On the day of the all-important by-elections, the last thing the Tories need is more accusations of sleaze. Unfortunately, figures from the Treasury’s annual accounts surrounding severance pay-outs will do just that.
The Sun has reported that the former permanent secretary to the Treasury, Sir Tom Scholar, was paid a whopping £335,000 severance payment after being sacked by Liz Truss when she became prime minister. Scholar was also paid £122,000 in compensation and annual leave adjustments in lieu of notice, which brought his total annual payments up to around £550,000 for the year 2022-23.
The report also showed the severance payouts of other prominent figures in government, including former PMs Liz Truss and Boris Johnson who were both paid over £18,000, and Kwasi Kwarteng who made £16,000 from his failed 38 days as Chancellor. Amusingly, Truss’s payout was more than she made during her 49 days as Prime Minister.
Severance payments reflecting around a quarter of individuals’ salaries have been standard practice since 1991, but many are criticising payouts for rewarding ineptitude or indeed bad behaviour.
Even the disgraced Chris Pincher, who stood down as deputy chief whip after sexual harassment allegations, was paid £7,920.
The deputy leader of Lib Dems, Daisy Cooper, hit out at the severance payments saying: “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.”
A spokesperson for the Treasury explained that, with regards to Tom Scholar’s payouts, it was a “contractual amount resulting from the Civil Service Compensation Scheme – the payment is based on length of service and includes pension payments.”
Many will shout “sleaze!” and blame the Tories but may be it’s a system that could do with some reform. A start would be to ensure that anyone resigning in disgrace is disqualified from taxpayer remuneration. Even still, it’s not quite what the Tories would have wanted on by-election day.
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