More than 600 people received a payment in excess of £100,000 (Image: Getty)
More than £360 million of taxpayers’ money was given to in redundancy payments in 2024.
The payments, colloquially known as ‘golden goodbyes’ were handed out to 9,500 departing staff at an average sum of £38,000, .
Of these payments, 688 departing were paid in excess of £100,000 as they left their role, up from 427 the year before.
The figures have seen critics blast and Whitehall payouts as “out of control”, coming at a time of rising government debt and .
, the deputy leader of Reform, said: “These shocking figures are the latest evidence that Whitehall spending is wildly out of control.
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The Department for Health was the biggest spender (Image: Getty)
“It is wrong that families and businesses are being forced to suffer the highest tax burden on record as Civil Servants’ trouser bumper golden goodbyes.
Total payouts equaled £362 million, an increase of 14% from the year before and nearly 40% for the period 2019-2020, although a rise in inflation is partly responsible for the increase over this time.
A cash-strapped was the biggest spending government department, with the handing out £118 million in departure payments.
The was the second biggest spender, dishing out £80 million whilst the with £55 million and the with £47 million were close behind.
The four departments were responsible for the vast majority of the six-figure payouts, making up 600 of those where recipients pocketed more than £100,000.
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Labour leader Keir Starmer has vowed to reduce the size of the Civil Service (Image: Getty)
Despite the previous government attempting to control the amount of staff employee by the Civil Service, numbers have risen significantly since the referendum, rising from 384,000 in 2016 to 513,000 in 2024.
has discussed plans to reduce the number of roles in the Civil Service by 10,000, although this would fail to offset the increase in personnel in the last year which has seen the size of the workforce rise by 13,000.
Some parts of the Civil Service have opened up voluntary redundancy programmes in a bid to reduce the number of employees which could see the amount of similar exit payments increase in the next few years.
Tice added: “Rachel Reeves needs to get a grip on the size of the state immediately, starting with Reform’s plans to slash the number of needless quangos.
“She could do a lot worse than look across the Atlantic for inspiration where is showing the ruthless streak needed to root out waste.”
A government spokesman said: “The Chancellor has been clear she will bear down on waste and improve efficiency after inheriting a £22 billion black hole in the public finances from the previous government. That includes civil servant exit payments.”