Information on Scottish Government employees who have received exit payments: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Information requested
Information for the total number of staff who have received exit payments, settlement agreements, or redundancy/severance packages for the years: 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25. You also asked for each payment to provide; the year of payment, the staff member’s job title, the reason for departure and the value of the payment, plus, the total cost of all payments in each of the last five financial years.
Response
In your request you have asked for information about exit payments, settlement agreements or redundancy payments that has been paid to staff. Please note that we are only able to provide details relating to permanent staff employed within the Scottish Government Core Director-General business areas – see Annex A for reference.
We have interpreted your reference to exit payments as meaning payments made under the Civil Service Efficiency Compensation arrangements. These arrangements apply to civil servants who leave the organisation because they are unable to provide regular and effective service due to ill-health. Such payments are not automatic and are made in line with the Civil Service Efficiency Compensation Guidance - https://www.civilservicepensionscheme.org.uk/employers/employer-pensionnotices/epn584-efficiency-compensation/. Information about the number of staff who received compensation under these arrangements is provided at Annex B.
Information about settlement agreements is available from the Scottish Government website at this address: Scottish Government staff who have signed settlement agreements or compromise agreements: FOI release - gov.scot. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website listed, then please contact me and I will send you a paper copy.
In relation to severance payments, information in available on-line (see The Scottish Parliament Website). I can confirm that no further severance payments have been made since information was published.
I can also confirm that no Scottish Government staff within the DG Core business areas have been made redundant during the period covered by your request.
You have also requested information you asked for the staff member’s job titles and the reason for the departure. While our aim is to provide information wherever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the job titles you have requested because an exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to that information. This exemption applies because the information you have requested are the personal data of third parties (the members of staff in question) and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles set out in Article 5(1) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG