News: 05/04/2012 - They've been going slow to get it right!

In a revealing private interrogation in a TreasCom sub–committee the two top Treasury bureaucrats made some frank revelations. They've been going slow to be sure the right people get the money but they hope to have distributed up to £300 million of the authorised £1.5 billion by May and the scheme is costing £45 million to administer. We get this insight from a transcript of a sub–committee session of Treascom on Wednesday 24th February with answers from Permanent Secretary, Sir Nicholas Macpherson (NMc), and Julian Kelly (JK), Finance and Commercial Director, both of HM Treasury:

On explaining why just £71m of £1.5bn had been paid out in the first seven months to 1st February:

NMc: "It is a massive logistical task, making these payment...We put a lot of emphasis on ensuring that money went to the right people. We got it right first time. That has required a huge amount of checking about people's addresses."

JK: "It (compensation paid) will be somewhere in the order of £200 — £300 million by the end of the financial year." (April 2012)

NMc: "...people seem reasonably satisfied with the treatment they are getting. But I recognise the urgency, and the people who are doing this are giving weekly reports to Mark Hoban..."

On cost of running the compensation Scheme:

NMc: "It is more like £45 million for the total cost of delivering the Scheme over the four year period."