Exit payments can often be important to an employer’s ability to adapt to new circumstances and provide vital financial support to individuals as they search for a new job. Public servants should be given some financial security, but this should only be in a manner that is fair and justifiable.

Six-figure exit payments are far in excess of those available to most workers in the public sector or wider economy, and I do not believe such payments are proportionate or fair to taxpayers. That is why I welcome plans to cap exit payments in the public sector at £95,000. Even then, I do not expect payments at this level to be the norm.

I am informed that exit payments beneath the £95,000 cap will continue to be available, so that public sector employees can support their families and find new employment.

I understand that this policy has been carefully designed to protect long-serving, lower-earning staff.