More jobs go in Whitehall than planned
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Whitehall departments have had to pay millions of pounds extra in severance packages after their cost-cutting redundancy programmes attracted more applicants than expected.
The Ministry of Defence's bill for cutting staff in line with the austerity programme rose beyond £300m in the last financial year – more than double the amount originally allocated. The Department for Education spent £7.7m to fund 141 extra voluntary redundancies.
The austerity drive yielded 44,000 job losses last year, at a cost of more than £600m in lump-sum payments and pension packages.
A Treasury spokesman last night said the higher redundancy bills would, in the long run, save money through reduced wage bills.
But Mark Serwotka, of the PCS union, said: "The solution is not to cut even more jobs, but to invest in staff and resources to improve public services and help our economy."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments