Severance package costs Youth Justice Board dear

Brendan Finegan, the YJB's former director of strategy, who was on a £100,000 salary, left under compulsory early severance terms on 31 March this year.

Details of his severance package, outlined in the org-anisation's annual report, show he received a lump sum of £150,000.

Under the terms of compulsory early severance, which applies to civil servants under the age of 50, he will also receive an annual payment of £30,000 until the age of 60 — meaning at least 10 years of payments, totalling a minimum of £300,000. A further lump sum of £58,000 will be paid when he reaches 60, putting the total value of the package at more than £500,000.

YJB chief executive John Drew said: "Brendan Finegan left the YJB during the early stages of a planned downsizing of the YJB.

"The payment made to Mr Finegan was in accordance with the terms set out by government, and the final authorisation was approved by the Ministry of Justice.

"The background to this is the YJB decided to merge two of its directorates as part of the Cabinet Office's requirement to reduce ongoing senior civil servant costs by 20 per cent."

The YJB is among the organisations the government is considering closing under its review of quangos. But making widespread redundancies among its 300 staff could incur high severance pay costs.

Former YJB member Rob Allen said it was possible a number of posts would be absorbed into the Ministry of Justice, lowering costs.

"If you extrapolate [Finegan's] package, it becomes a costly exercise, but it depends on timing and what people can negotiate," he said.