Book Description

On 3 July 2013, the Committee of Public Accounts took evidence on the use of confidentiality clauses and special severance payments across government. The Committee decided to hold a further hearing to allow time for the Treasury to develop proposals to improve government's approach to the use of compromise agreements within the public sector, and the National Audit Office to complete further work on the use of confidentiality clauses and severance payments in the culture, media and sport sector, defence sector and the health sector. This report presents the results of testing overall, including items that remained outstanding after the NAO's original report. Specific highlight particularly the need for: better guidance on the use of confidentiality clauses and special severance payments; and improved transparency and oversight to identify and address patterns of behaviour. The Treasury had approved some severance payments, where business cases refer to failure or inappropriate behaviour. Severance terms, however, were approved because legal advice set out that the individual would be likely to win an award in an employment tribunal and settlements would probably be cheaper and quicker. This may be valid for individual cases, but it may not be true for the wider public sector. Examples were also found where severance payments were agreed in response to failure to comply with internal policies and procedures. In three cases in the defence sector, managers had not followed the internal policy in relation to the employment of staff. As a result, severance payments were approved to avoid claims for compensation