£1m severance payout for ex-Labour ministers
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Your support makes all the difference.Former Labour ministers were handed more than £1 million in severance pay at the General Election, official figures showed today.
A total of £1,051,202 was awarded to ministers when they left office, Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude said.
Ministers are entitled to receive a severance payment equal to three months of their annual ministerial salary.
Under Labour, ministers' pay was made up of an MPs' salary of £64,766 plus a top-up which depended on seniority within the government.
Cabinet ministers were entitled to an extra £78,575, while ministers of state received an extra £40,759 and junior ministers £30,937.
Ministers in the Lords are not entitled to parliamentary salaries but Cabinet ministers received £106,653, ministers of state £83,275 and junior ministers £72,529.
In a written reply to Pete Wishart (SNP, Perth and N Perthshire), Mr Maude said severance payments to ministers were separate from resettlement grants available to MPs when they left the House of Commons.
He said: "Severance payments for paid government ministers and other office holders are governed by legislation, specifically Section 5 of the Ministerial and Other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991.
"Those individuals who leave office under the age of 65 and who do not take up another relevant office within three weeks (six weeks for Opposition office holders at the time of the election) are entitled to receive one quarter of their annual claimed salary as a severance payment."
:: Total severance payments to all eligible former ministers in each department:
Business, Innovation and Skills £54,626
Cabinet Office £37,464
Communities and Local Government £55,339
Culture, Media and Sport £27,302
Children, Schools and Families £75,870
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs £37,464
Foreign and Commonwealth Office £37,464
Health £75,870
Home Office £73,421
International Development £37,464
Ministry of Defence £55,546
Ministry of Justice £53,832
Northern Ireland Office £10,162
Scotland Office £51,448
Transport £52,177
HM Treasury (including severance payments made to government whips in the Commons and Lords) £170,146
Treasury Solicitors £44,884
Wales Office £27,302
Work and Pensions £73,421
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