Pay-off revealed for HMRC data loss chief

16 July 2008

Pay-off revealed for HMRC data loss chief Pay-off revealed for HMRC data loss chief

A lump sum pay-off of £137,591 was made to the former chairman of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) upon his resignation last year, it has been reported.

Paul Gray left his role as the HMRC chief following the loss of personal data belonging to 25 million people.

Also included in a final remuneration package were a £120,000 salary payment and a £2 million pension pot, according to 2007-08 accounts published yesterday.

Criticising the payments, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance Matthew Elliott said it was "disgraceful" as HMRC "let down millions of people by losing their private information".

"There's no way that the man who oversaw this chaos should be being rewarded with such a generous severance package," he added.

Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, Philip Hammond, said it "beggars belief" that anyone could "pocket a golden goodbye of this magnitude" after presiding over such a "catastrophic failure".

He stated: "If you can get £137,000 for losing 25 million people's data, what do you have to do to get nothing?"

The loss of two computer discs containing personal information relating to millions of Britons receiving child credits was one of a number of data security crises to have hit Gordon Brown's government.

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