NHS pays nearly £2bn on payoffs to senior staff

Almost £2bn has been paid in redundancy settlements to NHS managers since the government began its health service reforms, The Times reported.

Department of Health accounts reveal that £141m was spent on exit packages by NHS and other health bodies in 2015-16. This raises the total spent to £1.95bn since 2010.

Despite a government pledge to cap payoffs at £95,000, the figures show that 2,108 staff received exit packages worth £100,000-£150,000. A total of 780 took home between £150,000 and £200,000 and 495 received more than £200,000.

Around 50,000 staff have been paid off since the coalition announced plans to reshape the NHS in 2010. According to official statistics, reforms put in place by former health secretary Andrew Lansley cost £1.4bn but would save £6.9bn. His reforms abolished more than 150 bodies and created hundreds more to give GPs more control over buying services.

Around 10% of all redundancy payments amounting to £92m were made to staff that were rehired.

Campaigners said that the sums were “outrageous” at a time when most hospitals are struggling with cash shortages.

Ministers justify this by saying that laying off managers will bring more savings in the long run. Owen Smith, the Labour leadership challenger, said: “It’s hard to believe that the Tories are still spending taxpayers’ money reorganising the NHS, especially at a time when hospitals are so desperately short of cash. The Tories’ never-ending reorganisation has been a disaster from start to finish.”

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Not a day goes by without a call for more money to be put into the NHS, so the sheer scale and number of these redundancy payments will be hard for taxpayers to swallow.”

A government spokesman said: “Our reforms saved far more than expected at £6.9 billion, and cost less than originally estimated. Labour oppose these reforms, but won’t say how they would afford the thousands of extra doctors and nurses that the NHS can employ as a result.”