggle with the cost-of-living crisis, those responsible for their financial hardship are being showered with tens of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ cash.
“If any of these disgraced former Conservative ministers had a shred of integrity left they would hand these payouts back.”
Ministers are entitled to receive severance payments worth a quarter of their ministerial salary on leaving office, provided they are aged under 65 and are not reappointed within three weeks.
But some ministers who received severance payments last year returned to government within months.
Grant Shapps
These include Grant Shapps, who received £16,876 when Ms Truss replaced him as transport secretary at the beginning of September 2022, but returned as home secretary a month later.
He is reported to have given half of his payment to charity.
Michael Gove also received £16,876 when he was sacked by Mr Johnson as levelling up secretary, a role he has returned to under Rishi Sunak.
Both his successors – caretaker Greg Clark and Truss appointee Sir Simon Clarke – also received £16,876 on leaving the department.
Ministers can choose not to take a severance payment, while some returned their payments when they were reappointed.
Mr Sunak, for example, repaid the £16,876 he received when he quit as chancellor.
Cost to taxpayer
The payments have been revealed by the publication of Government departments’ annual reports, most of which have been released on Thursday.
The Treasury’s report shows that, alongside the payments made to ministers, the controversial sacking of top civil servant Sir Tom Scholar cost the taxpayer £457,000 in severance and other payments.
Sir Tom was dismissed as the Treasury’s permanent secretary in September 2022, just as Mr Kwarteng took over as chancellor.
The move was criticised at the time given Sir Tom’s long experience at the department, and economists and former civil servants have subsequently said his dismissal contributed to the market’s negative reaction to Mr Kwarteng’s mini-budget.
The Treasury’s annual accounts, published on Thursday, reveal that Sir Tom received a £335,000 severance payment on his dismissal as permanent secretary, along with £122,000 in annual leave adjustments, payments in lieu of notice and other payments.
Asked about the payments, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Obviously, there are laws that need to be followed at all times when coming up with agreements on severance pay.”
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