Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of revoking the regulations setting a maximum limit on public sector exit payments in (a) 2020-21 and (b) 2021-22; and if he will make a statement.

We do not have an estimate of the costs which may be incurred for future years for exit payments, as they are determined by the number and type of exits which take place in the year.

From 2018/19 data reported in Whole of Government Accounts, the combined total cost of exit payments over £100,000 in 2018/19 was £200million. The Regulations set a maximum limit of £95,000 for in scope exit payments. We expected most exit payments that previously would have been above £100,000 to decrease in line with the cap. Therefore, overall savings would be less than the total cost of exits. Data for 2019/20 is not currently available.