REDUNDANCIES at the doomed North West Regional Development Agency (NWDA) have already cost £1.8million the taxpayer, it has been claimed.
The agency, which works to support businesses in the region using government funding, is being scrapped by coalition ministers.
Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act showed the average amount paid to 92 staff who took voluntary redundancy was £20,800 – adding up to a total of £1,847,401.
According to business website EN, a 42-year-old employed by the civil service for 12 years would receive 35 weeks’ pay, tax free up to £30,000.
And it said compulsory redundancies further down the line would lead to even bigger payouts.
NWDA chief executive Steven Broomhead is to take early retirement and a caretaker will carry out the job until the body is wound up in 2012.
The government is to replace regional development agencies with one £1.4billion ‘regional growth fund’.
Smaller bodies, called Local Enterprise Partnerships, will compete for a share of that pot.
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